Human Beta Oscillations Reflect Magnitude and Fidelity of Priority Shifts in Working Memory

Flexible prioritization in working memory (WM) is supported by neural oscillations in frontal and sensory brain areas, but the roles of different oscillations remain poorly understood. Recordings in humans suggest an interplay between prefrontal slow frequency (2-8 Hz) and posterior alpha-band (10 Hz) oscillations regulating top-down control and retrieval of WM representations, respectively. Complementary work, primarily in nonhuman primates, suggests an additional role for beta (15-30 Hz) oscillations in clearing or inhibiting stimuli from entering WM. Here we investigated the role of neural oscillations in prioritizing WM content using electroencephalography (EEG) as participants (humans of any sex) performed a task requiring frequent priority switches between two memorized oriented bars. Behavioral performance revealed switch costs, which scaled with the angular distance between the two items, suggesting that priority shifts are modulated by shift magnitude. Time-frequency analyses revealed increased frontal theta (4-8 Hz) and decreased central-parietal beta (15-25 Hz) power during switches. Crucially, only beta power scaled with the magnitude of the priority shift and predicted the fidelity of neural decoding of the newly prioritized item during subsequent recall. Theta power, in contrast, was elevated on switch trials but did not vary with update magnitude or decoding strength, suggesting a more general role in signaling control demands. Our findings highlight a particular and previously overlooked role for beta-band oscillations in the flexible prioritization of WM content.