When attention meets working memory: Shifted visuo-spatial attention amplifies theta:gamma phase synchronisation in the posterior parietal cortex

Introduction: When a visual target has to be detected one should hold a template of it in working memory (WM) in order to perform a memory match when a stimulus occurs. Here the question is addressed whether a shift of spatial attention amplifies this memory match, and how this is manifested in the human brain. It was shown that visual attention is associated with oscillatory brain activity at gamma frequency (around 40Hz) and that theta activity (around 5Hz) reflects WM processes. There is recent evidence that gamma and theta oscillations might be phase coupled during memory processes in animals as well as in t…