Processes of Working Memory in Mind and Brain

2005 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Jonides ◽  
Steven C. Lacey ◽  
Derek Evan Nee
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Brain Structures ◽  
Perceptual Information ◽  
Executive Processes ◽  
Brain Areas ◽  
Mind And Brain ◽  
External Stimuli ◽  
The Brain

Working memory is often conceptualized as storage buffers that retain information briefly, rehearsal processes that refresh the buffers, and executive processes that manipulate the contents of the buffers. We review evidence about the brain mechanisms that may underlie storage and rehearsal in working memory. We hypothesize that storage is mediated by the same brain structures that process perceptual information and that rehearsal engages a network of brain areas that also controls attention to external stimuli.

How Musical Activity Shapes Memory

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 55-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martina Hoffmann ◽  
Christoph J. Ploner ◽  
Alexander Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Elderly Population ◽  
Brain Plasticity ◽  
Brain Structures ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Musical Instrument ◽  
Brain Areas ◽  
Memory Functioning ◽  
Musical Activity ◽  
The Brain

Abstract. Musical activity has been found to drive plasticity in brain areas involved in the process of playing a musical instrument. The present article reviews how musical activity influences the brain structures involved in memory and how it impacts on memory functioning memory functioning. Musical activity appears to be associated with better memory capacity across the lifespan. Importantly, training-induced effects are not restricted to childhood, but can occur even in the elderly population. We conclude by outlining how musical activity, both on the receptive and active level, can be beneficial to patients suffering from memory disorders, inducing brain plasticity and memory improvement.

scholarly journals Fast cyclic stimulus flashing modulates perception of bi-stable figure

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e6011
Author(s):  
Henrikas Vaitkevicius ◽  
Vygandas Vanagas ◽  
Alvydas Soliunas ◽  
Algimantas Svegzda ◽  
Remigijus Bliumas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Binocular Rivalry ◽  
Necker Cube ◽  
Common Mechanism ◽  
Perceptual Information ◽  
Alternation Rate ◽  
Bistable Perception ◽  
Perception Time ◽  
Neuronal Processing ◽  
External Stimuli ◽  
The Brain

Many experiments have demonstrated that the rhythms in the brain influence the initial perceptual information processing. We investigated whether the alternation rate of the perception of a Necker cube depends on the frequency and duration of a flashing Necker cube. We hypothesize that synchronization between the external rhythm of a flashing stimulus and the internal rhythm of neuronal processing should change the alternation rate of a Necker cube. Knowing how a flickering stimulus with a given frequency and duration affects the alternation rate of bistable perception, we could estimate the frequency of the internal neuronal processing. Our results show that the perception time of the dominant stimulus depends on the frequency or duration of the flashing stimuli. The duration of the stimuli, at which the duration of the perceived image was maximal, was repeated periodically at 4 ms intervals. We suppose that such results could be explained by the existence of an internal rhythm of 125 cycles/s for bistable visual perception. We can also suppose that it is not the stimulus duration but the precise timing of the moments of switching on of external stimuli to match the internal stimuli which explains our experimental results. Similarity between the effects of flashing frequency on alternation rate of stimuli perception in present and previously performed experiment on binocular rivalry support the existence of a common mechanism for binocular rivalry and monocular perception of ambiguous figures.

scholarly journals Dissociable Neuroanatomical Correlates of Subsecond and Suprasecond Time Perception

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (8) ◽  
pp. 1685-1693 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masamichi J. Hayashi ◽  
Moona Kantele ◽  
Vincent Walsh ◽  
Synnöve Carlson ◽  
Ryota Kanai
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Motor System ◽  
Brain Structures ◽  
Brain Anatomy ◽  
Inferior Parietal Lobule ◽  
Perceptual Skills ◽  
Parietal Lobule ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Different Parts

The ability to estimate durations varies across individuals. Although previous studies have reported that individual differences in perceptual skills and cognitive capacities are reflected in brain structures, it remains unknown whether timing abilities are also reflected in the brain anatomy. Here, we show that individual differences in the ability to estimate subsecond and suprasecond durations correlate with gray matter (GM) volume in different parts of cortical and subcortical areas. Better ability to discriminate subsecond durations was associated with a larger GM volume in the bilateral anterior cerebellum, whereas better performance in estimating the suprasecond range was associated with a smaller GM volume in the inferior parietal lobule. These results indicate that regional GM volume is predictive of an individual's timing abilities. These morphological results support the notion that subsecond durations are processed in the motor system, whereas suprasecond durations are processed in the parietal cortex by utilizing the capacity of attention and working memory to keep track of time.

scholarly journals Multivariate FMRI Signatures of Learning in a Hebb Repetition Paradigm With Tone Sequences

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corey Loo ◽  
Andy C. H. Lee ◽  
Bradley R. Buchsbaum
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Dorsal Stream ◽  
Brain Structures ◽  
Memory Storage ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Complex Stimulus ◽  
Memory Persistence ◽  
The Brain

Important information from the environment often arrives to the brain in temporally extended sequences. Language, music, actions, and complex events generally unfold over time. When such informational sequences exceed the limited capacity of working memory, the human brain relies on its ability to accumulate information in long-term memory over several encounters with a complex stimulus. A longstanding question in psychology and neuroscience is whether the neural structures associated with working memory storage—often viewed as capacity limited and temporary—have any builtin ability to store information across longer temporal delays. According to the classic Hebbian dual memory theory, temporally local “activity traces” underlie immediate perception and working memory, whereas “structural traces” undergird long-term learning. Here we examine whether brain structures known to be involved in working maintenance of auditory sequences, such as area Spt, also show evidence of memory persistence across trials. We used representational similarity analysis (RSA) and the Hebb repetition paradigm with supracapacity tonal sequences to test whether repeated sequences have distinguishable multivoxel activity patterns in the auditory-motor networks of the brain. We found that, indeed, area Spt and other nodes of the auditory dorsal stream show multivoxel patterns for tone sequences that become gradually more distinct with repetition during working memory for supracapacity tone-sequences. The findings suggest that the structures are important for working memory are not “blank slates,” wiped clean from moment to moment, but rather encode information in a way can lead to cross-trial persistence.

Sex differences of the content on the monoamines levels in symmetrical structures of the C3H-A mice brain

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 56-64
Author(s):  
Inessa Vladimirovna Karpova ◽  
Sergey Nikolayevich Proshin ◽  
Ruslan Ivanovich Glushakov ◽  
Vladimir Vladimirovich Mikheyev ◽  
Evgeny Rudolfovich Bychkov
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Cerebral Hemisphere ◽  
Brain Structures ◽  
Brain Areas ◽  
Left Hippocampus ◽  
Tuberculum Olfactorium ◽  
Mice Brain ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Monoamines And Their Metabolites

The Sex differenses in the content and metabolism of dopamine and serotonin were studied in symmetrical brain structures of C3H-A mice. With HPLC the contents of norepinephrine (NE), dopamine (DA), serotonin (5-HT) and their metabolites, such as dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC), homovanillinic acid (HVA) and 5-hydroxyindolacetic acid (5-HIAA), were measured in the cortex, tuberculum olfactorium, hippocampus and striatum of both the right and the left hemispheres of the brain in male and female mice. The following sex differences in monoamines and their metabolites in brain areas were found: the NE content was higher in the male striatum and in the female tuberculum olfactorium; in males the DA content in cortex and hippocampus was higher, but in tuberculum olfactorium and striatum was lower than that in females; in females the 5-HT and 5-HIAA levels in hippocampus and tuberculum olfactorium were hither than that in males. In the female left striatum the 5-HIAA content was higher than in males. In males three cases of neurochemical cerebral hemisphere asymmetries were found: 1) the NE content is higher in the right tuberculum olfactorium, 2) the DA level is higher in the right hippocampus, 3) the 5-HIAA content is higher in the left hippocampus. In females the only one case of cerebral asymmetry was found, i. g. the 5-HT level was higher in the right tuberculum olfactorium.

Differential Effects of Executive Processes on Working Memory

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 239-249
Author(s):  
Xuezhu Ren ◽  
Tengfei Wang ◽  
Karl Schweizer ◽  
Jing Guo
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Latent Variable ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Attention Control ◽  
Executive Processes ◽  
Differential Effects ◽  
Prepotent Response ◽  
Two Measures

Abstract. Although attention control accounts for a unique portion of the variance in working memory capacity (WMC), the way in which attention control contributes to WMC has not been thoroughly specified. The current work focused on fractionating attention control into distinctly different executive processes and examined to what extent key processes of attention control including updating, shifting, and prepotent response inhibition were related to WMC and whether these relations were different. A number of 216 university students completed experimental tasks of attention control and two measures of WMC. Latent variable analyses were employed for separating and modeling each process and their effects on WMC. The results showed that both the accuracy of updating and shifting were substantially related to WMC while the link from the accuracy of inhibition to WMC was insignificant; on the other hand, only the speed of shifting had a moderate effect on WMC while neither the speed of updating nor the speed of inhibition showed significant effect on WMC. The results suggest that these key processes of attention control exhibit differential effects on individual differences in WMC. The approach that combined experimental manipulations and statistical modeling constitutes a promising way of investigating cognitive processes.

Aetiologies and anatomy of confabulation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Armin Schnider
Keyword(s):  
Brain Damage ◽  
Limbic Encephalitis ◽  
Artery Aneurysm ◽  
Anterior Communicating Artery ◽  
Brain Areas ◽  
Anatomical Basis ◽  
Korsakoff Syndrome ◽  
Hypoxic Brain ◽  
Degenerative Dementia ◽  
The Brain

What diseases cause confabulations and which are the brain areas whose damage is responsible? This chapter reviews the causes, both historic and present, of confabulations and deduces the anatomo-clinical relationships for the four forms of confabulation in the following disorders: alcoholic Korsakoff syndrome, traumatic brain injury, rupture of an anterior communicating artery aneurysm, posterior circulation stroke, herpes and limbic encephalitis, hypoxic brain damage, degenerative dementia, tumours, schizophrenia, and syphilis. Overall, clinically relevant confabulation is rare. Some aetiologies have become more important over time, others have virtually disappeared. While confabulations seem to be more frequent after anterior brain damage, only one form has a distinct anatomical basis.

scholarly journals Limbic Expression of mRNA Coding for Chemoreceptors in Human Brain—Lessons from Brain Atlases

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (13) ◽  
pp. 6858
Author(s):  
Fanny Gaudel ◽  
Gaëlle Guiraudie-Capraz ◽  
François Féron
Keyword(s):  
G Proteins ◽  
The Body ◽  
Trace Amines ◽  
Chemical Senses ◽  
Brain Areas ◽  
Genes Encoding ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Human Brains ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Brain Atlases

Animals strongly rely on chemical senses to uncover the outside world and adjust their behaviour. Chemical signals are perceived by facial sensitive chemosensors that can be clustered into three families, namely the gustatory (TASR), olfactory (OR, TAAR) and pheromonal (VNR, FPR) receptors. Over recent decades, chemoreceptors were identified in non-facial parts of the body, including the brain. In order to map chemoreceptors within the encephalon, we performed a study based on four brain atlases. The transcript expression of selected members of the three chemoreceptor families and their canonical partners was analysed in major areas of healthy and demented human brains. Genes encoding all studied chemoreceptors are transcribed in the central nervous system, particularly in the limbic system. RNA of their canonical transduction partners (G proteins, ion channels) are also observed in all studied brain areas, reinforcing the suggestion that cerebral chemoreceptors are functional. In addition, we noticed that: (i) bitterness-associated receptors display an enriched expression, (ii) the brain is equipped to sense trace amines and pheromonal cues and (iii) chemoreceptor RNA expression varies with age, but not dementia or brain trauma. Extensive studies are now required to further understand how the brain makes sense of endogenous chemicals.

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