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It remains a dogma in cognitive neuroscience to separate human attention and memory into distinct modules and processes. Here we propose that brain rhythms reflect the embedded nature of these processes (Cowan, 1988) in the human brain, as evident from their shared neural signatures: Gamma oscillations (30-90 Hz) reflect sensory information processing and activated neural representations (memory items). The theta rhythm (3-8 Hz) is a pacemaker of explicit control processes (central executive), structuring neural information processing, bit by bit, as reflected in the theta-gamma code. By representing memory items in a sequential and time-compressed manner the theta-gamma code is hypothesized to solve key problems of neural computation: (1) attentional sampling (integrating and segregating information processing), (2) mnemonic updating (implementing Hebbian learning), and (3) predictive coding (advancing information processing ahead of the real time to guide behavior). In this framework, reduced alpha oscillations (8-14 Hz) reflect activated semantic networks, involved in both explicit and implicit mnemonic processes. Linking recent theoretical accounts and empirical insights on neural rhythms to the embedded-process model advances our understanding of the integrated nature of attention and memory – as the bedrock of human cognition.

Social norms are foundational to human cooperation and co-existence in social groups. A crucial marker of social norms is that a behavior is not only shared, but that the conformity to the behavior of others is a basis for social evaluation (i.e., reinforcement and sanctioning), taking the is , how individuals usually behave, to an ought , how individuals should behave to be socially approved by others. In this preregistered study, we show that 11-month-old infants grasp this fundamental aspect about social norms already in their first year. They showed a pupillary surprise response for unexpected social responses, namely the disapproval and exclusion of an individual who showed the same behavior like others or the approval and inclusion of an individual who behaved differently. That preverbal infants link the conformity with others’ behavior to social evaluations, before they respond to norm violations themselves, indicates that the foundations of social norm understanding lie in early infancy.

The wake human brain constantly encodes novel information and integrates them into existing neuronal representations. It is posited that the formation of new memory traces is orchestrated by the synchronization of neuronal activity in the theta rhythm (3–8 Hz), theta coupled gamma activity (40–120 Hz), and decreases in the alpha rhythm (8–12 Hz). Critically, given the correlative nature of neurophysiological recordings, the functional relevance of oscillatory processes is not well understood. Here, we experimentally enhanced memory formation processes by a rhythmic visual stimulation at an individual theta frequency, in contrast to the stimulation at an individual alpha frequency. This memory entrainment effect was not explained by theta power per se, but was driven by a visually evoked theta-gamma coupling pattern. This underlines the functional role of the theta rhythm and the theta-gamma neuronal code in human episodic memory. The entrainment of mnemonic network mechanisms by a visual stimulation technique provides a proof of concept that visual pacemakers can entrain complex cognitive processes in the wake human brain. •We enhanced memory performance by a visual theta stimulation, in contrast to an alpha stimulation.•Memory entrainment was explained by theta-gamma coupling dynamics in the scalp EEG.•Mnemonic network mechanisms can be entrained by simplistic perceptual stimulation techniques.

Infants form basic expectations about their physical and social environment, as indicated by their attention toward events that violate their expectations. Yet little is known about the neuronal processing of unexpected events in the infant brain. Here, we used rhythmic visual brain stimulation in 9-month-olds (N = 38) to elicit oscillations of the theta (4 Hz) and the alpha (6 Hz) rhythms while presenting events with unexpected or expected outcomes. We found that visually entrained theta oscillations sharply increased for unexpected outcomes, in contrast to expected outcomes, in the scalp-recorded electroencephalogram. Visually entrained alpha oscillations did not differ between conditions. The processing of unexpected events at the theta rhythm may reflect learning processes such as the refinement of infants’ basic representations. Visual brain-stimulation techniques provide new ways to investigate the functional relevance of neuronal oscillatory dynamics in early brain development.

In two experiments, the imitation of helping behavior in 16-month-olds was investigated. In Study 1 (N = 31), infants either observed an adult model helping or not helping another individual before they had the opportunity to assist an unfamiliar experimenter. In one of two tasks, more children helped in the prosocial model condition than in the no model control condition. In Study 2 (N = 60), a second control condition was included to test whether infants imitated the prosocial intention (no neediness control). Children in the prosocial model condition helped more readily than children in the no model condition, with the second control condition falling in between. These findings propose that modeling provides a critical learning mechanism in early prosocial development.

•We used violation of expectation paradigms to test the processing of prediction errors in the infant brain.•The ongoing 4 – 5 Hz theta rhythm was increased for unexpected in contrast to expected events.•This difference in the going theta rhythm was not related to the condition difference in the negative central (Nc).•The theta rhythm is involved in the processing of prediction errors from very early in human brain development. Examining how young infants respond to unexpected events is key to our understanding of their emerging concepts about the world around them. From a predictive processing perspective, it is intriguing to investigate how the infant brain responds to unexpected events (i.e., prediction errors), because they require infants to refine their predictions about the environment. Here, to better understand prediction error processes in the infant brain, we presented 9-month-olds (N = 36) a variety of physical and social events with unexpected versus expected outcomes, while recording their electroencephalogram (EEG). We found a pronounced response in the ongoing 4–5 Hz theta rhythm for the processing of unexpected (in contrast to expected) events, for a prolonged time window (2 s) and across all scalp-recorded electrodes. The condition difference in the theta rhythm was not related to the condition difference in infants’ event-related activity to unexpected (versus expected) events in the negative central (Nc) component (0.4–0.6 s), a component, which is commonly analyzed in infant violation of expectation studies using EEG. These findings constitute critical evidence that the theta rhythm is involved in the processing of prediction errors from very early in human brain development. We discuss how the theta rhythm may support infants’ refinement of basic concepts about the physical and social environment.

Violation of expectation (VOE) paradigms are key to understanding infants’ early knowledge. In VOE paradigms, infants are presented sequences of events either according with or violating regularities of their physical or social environment. Infants’ violated expectations may result in a surprise response, such as longer looking times or specific neural correlates. There is an increasing interest in utilizing infants’ pupil dilation as an index of their surprise. However, to date, no study has systematically examined infants’ pupillary response across different VOE paradigms. In this preregistered study, we measured 9- to 10-month-olds’ pupil dilation ( N  = 21) in response to a common VOE paradigm across four knowledge domains (action, cohesion, number, solidity). In a pre-registered analysis, infants’ pupillary response did not differ between expected and unexpected outcomes in any of these domains. We compared the effect of different analyses parameter choices in a specification curve analysis which revealed that very few choices would have led to significant results. The results demonstrate that across analytical decisions regarding data preprocessing and analysis we do not find evidence for the hypothesized effect. A subsequent permutation test revealed that our original data slightly diverges from randomly shuffled data. We can therefore not unambiguously reject the null hypothesis. We discuss these findings theoretically and methodologically and highlight the need for combining multiple measures to better understand the methods we apply to examine infants’ knowledge about their environment.

This cross-cultural study investigates how maternal task assignment relates to toddlers' requested behavior and helping between 18 and 30 months. One hundred seven mother-child dyads were assessed in three different cultural contexts (rural Brazil, urban Germany, and urban Brazil). Brazilian mothers showed assertive scaffolding (serious and insistent requesting), whereas German mothers employed deliberate scaffolding (asking, pleading, and giving explanations). Assertive scaffolding related to toddlers' requested behavior in all samples. Importantly, assertive scaffolding was associated with toddlers' helping in rural Brazil, whereas mothers' deliberate scaffolding related to toddlers' helping behavior in urban Germany. These findings highlight the role of caregivers' socialization practices for the early ontogeny of helping behavior and suggest culture-specific developmental pathways along the lines of interpersonal responsibility and personal choice.

The way humans perceive and attend to visual scenes differs profoundly between individuals. This is most compellingly demonstrated for context-sensitivity, the relative attentional focus on focal objects and background elements of a scene, in cross-cultural comparisons. Differences in context-sensitivity have been reported in verbal accounts (e.g. picture descriptions) and in visual attention (e.g., eye-tracking paradigms). The present study investigates (1) if the way parents verbally guide the attention of their children in visual scenes is associated with differences in children's context-sensitivity and (2) if verbal descriptions of scenes are related to early visual attention (i.e., gaze behavior) in 5-year-old children and their parents. Importantly, the way parents verbally described visual scenes to their children was related to children's context-sensitivity, when describing these scenes themselves. This is, we found a correlation in the number of references made to the object versus the background as well as the number of relations made between different elements of a scene. Furthermore, verbal descriptions were closely related to visual attention in adults, but not in children. These findings support our hypotheses that context-sensitivity is socialized via a verbal route and that visual attention processes align with acquired narrative structures only later in development, after the preschool years.

It is an integral function of the human brain to sample novel information from the environment and to integrate them into existing representations. Recent evidence suggests a specific role for the theta rhythm (4–8 Hz) in mnemonic processes and the coupling between the theta and the gamma rhythm (40–120 Hz) in ordering and binding perceptual features during encoding. Furthermore, decreases in the alpha rhythm (8–12 Hz) are assumed to gate perceptual information processes in semantic networks. In the present study, we used an associative memory task (object-color combinations) with pictures versus words as stimuli (high versus low visual information) to separate associative memory from visual perceptual processes during memory formation. We found increased theta power for later remembered versus later forgotten items (independent of the color judgement) and an increase in phase-amplitude coupling between frontal theta and fronto-temporal gamma oscillations, specific for the formation of picture-color associations. Furthermore, parietal alpha suppression and gamma power were higher for pictures compared to words. These findings support the idea of a theta-gamma code in binding visual perceptual features during encoding. Furthermore, alpha suppression likely reflects perceptual gating processes in semantic networks and is insensitive to mnemonic and associative binding processes. Gamma oscillations may promote visual perceptual information in visual cortical networks, which is integrated into existing representations by prefrontal control processes, working at a theta pace.