Fronto-parietal connection asymmetry regulates working memory distractibility

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Science
• Computational Neuroscience

Background:

• Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies show increased neural activity in parietal and frontal cortex correlates with improved visuospatial working memory (vsWM).
• The functional reorganization of the fronto-parietal network underlying these improvements remains under-explored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effective balance between the superior frontal sulcus (SFS) and intraparietal sulcus (IPS).
• To determine the role of the SFS-IPS network in protecting against distracters during vsWM tasks.

Main Methods:

• Electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings during a vsWM task.
• Biophysically based computational cortical network modeling.
• Directed Transfer Function (DTF) analysis of both experimental EEG data and computational model outputs.

Main Results:

• A directed, strong SFS --> IPS network configuration was identified.
• This SFS --> IPS network configuration provides protection against distracters.
• Conversely, strong IPS --> SFS connections were found to be detrimental to distracter protection.

Conclusions:

• The improvement in vsWM performance during development may result from a shift in the effective balance of the SFS-IPS networks.
• The directionality of information flow between SFS and IPS is crucial for effective visuospatial working memory and distracter suppression.