Binding of verbal and spatial information in human working memory involves large-scale neural synchronization at theta frequency

Whether neural synchronization is engaged in binding of verbal and spatial information in working memory remains unclear. The present study analyzed oscillatory power and phase synchronization of electroencephalography (EEG) recorded from subjects performing a working memory task. Subjects were required to maintain both verbal (letters) and spatial (locations) information of visual stimuli while the verbal and spatial information were either bound or separate. We found that frontal theta power, and large-scale theta phase synchronization between bilateral frontal regions and between the left frontal and right temporal–parietal regions were greater for maintaining bound relative to separate information. However, the same effects were not observed in the gamma band. These results suggest that working memory binding involves large-scale neural synchronization at the theta band.