Nicotinic Versus Muscarinic Blockade Alters Verbal Working Memory-Related Brain Activity in Older Women

AbstractAmyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a devastating neurodegenerative disease that causes progressive degeneration of neurons in motor and non-motor regions, affecting multiple cognitive domains. In order to contribute to the growing research field that employs structural and functional neuroimaging to investigate the effect of ALS on different working memory components, we conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study exploring the localization and intensity of alterations in neural activity. Being the first study to specifically address verbal working memory via fMRI in the context of ALS, we employed the verbal n-back task with 0-back and 2-back conditions. Despite ALS patients showing unimpaired accuracies and reaction times, there was significantly increased brain activity of frontotemporal and parietal regions in the 2-back minus 0-back contrast in patients compared to controls. This increased brain activity was largely associated with a better neuropsychological performance within the ALS group, suggesting a compensatory effect. This study therefore adds to the current knowledge on neural correlates of working memory in ALS and contributes to a more nuanced understanding of hyperactivity during cognitive processes in fMRI studies of ALS.

Download Full-text

Temporospatial Characterization of Brain Oscillations (TSCBO) Associated with Subprocesses of Verbal Working Memory in Schizophrenia

Clinical EEG and Neuroscience ◽

10.1177/155005940803900409 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 39 (4) ◽

pp. 194-202 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Massoud Stephane ◽

Nuri F. Ince ◽

Arthur Leuthold ◽

Giuseppe Pellizzer ◽

Ahmed H. Tewfik ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Spatial Location ◽

Verbal Working Memory ◽

Primacy Effect ◽

Brain Oscillations ◽

Parietal Lobes ◽

Occipital Lobes ◽

Encode Phase

The studies of the neural correlates of verbal working memory in schizophrenia are somewhat inconsistent. This could be related to experimental paradigms that engage differentially working memory components or methodological limitations in terms of characterization of brain activity. Magnetoencephalographic recordings were obtained on 10 schizophrenia patients and 11 healthy controls while performing a modified Sternberg paradigm to investigate subprocesses of verbal working memory. A new method for temporospatial characterization of brain oscillations was applied to whole head recordings and a 1–48 Hz frequency range. Patients differed from controls in event-related synchronization/desynchronization (ERS/ERD) patterns during the encode phase, the mid-maintain phase, and the end of the maintain phase. During the encode phase, patients did not show 1–4 Hz ERS in the left anterior frontal and left parietal lobes. In the mid-maintain phase, the left anterior frontal and left parietal lobes 1–4 Hz ERS, and the bilateral occipital lobes 8–32 Hz ERS were not observed in patients. At the end of the maintain phase, patients did not exhibit 12–48 Hz ERD in the left frontal and parietal lobes. The behavioral data showed reduced primacy effect In schizophrenia, the encode and maintain subprocesses were associated with less ERS and less ERD, respectively. These ERS/ERD abnormalities had specificity in terms of frequency and spatial location. Less ERD reflects reduced complexity of the neural activity, while reduced ERS reflects failure of the neural systems to resume idle state. The impaired primacy effect appears related to specific ERS/ERD patterns in the encode and maintain phases.

Download Full-text

Brain activity is contingent on neuropsychological function in an fMRI study of Verbal Working Memory in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

European Journal of Neurology ◽

10.1111/ene.14957 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Xenia Kobeleva ◽

Judith Machts ◽

Maria Veit ◽

Stefan Vielhaber ◽

Susanne Petri ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Verbal Working Memory ◽

Neuropsychological Function ◽

Fmri Study ◽

Lateral Sclerosis

Download Full-text

Modality-specific processing streams in verbal working memory: evidence from spatio-temporal patterns of brain activity

Cognitive Brain Research ◽

10.1016/s0926-6410(97)00021-9 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. 95-113 ◽

Cited By ~ 52

Author(s):

Daniel S Ruchkin ◽

Rita S Berndt ◽

Ray Johnson ◽

Walter Ritter ◽

Jordan Grafman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Temporal Patterns ◽

Verbal Working Memory ◽

Spatio Temporal

Download Full-text

Sex differences in prefrontal cortical brain activity during fMRI of auditory verbal working memory.

