Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
3
pubmed:dateCreated
2006-4-17
pubmed:abstractText
Visual working memory (VWM) allows us to hold visual information briefly in our minds after its disappearance. It is important for bridging the present to the immediate past. Previous neuroscience studies on VWM have shown that several parietal, frontal, and occipitotemporal brain regions subserve this function. Those studies, however, have often focused on VWM for a single property, such as color. Yet, in behavior, the capacity of VWM is sensitive to the complexity of to-be-remembered visual features. How do different brain areas represent VWM for visual features of different complexity and for combination of features? To address this question, we used functional MRI to study the response profile of several brain regions in three VWM tasks. In all tasks, subjects saw 1 to 7 colored polygons and had to remember their color (a simple feature), shape (a complex feature), or both color and shape. Behavioral performance showed that VWM reached capacity limit at about 3 colors, 2 shapes, and 2 compound objects. In the fMRI data, we found different functional profiles for frontal, parietal, and occipitotemporal regions. Specifically, the posterior parietal cortex was sensitive to both featural and VWM load manipulations. The prefrontal regions were sensitive to VWM load manipulation but relatively insensitive to featural differences. The occipitotemporal regions were sensitive to featural differences, but not to VWM load manipulation. We propose that the response properties of these regions can jointly account for several findings in human VWM behavior.
pubmed:grant
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Apr
pubmed:issn
1053-8119
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:day
15
pubmed:volume
30
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
963-72
pubmed:dateRevised
2007-11-14
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2006
pubmed:articleTitle
Visual working memory for simple and complex features: an fMRI study.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Psychology, Harvard University, 33 Kirkland Street, WJH 820, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S., Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't, Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural