Locating and fractionating working memory using functional neuroimaging: storage, maintenance, and executive...

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Neuroimaging
• Brain Function

Background:

• Working memory involves short-term information storage and manipulation.
• Understanding the neural basis of working memory is key to cognitive neuroscience.
• Functional neuroimaging has advanced the study of brain regions involved in memory.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review functional neuroimaging studies on cortical areas in working memory.
• To identify distinct neural systems for different types of working memory information.
• To map the roles of various brain regions in passive storage, active maintenance, and executive control.

Main Methods:

• Review of functional neuroimaging studies.
• Analysis of findings related to verbal, visual object, and spatial working memory.
• Examination of evidence for distinct cortical and subcortical networks.

Main Results:

• Distinct neural systems identified for verbal, visual object, and spatial working memory.
• Posterior brain areas implicated in passive storage buffers.
• Ventrolateral prefrontal cortex involved in active information maintenance.
• Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex associated with executive operations.

Conclusions:

• Working memory relies on distributed neural networks.
• Specific brain regions are specialized for different aspects of working memory.
• Frontal cortex, basal ganglia, and thalamus may form reciprocal circuits for working memory.