Therefore, we selleckchem contrasted patterns of electrical brain activity preceding the presentation of words that were later remembered or forgotten in two distinct encoding conditions, using a random task cueing setting, that is, stay and switch trials. These two conditions were characterized either by a repeated task across two or more consecutive trials in the stay condition or by a task switch in the switch condition. The results revealed a distinct electrophysiological activity for subsequently remembered versus forgotten items (SME) across the entire epoch. More specifically, with local and global types of analyses, we observed different SMEs, namely in the stay

condition, during the Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical 1-second window following the cue presentation and in the switch condition, during

the 1-second window before stimulus onset. The observed pattern of activity resembled previously reported SME topographies (Otten et al. 2006, 2010; Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Padovani et al. 2011), suggesting that both sustained and transient attentional processes play a role in the determination of the prestimulus SME occurring in different time periods during task preparation. Interestingly, these findings highlight the temporal Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical resolution of the activation of the executive networks proposed in the dual network model of attentional control, which can be considered a good theoretical framework to account for these results (Fair et al. 2007; Dosenbach et al. 2008, 2007; Petersen and Posner 2012). These networks support and flexibly regulate top–down control, setting up the basis of the learning process. The model presupposes two parallel control mechanisms with different functional properties Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical mediated by discrete anatomical substrates. The first is represented by the fronto-parietal system and accounts for transient adaptive control in cued delayed target paradigms, as the present one, and is involved in task Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical switching. The second is represented by the cingulo-opercular system that mediates sustained

set maintenance and provides an enduring background for task execution across trials. These separate networks are active in rapid and slower timescales supporting adaptability (fronto-parietal system) and stability (cingulo-opercular system) of top–down control (Fair et al. 2007; Dosenbach et al. 2008, 2007). The possibility Oxymatrine to sustain task information over time allows maintaining relevant information in order to control and adjust goal-directed behavior according to the task demands (Miller 2000). Consistently, our results show the occurrence of the effect in the stay condition, in the time frame following the cue presentation. This effect appearing at the beginning of the trial can be related to set maintenance that ensures the stability and availability of task sets across the entire epoch.