Representations in motion

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

Our 2023 work followed the information inside an action: how it is represented, maintained, reconfigured and translated into adaptive behaviour.

The year brought cognitive theory, oscillatory dynamics, multivariate decoding and clinical research into a common framework. Actions became understandable as evolving representations whose content and stability can be measured across time, neural rhythms and brain regions.

01 · PERCEPTION-ACTION REPRESENTATIONS

Tracing what an action contains

Alpha activity provided dynamic top-down control over the binding, retrieval and reconfiguration of perception-action representations, while theta activity reflected the operations performed on those representations.[1] Decomposing the EEG signal showed that different processing codes were distributed across several regions, with the anterior cingulate and insula providing relatively stable contributions across changing demands.[2] Separate frontoparietal patterns carried partly independent contents during controlled and more automatic inhibition.[3]

The stability of stimulus-response and motor representations predicted later action outcomes and behavioural adjustment.[4] Predictability acted selectively on retrieval rather than on the initial integration of distractor information into event files.[5] During sequence learning, modality-specific perceptual and motor codes cooperated with modality-independent representations, showing that learning is built from several complementary coding principles.[6]

In plain terms: An action is not one neural object: it contains separable perceptual, decisional and motor information that changes in stability over time.

02 · OSCILLATORY FUNCTIONS

Different rhythms, different jobs

When a goal could not be directly read from the available information, superior-frontal theta signalled the additional control demand; later theta and beta activity represented different aspects of the sensorimotor problem.[7] During conflict-modulated stopping, alpha and theta shared information across the transition from proactive preparation to reactive adjustment.[8] Theta also carried multiple informational components of inhibitory control during cognitive flexibility.[9]

Conflict detection was not exclusively midfrontal: posterior delta/theta activity provided an early signal before the classic frontal response emerged.[10] In continuous action monitoring, beta activity helped maintain a sensorimotor programme, whereas theta and alpha supported attentional sampling and gating.[11] A theoretical synthesis used event coding to systematize these diverse oscillatory findings around the operations required for action.[12]

In plain terms: Frequency bands are most informative when defined by the operation they support, not by assigning one broad psychological function to each rhythm.

03 · ADAPTIVE STATES

Learning, reward and the balance of control

Aperiodic activity increased during persistence-heavy processing and decreased when flexibility was more useful, providing a neural measure of metacontrol.[13] Even before a response, intermittent theta and alpha states shaped subsequent selection during task switching.[14] Incidental learning and control interacted across several experiments, but their relationship depended on the many demands of a changing environment.[15]

Reward selectively altered response selection and inhibition networks rather than uniformly improving performance.[16] Alcohol revealed an especially clear trade-off: reactive control deteriorated while proactive control increased, and stronger proactive occipital theta partly buffered the behavioural cost.[17] Auricular vagus nerve stimulation offered a causal route into the system by selectively improving working-memory gate closing and the maintenance of relevant information.[18]

In plain terms: Adaptive behaviour emerges from trade-offs: preparation can compensate for weaker online control, and persistence is useful only when the situation calls for it.

04 · METHODS AND NEUROCHEMISTRY

New tools reveal hidden structure

Deep learning isolated four spatial EEG profiles that distinguished action execution from inhibition and linked them to precentral, frontal and insular regions.[19] Video-based machine learning made automated motor-tic detection feasible, opening a path toward more objective measurement in clinical trials.[20] In chronic MDMA users, neurochemical differences were concentrated in striatal glutamate-related measures and associations with GABA rather than appearing uniformly across the anterior cingulate and striatum.[21]

A complementary null result was equally informative: striatal and anterior-cingulate GABA and glutamate concentrations were not meaningfully associated with cognitive flexibility, underlining that motor and cognitive inhibition rely on partly distinct systems.[22] Visual association cortices contributed specific codes during conflict-modulated stopping, showing that conflict effects could not be reduced to early perception alone.[23]

In plain terms: Better models come from combining sensitive methods with informative null findings, and from separating processes that conventional averages mix together.

05 · CLINICAL TRANSLATION

From altered integration to targeted intervention

In ADHD, different feedback protocols changed different neural aspects of inhibition rather than producing a single common training effect.[24] A perception-action account of behavioural therapy for tics predicted that established treatments act on different binding processes and therefore need mechanistic differentiation.[25] Functional movement disorders were characterized by stronger binding and difficulty reconfiguring established stimulus-response associations.[26]

In adolescent OCD, both mindfulness and audiobook interventions reduced symptoms without specifically changing backward inhibition.[27] In Tourette syndrome, parietal stimulation produced evidence against the expected behavioural effect, while embedded action plans recruited more frontal and episodic processing than in controls.[28,29] Finally, adolescents previously infected with COVID-19 showed preserved perception-action integration, an important boundary on claims of generalized post-infectious cognitive disruption.[30]

In plain terms: Clinical groups can reach similar behaviour through different neural routes, and a useful intervention account must specify the process it is expected to change.

