Linking theory, signals and intervention

A year in research · 30 selected publications · five research threads

In 2020, we turned cognitive concepts into measurable neural representations and used stimulation, pharmacology and machine learning to test how those representations are controlled.

The work demonstrated that event files, proactive states and network communication are not abstract metaphors. They can be decoded from EEG, altered by experience and stimulation, and used to explain why alcohol, ADHD, autism and Tourette syndrome affect some forms of control but spare others.

01 · EVENT CODING

Mapping perception-action bindings onto the brain

Temporal EEG decomposition isolated distractor-response bindings and linked them to temporoparietal updating and frontal conflict resolution.[1] The same approach connected the P3 and inferior-parietal activity directly to event-file binding during response selection.[2] Multivariate decoding showed why this decomposition matters: mixed EEG signals can conceal partly opposing representational dynamics, whereas separated components revealed bindings that activate and decay gradually.[3]

Somatosensory binding depended primarily on response selection in superior parietal cortex rather than on early stimulus processing.[4] In Tourette syndrome, perception-action binding was increased, and behavioural therapy reduced this excessive binding while improving inhibition.[5,6]

In plain terms: Event files became empirically traceable objects whose formation, stability and clinical alteration could be measured rather than inferred only from behaviour.

02 · PREPARATORY DYNAMICS

The next action begins before the stimulus

Pre-trial theta in ventromedial prefrontal cortex covaried with inhibition-related theta in right inferior frontal cortex, and their relationship strengthened with inhibitory demand.[7] Resting theta was linked specifically to stimulus-related coding within later conflict processing.[8] Perceptual components in middle frontal regions contributed to trial-to-trial conflict adaptation.[9]

Causal manipulation supported a role for superior-frontal theta in combining subliminal and conscious conflict.[10] During sequential task switching, theta and pupil measures pointed to norepinephrine-related modulation of backward inhibition.[11] Lower-level perceptual properties also changed norepinephrine-related effects on stopping, and passive perceptual learning altered later inhibition in superior frontal regions.[12,13]

In plain terms: Baseline and pre-trial activity are part of the control process: they configure how incoming information will be interpreted and acted upon.

03 · PERTURBATION AND COMPUTATION

Changing the system and decoding the result

Deep learning identified single-trial EEG dynamics that connected complementary theories of action control.[14] Anodal stimulation increased theta-network efficiency during auditory attention even when theta power itself did not change, separating communication efficiency from local amplitude.[15] Frequency-specific stimulation of superior parietal cortex altered automatic tactile response selection in different ways.[16]

Learning experience reversed the behavioural effect of catecholaminergic enhancement and could even eliminate drug effects after the task became familiar.[17,18] In ADHD, one feedback protocol affected opposing execution and inhibition problems across presentations, suggesting that it acted on a superordinate control system rather than a single symptom.[19]

In plain terms: Causal and computational tools reveal which level changes: local activity, network efficiency, representation or behaviour.

04 · CLINICAL PROFILES

Moving beyond one-deficit accounts

A comprehensive account reframed Tourette syndrome as altered action-perception integration, and stimulation-triggered tic exacerbation suggested an increased tendency to form automatic perception-action links.[20,21] In ADHD, both contextual modulation and basic stimulus-response conflict monitoring could remain intact, challenging a global conflict-control deficit.[22,23]

Adolescents with autism showed a different difficulty: after cognitive-emotional conflict, they relied more strongly on subjective expectations about what would happen next and adjusted less flexibly to objective transition probabilities.[24] These findings separated preserved basic operations from altered deployment under uncertainty or changing context.

In plain terms: Diagnostic groups are not defined by a uniform loss of control; they show selective changes in how intact operations are configured and combined.

05 · ALCOHOL, BODILY STATE AND ADDICTION

Control depends on what has become automatic

Alcohol impaired stopping mainly when the competing response had become automatic, without a clear dependence on baseline GABA or glutamate concentrations.[25] Hangover left model-based and model-free learning largely unchanged, while acute intoxication reduced resting 1/f neural noise.[26,27] A broader synthesis showed that automatic processing was relatively preserved compared with controlled processing under high-dose intoxication.[28]

The cardiac cycle also modulated response-related theta and behaviour, demonstrating that internal bodily timing can influence cognitive-emotional action selection.[29] The ReCoDe consortium translated this state-sensitive perspective into longitudinal monitoring and mechanism-based interventions for losing and regaining control over drug use.[30]

In plain terms: Control is shaped by learned automaticity and by the current state of the body and brain - precisely the factors that real-world addiction research must track.