Neuropsychology ◽

10.1037/0894-4105.19.4.509 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 19 (4) ◽

pp. 509-519 ◽

Cited By ~ 105

Author(s):

Jill M. Goldstein ◽

Matthew Jerram ◽

Russell Poldrack ◽

Robert Anagnoson ◽

Hans C. Breiter ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Sex Differences ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Verbal Working Memory ◽

Prefrontal Cortical

Download Full-text

Basic numerical processing, calculation, and working memory in children with dyscalculia and/or ADHD symptoms

Zeitschrift für Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie und Psychotherapie ◽

10.1024/1422-4917/a000450 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 44 (5) ◽

pp. 365-375 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Jörg-Tobias Kuhn ◽

Elena Ise ◽

Julia Raddatz ◽

Christin Schwenk ◽

Christian Dobel

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Processing Speed ◽

Verbal Working Memory ◽

Typically Developing ◽

Cognitive Profiles ◽

Adhd Symptoms ◽

Memory Processing ◽

Numerical Processing ◽

Hyperactivity Disorder ◽

Neurocognitive Measures

Abstract. Objective: Deficits in basic numerical skills, calculation, and working memory have been found in children with developmental dyscalculia (DD) as well as children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This paper investigates cognitive profiles of children with DD and/or ADHD symptoms (AS) in a double dissociation design to obtain a better understanding of the comorbidity of DD and ADHD. Method: Children with DD-only (N = 33), AS-only (N = 16), comorbid DD+AS (N = 20), and typically developing controls (TD, N = 40) were assessed on measures of basic numerical processing, calculation, working memory, processing speed, and neurocognitive measures of attention. Results: Children with DD (DD, DD+AS) showed deficits in all basic numerical skills, calculation, working memory, and sustained attention. Children with AS (AS, DD+AS) displayed more selective difficulties in dot enumeration, subtraction, verbal working memory, and processing speed. Also, they generally performed more poorly in neurocognitive measures of attention, especially alertness. Children with DD+AS mostly showed an additive combination of the deficits associated with DD-only and A_Sonly, except for subtraction tasks, in which they were less impaired than expected. Conclusions: DD and AS appear to be related to largely distinct patterns of cognitive deficits, which are present in combination in children with DD+AS. 

Download Full-text

Skipping Breakfast Affects the Early Steps of Cognitive Processing

Journal of Psychophysiology ◽

10.1027/0269-8803/a000214 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 33 (2) ◽

pp. 109-118

Author(s):

Andrés Antonio González-Garrido ◽

Jacobo José Brofman-Epelbaum ◽

Fabiola Reveca Gómez-Velázquez ◽

Sebastián Agustín Balart-Sánchez ◽

Julieta Ramos-Loyo

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Cognitive Processing ◽

Task Difficulty ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Reaction Times ◽

Brain Potentials ◽

Brain Functioning ◽

Attentional Processes ◽

Electrical Brain Activity ◽

Skipping Breakfast

Abstract. It has been generally accepted that skipping breakfast adversely affects cognition, mainly disturbing the attentional processes. However, the effects of short-term fasting upon brain functioning are still unclear. We aimed to evaluate the effect of skipping breakfast on cognitive processing by studying the electrical brain activity of young healthy individuals while performing several working memory tasks. Accordingly, the behavioral results and event-related brain potentials (ERPs) of 20 healthy university students (10 males) were obtained and compared through analysis of variances (ANOVAs), during the performance of three n-back working memory (WM) tasks in two morning sessions on both normal (after breakfast) and 12-hour fasting conditions. Significantly fewer correct responses were achieved during fasting, mainly affecting the higher WM load task. In addition, there were prolonged reaction times with increased task difficulty, regardless of breakfast intake. ERP showed a significant voltage decrement for N200 and P300 during fasting, while the amplitude of P200 notably increased. The results suggest skipping breakfast disturbs earlier cognitive processing steps, particularly attention allocation, early decoding in working memory, and stimulus evaluation, and this effect increases with task difficulty.

Download Full-text

No Decay in Verbal Working Memory

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e502412013-116 ◽

2012 ◽

Author(s):

Klaus Oberauer ◽

Stephan Lewandowsky

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Verbal Working Memory

Download Full-text