Abstract
The flexible handling of perception-action representations is crucial for cognitive control such as response inhibition, which depends on the catecholaminergic system. However, how cross-frequency interactions support perception-action integration during response inhibition, and how they are modulated by catecholamines, remains unknown. In this placebo-controlled study employing methylphenidate, using electroencephalography (EEG) and a modified Go/Nogo task, we investigate phase-amplitude coupling (PAC) between theta (θ), alpha (α), beta (β), and gamma (γ) oscillations. We demonstrate that these interactions are hierarchically organized, with early α-β PAC supporting perceptual-motor representation, and subsequent β-γ coupling refining downstream processing. Transfer entropy analyses indicate a feed-forward α-β to β-γ influence, suggesting that slower oscillations gate updates in faster bands. Crucially, methylphenidate selectively enhances late β-γ coupling, supporting a functional specialization where α-β rhythms enable access and reconfiguration, while β-γ rhythms mediate local control. These findings suggest a temporally structured mechanism where the catecholaminergic system modulates flexible perception-action integration during response inhibition.
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Data availability
Supplementary Data 1 and the additional datasets analyzed in this study are available in the OSF repository76, https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/5UENV.
Code availability
Further custom code used to process the data can be found here76: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/5UENV.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF) as part of the German Center for Child and Adolescent Health (DZKJ) under the funding code 01GL2405B and by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) FOR 2698 and 2790.
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M.Z. and C.B. conceptualized the study. M.Z. performed the data analysis. M.Z. and C.B. contributed to writing the first draft of the manuscript. All authors revised it critically. All authors contributed to and have approved the final manuscript.
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Zhupa, M., Beste, C. A division of labor in perception-action integration via hierarchical alpha-beta to beta-gamma coupling and local catecholaminergic control. Commun Biol (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-026-09564-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-026-09564-4
