Oscillatory Control of Cortical Space as a Computational Dimension

Flexible cognition depends on the ability to represent and apply context, allowing the brain to interpret sensory input and guide behavior in a context-dependent manner. Recent work has proposed Spatial Computing as a mechanism for this flexibility, suggesting that contextual signals organize information processing through spatial patterns of oscillatory activity across the cortical surface. These patterns act as “inhibitory stencils” that constrain where information (the “content” of cognition) can be expressed in spiking activity. Here, we provide a comprehensive empirical test of Spatial Computing Theory using multi-electrode recordings from the lateral prefrontal cortex in non-human primates performing a range of cognitive tasks (object working memory, sequence working memory, categorization). We found that alpha/beta oscillations encoded contextual information, reorganized their spatial patterns with context and task demands, and spatially gated the expression of content-related spiking activity. Furthermore, we found that alpha/beta oscillations reflected misattributions of task context and correlated with subjects’ trial-by-trial decisions. These findings validate core predictions of Spatial Computing by showing that oscillatory dynamics not only gate information in time but also shape where in the cortex cognitive content is represented. This framework offers a unifying principle for understanding how the brain flexibly coordinates cognition through structured population dynamics.