What 2020 added up to

The 2020 work made theoretical constructs operational. Event files could be decoded, preparatory states linked to later control, and targeted perturbations used to distinguish power from connectivity and learning from pharmacology. These tools supported more specific clinical accounts and a translational approach grounded in real-life changes of state.

Selected publications

Curated from PubMed records returned for Beste C[au] in 2020. Citation numbers in the story link to entries below. DOI links open the publisher landing page; PubMed links open the indexed record.

1. Using temporal EEG signal decomposition to identify specific neurophysiological correlates of distractor-response bindings proposed by the theory of event coding.

Opitz A, Beste C, Stock AK. NeuroImage. 2020;209:116524.

DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116524   ·   PubMed

2. Connecting EEG signal decomposition and response selection processes using the theory of event coding framework.

Takacs A, Zink N, Wolff N, Münchau A, Mückschel M, Beste C. Human brain mapping. 2020;41(10):2862-2877.

DOI: 10.1002/hbm.24983   ·   PubMed

3. Decoding Stimulus-Response Representations and Their Stability Using EEG-Based Multivariate Pattern Analysis.

Takacs A, Mückschel M, Roessner V, Beste C. Cerebral cortex communications. 2020;1(1):tgaa016.

DOI: 10.1093/texcom/tgaa016   ·   PubMed

4. Neurophysiological correlates of perception-action binding in the somatosensory system.

Friedrich J, Verrel J, Kleimaker M, Münchau A, Beste C, Bäumer T. Scientific reports. 2020;10(1):14794.

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-71779-0   ·   PubMed

5. Increased perception-action binding in Tourette syndrome.

Kleimaker M, Takacs A, Conte G, Onken R, et al.. Brain : a journal of neurology. 2020;143(6):1934-1945.

DOI: 10.1093/brain/awaa111   ·   PubMed

6. Comprehensive Behavioral Intervention for Tics reduces perception-action binding during inhibitory control in Gilles de la Tourette syndrome.

Petruo V, Bodmer B, Bluschke A, Münchau A, Roessner V, Beste C. Scientific reports. 2020;10(1):1174.

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-58269-z   ·   PubMed

7. Pre-trial theta band activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex correlates with inhibition-related theta band activity in the right inferior frontal cortex.

Adelhöfer N, Beste C. NeuroImage. 2020;219:117052.

DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117052   ·   PubMed

8. Resting theta activity is associated with specific coding levels in event-related theta activity during conflict monitoring.

Pscherer C, Bluschke A, Prochnow A, Eggert E, Mückschel M, Beste C. Human brain mapping. 2020;41(18):5114-5127.

DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25178   ·   PubMed

9. EEG Signal Decomposition Evidence for a Role of Perceptual Processes during Conflict-related Behavioral Adjustments in Middle Frontal Regions.

Adelhöfer N, Beste C. Journal of cognitive neuroscience. 2020;32(7):1381-1393.

DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01558   ·   PubMed

10. Evidence for a causal role of superior frontal cortex theta oscillations during the processing of joint subliminal and conscious conflicts.

Giller F, Bensmann W, Mückschel M, Stock AK, Beste C. Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior. 2020;132:15-28.

DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2020.08.003   ·   PubMed

11. A possible role of the norepinephrine system during sequential cognitive flexibility - Evidence from EEG and pupil diameter data.

Giller F, Mückschel M, Ziemssen T, Beste C. Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior. 2020;128:22-34.

DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2020.03.008   ·   PubMed

12. Properties of lower level processing modulate the actions of the norepinephrine system during response inhibition.

Mückschel M, Ziemssen T, Beste C. Biological psychology. 2020;152:107862.

DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2020.107862   ·   PubMed

13. Passive perceptual learning modulates motor inhibitory control in superior frontal regions.

Friedrich J, Beste C. Human brain mapping. 2020;41(3):726-738.

DOI: 10.1002/hbm.24835   ·   PubMed

14. Applying deep learning to single-trial EEG data provides evidence for complementary theories on action control.

Vahid A, Mückschel M, Stober S, Stock AK, Beste C. Communications biology. 2020;3(1):112.

DOI: 10.1038/s42003-020-0846-z   ·   PubMed

15. Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation enhances the efficiency of functional brain network communication during auditory attentional control.

