Beta-band frequency shifts signal decisions in human prefrontal cortex
Beta-band synchronization has been found to be content-specific, particularly during decision-making. Recently, we showed a beta-band frequency shift in macaque prefrontal cortex to reflect categorical decision outcomes in a temporal categorization task. Here, we sought to replicate these findings in human participants, and additionally asked whether these beta frequency shift dynamics generalize to other task contexts and modalities. Across three EEG and MEG (magnetoencephalography) experiments (<i>n</i> = 82; 42 female and 40 male) that required participants to make a perceptual decision, we found that a beta-band frequency shift in the prefrontal cortex signaled the decision outcome. This finding was consistent across a temporal categorization task, a delayed match-to-sample task, and a cross-modal discrimination task. We conclude that this signal is a robust marker of perceptual decisions.
Authors
- Elie Rassi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1927-5373)
- Julio Rodriguez‐Larios (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4014-2973)
- Hugo Merchant (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3488-9501)
- Alma ElShafei
- Saskia Haegens (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9676-6275)
- Camille Gret
Institutions
- University of London (GB)
- Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)
- University of Salzburg (AT)
- New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute (US)
- New York State Psychiatric Institute
- Brunel University of London (GB)
- Columbia University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- iScience
- Published
- 2025-10-18
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2025.113806
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Neural dynamics and brain function
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.43
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Austrian Science Fund
- Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
- National Institutes of Health
- Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México