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Attention shift in human verbal working memory: priming contribution and dynamic brain activation.
Zhihao Li1, Min Bao, Xiangchuan Chen
1Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Science at Microscale, and School of Life Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, PR China.
Brain Research
|March 11, 2006
Summary
Priming contributes to the time costs of switching attention between items in working memory. Event-related potentials reveal brain activity patterns associated with this attention-switching function.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Switching internal attention between multiple working memory items is time-consuming.
- The precise contribution of stimulus identification priming to this switching cost remains unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantify the priming contribution to attention-switching costs in working memory.
- To identify neural correlates of internal attention-switching using event-related potentials (ERPs).
Main Methods:
- A figure identification and counting task was employed.
- Sixty-four channel event-related potential (ERP) recordings were utilized.
- Source localization analysis was performed on ERP data.
Main Results:
- A small but significant priming contribution to attention-switching costs was demonstrated.
- Two ERP correlates at 280 ms and 388 ms were identified for internal attention-switching.
- Dynamic brain activation was observed, originating in the temporal-occipital region and concluding in the left prefrontal cortex, with orderly occipital-prefrontal and cingulate-prefrontal co-activations.
Conclusions:
- Priming plays a role in the cognitive costs associated with attention switching in working memory.
- The left prefrontal cortex is suggested to play a dominant role in attention shifts within verbal working memory, supported by ERP and prior fMRI findings.