Prior studies demonstrated that neural oscillations are enhanced during working memory (WM) maintenance and that this activity can predict behavioral performance in healthy individuals. However, it is unclear whether the relationship holds for people with WM deficits. People with schizophrenia have marked WM deficits, and such deficits are most prominent when patients are required to process relationships between items, such as temporal order. Here, we used EEG to compare the relationship between oscillatory activity and WM performance in patients and controls. EEG was recorded as participants performed tasks requiring maintenance of complex objects (“Item”) or the temporal order of objects (“Order”). In addition to testing for group differences, we examined individual differences in EEG power and WM performance across groups. Behavioral results demonstrated that patients showed impaired performance on both Item and Order trials. EEG analyses revealed that patients showed an overall reduction in alpha power, but the relationship between alpha activity and performance was preserved. In contrast, patients showed a reduction in theta power specific to Order trials, and theta power could predict performance on Order trials in controls, but not in patients. These findings demonstrate that WM impairments in patients may reflect two different processes: a general deficit in alpha oscillations and a specific deficit in theta oscillations when temporal order information must be maintained. At a broader level, the results highlight the value of characterizing brain–behavior relationships, by demonstrating that the relationship between neural oscillations and WM performance can be fundamentally disrupted in those with WM deficits.

先前的研究表明，在工作记忆 (WM) 维持期间神经振荡会增强，并且这种活动可以预测健康个体的行为表现。然而，尚不清楚这种关系是否适用于 WM 缺陷的人。精神分裂症患者有明显的 WM 缺陷，当患者需要处理项目之间的关系（例如时间顺序）时，这种缺陷最为突出。在这里，我们使用 EEG 来比较患者和对照组的振荡活动与 WM 表现之间的关系。当参与者执行需要维护复杂对象（“项目”）或对象的时间顺序（“顺序”）的任务时，记录 EEG。除了测试组差异之外，我们还检查了各组 EEG 功率和 WM 性能的个体差异。行为结果表明，患者在项目和订单试验中表现不佳。脑电图分析显示，患者的阿尔法能力总体下降，但阿尔法活动与表现之间的关系得以保留。相比之下，患者表现出特定于 Order 试验的 theta 功率降低，并且 theta 功率可以预测对照的 Order 试验的表现，但不能预测患者的表现。这些发现表明，患者的 WM 损伤可能反映了两个不同的过程：α 振荡的一般缺陷和必须保持时间顺序信息时的 theta 振荡的特定缺陷。在更广泛的层面上，结果突出了表征大脑行为关系的价值，