Frontal theta synchronization facilitates the acquisition of new statistical regularities, evidenced by predictive eye movements

Abstract

Frontal midline theta oscillations are key neural markers for learning, set-shifting, and adaptive behavior, signaling cognitive control and the reorganization of neural representations. The present study explored how these oscillations mediate the extraction and updating of statistical regularities. We delivered 6 Hz in-phase transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) or sham tACS, synchronizing frontal midline theta during an eye-tracking probabilistic sequence learning task designed to test cognitive flexibility and assess pre-stimulus gaze direction changes. A novel probabilistic sequence with a partially overlapping structure was introduced that allowed us to distinguish between the retention of old sequences and the acquisition of new ones. Following comparable statistical learning in both groups during the stimulation session, our results showed that tACS reduced the erroneous anticipations of previously learned regularities, and allowed participants to show anticipations corresponding to the previously learnt regularities while being able to anticipate novel regularities flexibly. These results suggest a role of frontal midline theta in the flexible rewiring of the mental representations of prior probabilistic structures, and in making predictions more accurate.