Disentangling the Functional Roles of Pre-Stimulus Oscillations in Crossmodal Associative Memory Formation via Sensory Entrainment

Abstract

The state of neural dynamics prior to the presentation of an external stimulus significantly influences its subsequent processing. This neural preparatory mechanism might be of particular importance for crossmodal memory formation. The integration of stimuli across different sensory modalities is a fundamental mechanism underlying the formation of episodic memories. However, the causal role of pre-stimulus neural activity in this process remains largely unclear. In this preregistered study, we investigate the direct relationship between transient brain states induced by sensory entrainment and crossmodal memory encoding. Participants (n = 105) received rhythmic visual stimuli at theta (5 Hz) or alpha (9 Hz) frequencies to evoke specific brain states. EEG recordings confirmed successful entrainment, with sustained increases in neural activity within the stimulated frequency bands persisting until stimulus onset. Notably, induced alpha oscillatory activity enhanced recognition memory performance reflected by increased sensitivity, and suggesting that alpha oscillations prepare the brain for optimal multisensory integration. These findings highlight the functional significance of distinct oscillatory brain states in facilitating memory encoding by increasing cortical excitability before stimulus presentation. Overall, our results emphasize the importance of pre-stimulus brain states in shaping the efficiency of memory formation across sensory modalities and shed light on how dynamic neural preparations support learning. Impact StatementBy using sensory entrainment of pre-stimulus oscillations we could show thatalpha-band stimulation in particular enhanced crossmodal memory. These findings reveal a frequency-specific functional dissociation and highlight the potential of targeting preparatory brain rhythms to improve crossmodal memory formation.