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PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
2
pubmed:dateCreated
1999-3-18
pubmed:abstractText
Brain imaging studies have suggested a critical role for prefrontal cortex in working memory (WM) tasks that require both maintainenance and manipulation of information over time in delayed-response WM tasks. In the present study, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to examine whether prefrontal areas are activated when only maintenance is required in a delayed-response WM task, without the overt requirement to manipulate the stored information. In two scans, six subjects performed WM tasks in which, on each trial, they (1) encoded 1, 3, or 6 to-be-remembered letters, (2) maintained these letters across a 5-second unfilled delay, and (3) determined whether a single probe letter was or was not part of the memory set. Activation of left caudal inferior frontal gyrus was observed, relative to the 1-letter task, when subjects were required to maintain 3 letters in WM. When subjects were required to maintain 6 letters in WM, additional prefrontal areas, most notably middle and superior frontal gyri, were activated bilaterally. Thus, increasing the amount of to-be-maintained information, without any overt manipulation requirement, resulted in the recruitment of wide-spread frontal-lobe regions. Inferior frontal gyrus activation was left-hemisphere dominant in both the 3- and 6-letter conditions, suggesting that such activation reflected material-specific verbal processes. Activation in middle and superior frontal gyri appeared only in the 6-letter condition and was right-hemisphere dominant, suggesting that such activation reflected material-independent executive processes.
pubmed:grant
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Feb
pubmed:issn
1053-8119
pubmed:author
pubmed:copyrightInfo
Copyright 1999 Academic Press.
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
9
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
216-26
pubmed:dateRevised
2007-11-14
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
1999
pubmed:articleTitle
Load-dependent roles of frontal brain regions in the maintenance of working memory.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Psychology, Stanford University, CA, USA.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.