Zink N, Kang K, Li SC, Beste C. Journal of neurophysiology. 2020;124(1):207-217.

DOI: 10.1152/jn.00074.2020   ·   PubMed

16. Low and high stimulation frequencies differentially affect automated response selection in the superior parietal cortex - implications for somatosensory area processes.

Friedrich J, Beste C. Scientific reports. 2020;10(1):3954.

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-61025-y   ·   PubMed

17. Learning Experience Reverses Catecholaminergic Effects on Adaptive Behavior.

Mückschel M, Eggert E, Prochnow A, Beste C. The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology. 2020;23(1):12-19.

DOI: 10.1093/ijnp/pyz058   ·   PubMed

18. Task experience eliminates catecholaminergic effects on inhibitory control - A randomized, double-blind cross-over neurophysiological study.

Mückschel M, Roessner V, Beste C. European neuropsychopharmacology : the journal of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology. 2020;35:89-99.

DOI: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2020.03.013   ·   PubMed

19. Neurofeedback trains a superordinate system relevant for seemingly opposing behavioral control deficits depending on ADHD subtype.

Bluschke A, Schreiter ML, Friedrich J, Adelhöfer N, Roessner V, Beste C. Developmental science. 2020;23(6):e12956.

DOI: 10.1111/desc.12956   ·   PubMed

20. Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome-A Disorder of Action-Perception Integration.

Kleimaker A, Kleimaker M, Bäumer T, Beste C, Münchau A. Frontiers in neurology. 2020;11:597898.

DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2020.597898   ·   PubMed

21. Electro-Myo-Stimulation Induced Tic Exacerbation - Increased Tendencies for the Formation of Perception-Action Links in Tourette Syndrome.

Weissbach A, Kleimaker M, Bäumer T, Beste C, Münchau A. Tremor and other hyperkinetic movements (New York, N.Y.). 2020;10:41.

DOI: 10.5334/tohm.547   ·   PubMed

22. Intact Context-Dependent Modulation of Conflict Monitoring in Childhood ADHD.

Bluschke A, Chmielewski WX, Roessner V, Beste C. Journal of attention disorders. 2020;24(11):1503-1510.

DOI: 10.1177/1087054716643388   ·   PubMed

23. Intact Stimulus-Response Conflict Processing in ADHD-Multilevel Evidence and Theoretical Implications.

Bluschke A, Mückschel M, Roessner V, Beste C. Journal of clinical medicine. 2020;9(1):234.

DOI: 10.3390/jcm9010234   ·   PubMed

24. Inflexible adjustment of expectations affects cognitive-emotional conflict control in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder.

Schreiter ML, Beste C. Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior. 2020;130:231-245.

DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2020.06.002   ·   PubMed

25. Acute Alcohol Effects on Response Inhibition Depend on Response Automatization, but not on GABA or Glutamate Levels in the ACC and Striatum.

Bensmann W, Zink N, Werner A, Beste C, Stock AK. Journal of clinical medicine. 2020;9(2):481.

DOI: 10.3390/jcm9020481   ·   PubMed

26. Alcohol Hangover Does Not Alter the Application of Model-Based and Model-Free Learning Strategies.

Berghäuser J, Bensmann W, Zink N, Endrass T, Beste C, Stock AK. Journal of clinical medicine. 2020;9(5):1453.

DOI: 10.3390/jcm9051453   ·   PubMed

27. High-dose ethanol intoxication decreases 1/f neural noise or scale-free neural activity in the resting state.

Stock AK, Pertermann M, Mückschel M, Beste C. Addiction biology. 2020;25(6):e12818.

DOI: 10.1111/adb.12818   ·   PubMed

28. How high-dose alcohol intoxication affects the interplay of automatic and controlled processes.

Chmielewski WX, Zink N, Chmielewski KY, Beste C, Stock AK. Addiction biology. 2020;25(1):e12700.

DOI: 10.1111/adb.12700   ·   PubMed

29. Cardiac cycle gated cognitive-emotional control in superior frontal cortices.

Adelhöfer N, Schreiter ML, Beste C. NeuroImage. 2020;222:117275.

DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117275   ·   PubMed

30. Addiction Research Consortium: Losing and regaining control over drug intake (ReCoDe)-From trajectories to mechanisms and interventions.

Heinz A, Kiefer F, Smolka MN, Endrass T, et al.. Addiction biology. 2020;25(2):e12866.

DOI: 10.1111/adb.12866   ·   PubMed