Localization of brain activity during auditory verbal short-term memory derived from magnetic recordings

AbstractThe Corsi Block-Tapping test (CBT) is a measure of spatial working memory (WM) in clinical practice, requiring an examinee to reproduce sequences of cubes tapped by an examiner. CBT implies complementary behaviors in the examiners and the examinees, as they have to attend a precise turn taking. Previous studies demonstrated that the Prefrontal Cortex (PFC) is activated during CBT, but scarce evidence is available on the neural correlates of CBT in the real setting. We assessed PFC activity in dyads of examiner–examinee participants while completing the real version of CBT, during conditions of increasing and exceeding workload. This procedure allowed to investigate whether brain activity in the dyads is coordinated. Results in the examinees showed that PFC activity was higher when the workload approached or reached participants’ spatial WM span, and lower during workload conditions that were largely below or above their span. Interestingly, findings in the examiners paralleled the ones in the examinees, as examiners’ brain activity increased and decreased in a similar way as the examinees’ one. In the examiners, higher left-hemisphere activity was observed suggesting the likely activation of non-spatial WM processes. Data support a bell-shaped relationship between cognitive load and brain activity, and provide original insights on the cognitive processes activated in the examiner during CBT.

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Synchronized brain activity during rehearsal and short-term memory disruption by irrelevant speech is affected by recall mode

International Journal of Psychophysiology ◽

10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2005.10.001 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 61 (2) ◽

pp. 188-203 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Franziska Kopp ◽

Erich Schröger ◽

Sigrid Lipka

Keyword(s):

Short Term Memory ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Irrelevant Speech ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory ◽

Memory Disruption ◽

Recall Mode

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Contralateral cortical organisation of information in visual short-term memory: Evidence from lateralized brain activity during retrieval

Neuropsychologia ◽

10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012.03.032 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 50 (8) ◽

pp. 1748-1758 ◽

Cited By ~ 29

Author(s):

Ulysse Fortier-Gauthier ◽

Nicolas Moffat ◽

Roberto Dell'Acqua ◽

John J. McDonald ◽

Pierre Jolicœur

Keyword(s):

Short Term Memory ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory ◽

Visual Short Term Memory

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'Characterising brain activity associated with short term memory processes'

Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology ◽

10.1016/s0013-4694(97)88123-4 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 103 (1) ◽

pp. 48

Author(s):

L Blumhardt

Keyword(s):

Short Term Memory ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory ◽

Memory Processes

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Modulation of alpha power at encoding and retrieval tracks the precision of visual short-term memory

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.00051.2014 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 112 (11) ◽

pp. 2939-2945 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

E. Poliakov ◽

M. G. Stokes ◽

M. W. Woolrich ◽

D. Mantini ◽

D. E. Astle

Keyword(s):

Short Term Memory ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Neural Mechanism ◽

Alpha Power ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory ◽

Visual Short Term Memory ◽

Power Enhancement ◽

Oscillatory Brain Activity ◽

Initial Processing

Our ability to hold information in mind is strictly limited. We sought to understand the relationship between oscillatory brain activity and the allocation of resources within visual short-term memory (VSTM). Participants attempted to remember target arrows embedded among distracters and used a continuous method of responding to report their memory for a cued target item. Trial-to-trial variability in the absolute circular accuracy with which participants could report the target was predicted by event-related alpha synchronization during initial processing of the memoranda and by alpha desynchronization during the retrieval of those items from VSTM. Using a model-based approach, we were also able to explore further which parameters of VSTM-guided behavior were most influenced by alpha band changes. Alpha synchronization during item processing enhanced the precision with which an item could be retained without affecting the likelihood of an item being represented per se (as indexed by the guessing rate). Importantly, our data outline a neural mechanism that mirrors the precision with which items are retained; the greater the alpha power enhancement during encoding, the greater the precision with which that item can be retained.

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Load-dependent brain activity related to acoustic short-term memory for pitch: magnetoencephalography & fMRI

NeuroImage ◽

10.1016/s1053-8119(09)71462-4 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 47 ◽

pp. S145

Author(s):

S Grimault ◽

C Lefebvre ◽

F Vachon ◽

I Peretz ◽

R Zatorre ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Short Term Memory ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory

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Brain activity is related to individual differences in the number of items stored in auditory short-term memory for pitch: Evidence from magnetoencephalography

NeuroImage ◽

10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.03.020 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 94 ◽

pp. 96-106 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Stephan Grimault ◽

Sophie Nolden ◽

Christine Lefebvre ◽

François Vachon ◽

Krista Hyde ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Individual Differences ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory

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Frequency-specific insight into short-term memory capacity

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.01080.2015 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 116 (1) ◽

pp. 153-158 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Matteo Feurra ◽

Giulia Galli ◽

Enea Francesco Pavone ◽

Alessandro Rossi ◽

Simone Rossi

Keyword(s):

Posterior Parietal Cortex ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Memory Span ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Digit Span ◽

Specific Effect ◽

Memory Capacity ◽

Cortical Region ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory

The digit span is one of the most widely used memory tests in clinical and experimental neuropsychology for reliably measuring short-term memory capacity. In the forward version, sequences of digits of increasing length have to be reproduced in the order in which they are presented, whereas in the backward version items must be reproduced in the reversed order. Here, we assessed whether transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) increases the memory span for digits of young and midlife adults. Imperceptibly weak electrical currents in the alpha (10 Hz), beta (20 Hz), theta (5 Hz), and gamma (40 Hz) range, as well as a sham stimulation, were delivered over the left posterior parietal cortex, a cortical region thought to sustain maintenance processes in short-term memory through oscillatory brain activity in the beta range. We showed a frequency-specific effect of beta-tACS that robustly increased the forward memory span of young, but not middle-aged, healthy individuals. The effect correlated with age: the younger the subjects, the greater the benefit arising from parietal beta stimulation. Our results provide evidence of a short-term memory capacity improvement in young adults by online frequency-specific tACS application.

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