The alpha rhythm, first identified by Hans Berger 100 years ago, is the dominant non-invasive electrophysiological signature of the healthy human brain in the awake state. For decades, it was believed that the alpha rhythm reflected rest or idling; however, this perspective changed in the 2000s when researchers found that alpha oscillations increase with cognitive demands. This discovery led to a paradigm shift, demonstrating that alpha oscillations reflect the functional inhibition of brain regions that are not needed for a specific task, thereby directing information to task-specific areas. We have reviewed the physiological mechanisms involved in generating alpha oscillations, which has informed computational models explaining how these oscillations emerge within physiologically realistic networks. At the behavioural level, alpha oscillations are strongly modulated across nearly all cognitive paradigms tested in humans, reflecting the allocation of computational resources within the active brain network. Research in individuals with attention-related issues has highlighted their impaired ability to modulate alpha oscillations, which is associated with performance deficits. Therefore, further exploration of alpha oscillations has the potential to uncover causal mechanisms underlying attention problems, such as those related to ADHD and ageing. Lastly, advancements in technology are opening new avenues for characterising alpha oscillations in ecologically valid settings and across the lifespan. This progress sets the stage for exploring the role of alpha oscillations in cognitive development and their functioning in natural environments.

French AI startup Mistral today launched Devstral 2, a new generation of its AI model designed for coding, as the company seeks to catch up to bigger AI labs like Anthropic and other coding-focused LLMs.

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Abstract. Our understanding of motor-related, macroscale brain processes has been significantly shaped by the description of the event-related desynchronization (ERD) and synchronization (ERS) phenome...

Author summary Repetitive epileptic activity leads to a large variety of plastic changes in brain. Understanding the mechanism and its time course can indicate windows of opportunity for preventing th...

We're thrilled to announce the latest expansion of The Open MEG Archives (OMEGA). Dive into over 150 hours of task-free MEG recordings from 644 participants , including individuals with Parkinson’s...

The complexity of natural environments requires highly flexible mechanisms for adaptive processing of single and multiple stimuli. Neuronal oscillations could be an ideal candidate for implementing su...

The probabilistic topography and inter-individual variability of the pituitary gland (PG) remain undetermined. The absence of a standardized reference atlas hinders research on PG volumetrics. In this...

Background The locked-in syndrome (LIS), due to a lesion in the pons, impedes communication. This situation can also be met after some severe brain injury or in advanced Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ...