scholarly journals Time-varying whole-brain functional network connectivity coupled to task engagement

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hua Xie ◽  
Javier Gonzalez-Castillo ◽  
Daniel A. Handwerker ◽  
Peter A. Bandettini ◽  
Vince D. Calhoun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Network Connectivity ◽  
Task Engagement ◽  
Blood Oxygenation ◽  
Sufficient Information ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Whole Brain ◽  
Window Approach

Brain functional connectivity (FC), as measured by blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signal, fluctuates at the scale of 10s of seconds. It has recently been found that whole-brain dynamic FC (dFC) patterns contain sufficient information to permit identification of ongoing tasks. Here, we hypothesize that dFC patterns carry fine-grained information that allows for tracking short-term task engagement levels (i.e., 10s of seconds long). To test this hypothesis, 25 subjects were scanned continuously for 25 min while they performed and transitioned between four different tasks: working memory, visual attention, math, and rest. First, we estimated dFC patterns by using a sliding window approach. Next, we extracted two engagement-specific FC patterns representing active engagement and passive engagement by using k-means clustering. Then, we derived three metrics from whole-brain dFC patterns to track engagement level, that is, dissimilarity between dFC patterns and engagement-specific FC patterns, and the level of brainwide integration level. Finally, those engagement markers were evaluated against windowed task performance by using a linear mixed effects model. Significant relationships were observed between abovementioned metrics and windowed task performance for the working memory task only. These findings partially confirm our hypothesis and underscore the potential of whole-brain dFC to track short-term task engagement levels.

scholarly journals Capacity differences in working memory based on resting state brain networks

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariko Osaka ◽  
Mizuki Kaneda ◽  
Miyuki Azuma ◽  
Ken Yaoi ◽  
Tetsuya Shimokawa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Attentional Control ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
High Capacity ◽  
Network Connectivity ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Single Task ◽  
Task Conditions

AbstractHerein, we compared the connectivity of resting-state networks between participants with high and low working memory capacity groups. Brain network connectivity was assessed under both resting and working memory task conditions. Task scans comprised dual-task (reading sentences while memorizing target words) and single-task (reading sentences) conditions. The low capacity group showed relatively stronger connectivity during resting-state in most brain regions, and the high capacity group showed a stronger connectivity between the medial prefrontal and posterior parietal cortices. During task performance, the dorsal attention and salience networks were relatively strongly connected in the high capacity group. In the comparison between dual- and single-task conditions, increased coupling between the anterior cingulate cortex and other attentional control-related areas were noted in the high capacity group. These findings suggest that working memory differences are related with network connectivity variations in attentional control-associated regions during both resting and task performance conditions.

scholarly journals Working Memory Performance under a Negative Affect Is More Susceptible to Higher Cognitive Workloads with Different Neural Haemodynamic Correlates

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 935
Author(s):  
Ying Xing Feng ◽  
Masashi Kiguchi ◽  
Wei Chun Ung ◽  
Sarat Chandra Dass ◽  
Ahmad Fadzil Mohd Hani ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Affective State ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Interactive Effects ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Affective Factors ◽  
Related Stress ◽  
Haemodynamic Activity

The effect of stress on task performance is complex, too much or too little stress negatively affects performance and there exists an optimal level of stress to drive optimal performance. Task difficulty and external affective factors are distinct stressors that impact cognitive performance. Neuroimaging studies showed that mood affects working memory performance and the correlates are changes in haemodynamic activity in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). We investigate the interactive effects of affective states and working memory load (WML) on working memory task performance and haemodynamic activity using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) neuroimaging on the PFC of healthy participants. We seek to understand if haemodynamic responses could tell apart workload-related stress from situational stress arising from external affective distraction. We found that the haemodynamic changes towards affective stressor- and workload-related stress were more dominant in the medial and lateral PFC, respectively. Our study reveals distinct affective state-dependent modulations of haemodynamic activity with increasing WML in n-back tasks, which correlate with decreasing performance. The influence of a negative effect on performance is greater at higher WML, and haemodynamic activity showed evident changes in temporal, and both spatial and strength of activation differently with WML.

scholarly journals Brain hemodynamic response in Examiner–Examinee dyads during spatial short-term memory task: an fNIRS study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Panico ◽  
Stefania De Marco ◽  
Laura Sagliano ◽  
Francesca D’Olimpio ◽  
Dario Grossi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
The Real

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.

scholarly journals Default network connectivity during a working memory task

2010 ◽  
Vol 32 (7) ◽  
pp. 1029-1035 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robyn L. Bluhm ◽  
C. Richard Clark ◽  
Alexander C. McFarlane ◽  
Kathryn A. Moores ◽  
Marnie E. Shaw ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Network Connectivity ◽  
Default Network

scholarly journals Frontal Midline Theta Reflects Individual Task Performance in a Working Memory Task

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Urs Maurer ◽  
Silvia Brem ◽  
Martina Liechti ◽  
Stefano Maurizio ◽  
Lars Michels ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Frontal Midline Theta ◽  
Individual Task

scholarly journals Phenomenology of Visuo-spatial Working Memory Task Performance

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleš Oblak ◽  
Anka Slana Ozimič ◽  
Grega Repovš ◽  
Urban Kordeš
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Psychology ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Bodily Feelings ◽  
Psychological Tasks

In experimental cognitive psychology, objects of inquiry have typically been operationalized with psychological tasks. If we are interested in measuring the target phenomena, we must inquire into the validity of the task; that is, to what extent does the task elicit the phenomenon in question. If we subscribe to the second view, evaluating the validity and the interpretation of the gathered data can be supplemented by understanding the experience of solving psychological tasks. The aim of the present article is to investigate how individuals experience performing a psychological task, specifically, a visuo-spatial working memory task. We present ethnographic descriptions of different ways individuals can experience the same task. We focus on aspects of experience that comprise the overall sense of experience (e.g., bodily feelings, emotional atmosphere, mood). We discuss the methodological implications of our findings and the possibility of conducting a neurophenomenology of visuo-spatial working memory.

scholarly journals Declined functional connectivity of white matter during rest and working memory tasks associates with cognitive impairments in schizophrenia

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yurui Gao ◽  
Muwei Li ◽  
Anna S Huang ◽  
Adam W Anderson ◽  
Zhaohua Ding ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
White Matter ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Impairments ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
Blood Oxygenation ◽  
Cerebral Peduncle

BACKGROUND: Schizophrenia, characterized by cognitive impairments, arises from a disturbance of brain network. Pathological changes in white matter (WM) have been indicated as playing a role in disturbing neural connectivity in schizophrenia. However, deficits of functional connectivity (FC) in individual WM bundles in schizophrenia have never been explored; neither have cognitive correlates with those deficits. METHODS: Resting-state and spatial working memory task fMRI images were acquired on 67 healthy subjects and 84 patients with schizophrenia. The correlations in blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) signals between 46 WM and 82 gray matter regions were quantified, analyzed and compared between groups under three scenarios (i.e., resting state, retention period and entire time of a spatial working memory task). Associations of FC in WM with cognitive assessment scores were evaluated for three scenarios. RESULTS: FC deficits were significant (p<.05) in external capsule, cingulum, uncinate fasciculus, genu and body of corpus callosum under all three scenarios. Deficits were also present in the anterior limb of the internal capsule and cerebral peduncle in task scenario. Decreased FCs in specific WM bundles associated significantly (p<.05) with cognitive impairments in working memory, processing speed and/or cognitive control. CONCLUSIONS: Decreases in FC are evident in several WM bundles in patients with schizophrenia and are significantly associated with cognitive impairments during both rest and working memory tasks. Furthermore, working memory tasks expose FC deficits in more WM bundles and more cognitive associates in schizophrenia than resting state does.

scholarly journals Spontaneous Eye Blink Rate during the Working Memory Delay Period Predicts Task Performance

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jefferson Ortega ◽  
Chelsea Reichert Plaska ◽  
Bernard A Gomes ◽  
Timothy M Ellmore
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Delay Period ◽  
Blink Rate ◽  
Indirect Measure ◽  
Eye Blink ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

Spontaneous eye blink rate (sEBR) has been found to be a non-invasive indirect measure of striatal dopamine activity. Dopamine (DA) neurons project to the prefrontal cortex (PFC) through the mesocortical dopamine pathway and their activity is implicated in a range of cognitive functions, including attention and working memory (WM). The goal of the present study was to understand how fluctuations in sEBR during different phases of a working memory task relate to task performance. Across two experiments, with recordings of sEBR inside and outside of a magnetic resonance imaging bore, we observed sEBR to be positively correlated with WM performance during the WM delay period. Additionally we investigated the non-linear relationship between sEBR and WM performance, and modeled a proposed Inverted-U-shape relationship between DA and WM performance. We also investigated blink duration, which is proposed to be related to sustained attention, and found blink duration to be significantly shorter during the encoding and probe periods of the task. Taken together, these results provide support towards sEBR as an important correlate of working memory task performance. The relationship of sEBR to DA activity and the influence of DA on the PFC during WM maintenance is discussed.

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