What 2023 added up to

In 2023, the focus moved from average activation toward the content and stability of neural representations. By separating rhythms, codes, brain states and processing stages, the work explained why apparently similar behaviour can be produced by different internal routes - and why treatment effects must be interpreted at the same level of precision.

Selected publications

Curated from PubMed records returned for Beste C[au] in 2023. Citation numbers in the story link to entries below. DOI links open the publisher landing page; PubMed links open the indexed record.

1. Interplay between alpha and theta band activity enables management of perception-action representations for goal-directed behavior.

Wendiggensen P, Prochnow A, Pscherer C, Münchau A, Frings C, Beste C. Communications biology. 2023;6(1):494.

DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-04878-z   ·   PubMed

2. Perception-action integration during inhibitory control is reflected in a concomitant multi-region processing of specific codes in the neurophysiological signal.

Gholamipourbarogh N, Prochnow A, Frings C, Münchau A, Mückschel M, Beste C. Psychophysiology. 2023;60(2):e14178.

DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14178   ·   PubMed

3. Evidence for independent representational contents in inhibitory control subprocesses associated with frontoparietal cortices.

Gholamipourbarogh N, Ghin F, Mückschel M, Frings C, Stock AK, Beste C. Human brain mapping. 2023;44(3):1046-1061.

DOI: 10.1002/hbm.26135   ·   PubMed

4. The neural stability of perception-motor representations affects action outcomes and behavioral adaptation.

Yu S, Mückschel M, Hoffmann S, Bluschke A, Pscherer C, Beste C. Psychophysiology. 2023;60(1):e14146.

DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14146   ·   PubMed

5. Predictability reduces event file retrieval.

Schmalbrock P, Hommel B, Münchau A, Beste C, Frings C. Attention, perception & psychophysics. 2023;85(4):1073-1087.

DOI: 10.3758/s13414-022-02637-6   ·   PubMed

6. Modality-specific and modality-independent neural representations work in concert in predictive processes during sequence learning.

Vékony T, Takács Á, Pedraza F, Haesebaert F, et al.. Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991). 2023;33(12):7783-7796.

DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad079   ·   PubMed

7. A dissociable functional relevance of theta- and beta-band activities during complex sensorimotor integration.

Böttcher A, Wilken S, Adelhöfer N, Raab M, Hoffmann S, Beste C. Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991). 2023;33(14):9154-9164.

DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad191   ·   PubMed

8. Alpha and theta band activity share information relevant to proactive and reactive control during conflict-modulated response inhibition.

Pscherer C, Wendiggensen P, Mückschel M, Bluschke A, Beste C. Human brain mapping. 2023;44(17):5936-5952.

DOI: 10.1002/hbm.26486   ·   PubMed

9. Neurophysiological principles of inhibitory control processes during cognitive flexibility.

Yu S, Stock AK, Münchau A, Frings C, Beste C. Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991). 2023;33(11):6656-6666.

DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac532   ·   PubMed

10. Posterior delta/theta EEG activity as an early signal of Stroop conflict detection.

Haciahmet CC, Frings C, Beste C, Münchau A, Pastötter B. Psychophysiology. 2023;60(3):e14195.

DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14195   ·   PubMed

11. The neurophysiology of continuous action monitoring.

Wilken S, Böttcher A, Adelhöfer N, Raab M, Hoffmann S, Beste C. iScience. 2023;26(7):106939.

DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106939   ·   PubMed

12. Towards a systematization of brain oscillatory activity in actions.

Beste C, Münchau A, Frings C. Communications biology. 2023;6(1):137.

DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-04531-9   ·   PubMed

13. Aperiodic neural activity reflects metacontrol.

Zhang C, Stock AK, Mückschel M, Hommel B, Beste C. Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991). 2023;33(12):7941-7951.

DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad089   ·   PubMed

14. How Intermittent Brain States Modulate Neurophysiological Processes in Cognitive Flexibility.

Wendiggensen P, Beste C. Journal of cognitive neuroscience. 2023;35(4):749-764.

DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01970   ·   PubMed

15. A neurophysiological perspective on the integration between incidental learning and cognitive control.

Takacs A, Beste C. Communications biology. 2023;6(1):329.

DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-04692-7   ·   PubMed

16. Neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the differential effect of reward prospect on response selection and inhibition.

Koyun AH, Stock AK, Beste C. Scientific reports. 2023;13(1):10903.

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-37524-z   ·   PubMed

17. Alcohol-induced deficits in reactive control of response selection and inhibition are counteracted by a seemingly paradox increase in proactive control.

Stock AK, Wendiggensen P, Ghin F, Beste C. Scientific reports. 2023;13(1):1097.

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-28012-5   ·   PubMed

18. Auricular Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation Specifically Enhances Working Memory Gate Closing Mechanism: A System Neurophysiological Study.

Konjusha A, Yu S, Mückschel M, Colzato L, Ziemssen T, Beste C. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience. 2023;43(25):4709-4724.

DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2004-22.2023   ·   PubMed

19. Deep learning on independent spatial EEG activity patterns delineates time windows relevant for response inhibition.

Gholamipourbarogh N, Vahid A, Mückschel M, Beste C. Psychophysiology. 2023;60(10):e14328.

DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14328   ·   PubMed

20. Automated Motor Tic Detection: A Machine Learning Approach.

Brügge NS, Sallandt GM, Schappert R, Li F, et al.. Movement disorders : official journal of the Movement Disorder Society. 2023;38(7):1327-1335.

DOI: 10.1002/mds.29439   ·   PubMed

21. Chronic 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) Use Is Related to Glutamate and GABA Concentrations in the Striatum But Not the Anterior Cingulate Cortex.

Zimmermann J, Zölch N, Coray R, Bavato F, et al.. The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology. 2023;26(6):438-450.

DOI: 10.1093/ijnp/pyad023   ·   PubMed

22. Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid and Glutamate Concentrations in the Striatum and Anterior Cingulate Cortex Not Found to Be Associated with Cognitive Flexibility.

Stock AK, Werner A, Kuntke P, Petasch MS, et al.. Brain sciences. 2023;13(8):1192.

DOI: 10.3390/brainsci13081192   ·   PubMed

23. The role of visual association cortices during response selection processes in interference-modulated response stopping.

Eggert E, Ghin F, Stock AK, Mückschel M, Beste C. Cerebral cortex communications. 2023;4(1):tgac050.

DOI: 10.1093/texcom/tgac050   ·   PubMed

24. Distinct effects of different neurofeedback protocols on the neural mechanisms of response inhibition in ADHD.

Neuhäußer AM, Bluschke A, Roessner V, Beste C. Clinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. 2023;153:111-122.

DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2023.06.014   ·   PubMed

25. Cognitive and Neural Mechanisms of Behavior Therapy for Tics: A Perception-Action Integration Approach.

Friedrich J, Rawish T, Bluschke A, Frings C, Beste C, Münchau A. Biomedicines. 2023;11(6):1550.

DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines11061550   ·   PubMed

26. Perception-Action Integration Is Altered in Functional Movement Disorders.

Weissbach A, Moyé J, Takacs A, Verrel J, et al.. Movement disorders : official journal of the Movement Disorder Society. 2023;38(8):1399-1409.

DOI: 10.1002/mds.29458   ·   PubMed

27. App-Based Mindfulness Meditation Training and an Audiobook Intervention Reduce Symptom Severity but Do Not Modify Backward Inhibition in Adolescent Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Evidence from an EEG Study.

Rempel S, Backhausen LL, McDonald M, Roessner V, Vetter NC, Beste C, Wolff N. Journal of clinical medicine. 2023;12(7):2486.

DOI: 10.3390/jcm12072486   ·   PubMed

28. The Role of the Left Inferior Parietal Cortex in Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome-An rTMS Study.

Paulus T, Wernecke L, Lundie A, Friedrich J, et al.. Biomedicines. 2023;11(3):980.

DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines11030980   ·   PubMed

29. Theta Activity Dynamics during Embedded Response Plan Processing in Tourette Syndrome.

Wendiggensen P, Paulus T, Bluschke A, Takacs A, et al.. Biomedicines. 2023;11(2):393.

DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines11020393   ·   PubMed

30. Preserved perception-action integration in adolescents after a COVID-19 infection.

Graf K, Gustke A, Mösle M, Armann J, et al.. Scientific reports. 2023;13(1):13287.

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-40534-6   ·   PubMed