Metacontrol describes the regulation of cognitive control along a continuum between flexible and persistent cognitive control styles. Within this framework, the cognitive control style can change on multiple timescales: rapidly from trial to trial, across intermediate task contexts, and as relatively stable individual tendencies. Previous work using a flanker task with embedded reaction-time feedback has shown that trial-specific feedback influences performance on the subsequent trial and that individuals differ in how they prepare for upcoming trials depending on feedback in the previous trial at the neurophysiological level. However, it is still unclear how experimentally induced control contexts interact with these short-timescale and interindividual effects. In the present study, we investigated how block-level manipulations of control demands influence cognitive control style and its trial-by-trial adjustments. Participants performed a flanker task with reaction-time feedback across blocks that differed with regard to their congruency proportion. Blocks with mostly congruent trials were designed to induce a more flexible control style, whereas blocks with mostly incongruent trials were designed to promote a more persistent style. This approach allows us to examine how immediate feedback-driven adjustments unfold within broader control contexts and how these patterns vary between individuals. Preliminary results suggest that the expression of trial-by-trial adjustments depends systematically on block context, with indications of reduced adjustments under persistence-promoting conditions. Taken together, the findings support the view that cognitive control styles are shaped concurrently by momentary feedback, intermediate task structure, and interindividual differences.

According to the working memory (WM) gating concept, the conflict between updating and maintenance in WM is resolved by flexibly adjusting an entry gate to WM in accordance with situational demands. While previous work has devoted extensive effort into studying the neurocognitive basis of WM gating, our current understanding of this mechanism is constrained, as prior investigations have exclusively employed visual stimulus material. Consequently, it remains elusive whether known gating mechanisms operate on an amodal basis or are moderated by modality-specific effects or multimodal interactions. For this reason, we conducted a comparative analysis based on an established gating paradigm in which participants responded to items that either required evaluation and updating into WM (open gate) or evaluation without updating (closed gate), as determined by a contextual cue. A traditional dual-visual version of this task was contrasted with two audiovisual variants in which we orthogonally manipulated the modality of the item and contextual feature. At the behavioral level, we observed a performance-by-task modulation in gate-closing trials, which emerged according to the modality in which the contextual feature was presented. Furthermore, task-related differentiation was evident in oscillatory activity patterns associated with gate closing. Together, our findings provide a comprehensive account of modality effects in WM access control.

Action control theories propose that perceptual and response features are temporarily integrated into event-files. Re-encountering a feature retrieves the corresponding event-file, facilitating or impairing performance depending on feature overlap, with partial repetitions typically producing performance costs (so-called binding effects). The present study investigated how perceptual salience influences the integration and retrieval of stimulus features within event-files. Participants performed a sequential task in which an initially irrelevant stimulus later became task-relevant, allowing us to assess how salience at the integration stage affects subsequent retrieval. Behaviorally, binding effects were stronger when the initially irrelevant stimulus was salient compared to non-salient. Neurally, this modulation was reflected in enhanced theta-band activity over parieto–occipital regions during the probe display, consistent with increased cognitive control demands during event-file retrieval and the resolving of retrieval-related response conflict. Together, these findings indicate that perceptual salience strengthens event-file binding and/or retrieval, leading to amplified behavioral interference and corresponding oscillatory activity.

Working memory (WM) supports goal-directed behavior by maintaining information in formats guiding future action. Thus, WM relies on both sensory representations and prospective motor codes derived from object affordances. Here, we examined how affordances and selective attention shape motor coding in WM using electroencephalography (EEG). Participants performed a delayed match-to-sample task in which two oriented stimuli were memorized and later reported in cued order. The stimuli had either an identical or differing tilt, thereby affording similar or distinct responses. For either the first or second report, the orientation of the memory probe could be predicted and adjusted only up to 90°, allowing advance preparation of a left- or right-handed response. When both memorized objects shared the same affordance, we observed contralaterally suppressed mu/beta (∼10–30 Hz) oscillatory power relative to the response hand already during the delay period, indicating early prospective motor coding prior to the cue. Importantly, signatures of response preparation were also present after the cue when the orientation of the upcoming probe could not be predicted, suggesting that object tilt was stored in WM using prospective motor codes rather than purely sensory representations. Furthermore, on trials allowing advance preparation for the second report, posterior alpha power showed no lateralization relative to stimulus location following the first report, indicating a reduced need for attentional re-focusing on sensory features within WM. These findings highlight affordances as a key organizing principle of WM and demonstrate that the balance between sensory and motor-based coding is adaptively shaped by task demands.

Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (GTS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by motor and vocal tics. Increasingly, it is conceptualized as a disorder of altered perception–action binding rather than a purely motor condition. According to cognitive theories, such bindings are represented as event files, which integrate perceptual and motor features into unified representations. However, the oscillatory mechanisms underlying event file binding, retrieval, and reconfiguration in GTS remain poorly understood.

In previous EEG studies, we examined theta, alpha, and beta oscillations during perception–action binding and response inhibition in GTS patients compared to healthy controls (HC). Participants performed a stimulus–response binding task or a Go/NoGo task during EEG recording. Behaviourally, event file binding effects during retrieval did not differ between groups. However, GTS patients showed impaired response inhibition when NoGo stimuli shared features with Go stimuli, indicating reduced flexibility in reconfiguring perception–action associations.

Neurophysiologically, both groups exhibited typical theta, alpha, and beta modulations during retrieval. However, GTS patients showed reduced oscillatory coupling between post-binding and retrieval phases. Notably, beta-band coupling involving the supplementary motor area was present only in HC. Additionally, GTS patients exhibited enhanced theta activity, reduced alpha modulation, and absent beta dynamics during overlapping NoGo trials.

These findings suggest altered coordination of neural oscillations underlying perception–action binding and cognitive control in GTS.