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Updated: Jun 18, 2026
06:54
Methods for Presenting Real-world Objects Under Controlled Laboratory Conditions
Published on: June 21, 2019
Maintenance of real objects and their verbal designations in working memory
Stefan Kaiser1, Marie-Luise Kopka, Mirjam Rentrop
1Section of Experimental Psychopathology, Department of Psychiatry, Centre for Psychosocial Medicine, University of Heidelberg, Voss-Strasse 4, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany. stefan.kaiser@med.uni-heidelberg.de
Neuroscience Letters
|November 26, 2009
Summary
This study reveals how the brain maintains information about real objects versus their names. Common brain areas are used, but distinct regions activate for visual imagery of objects and auditory rehearsal of words.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Brain Imaging
Background:
- Working memory is crucial for cognitive tasks.
- Understanding the neural basis of maintaining different types of information (e.g., visual objects vs. words) is key to cognitive neuroscience.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the neural correlates of working memory maintenance for real objects compared to their verbal designations.
- To identify overlapping and distinct brain regions involved in processing object-based and word-based working memory.
Main Methods:
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used.
- A delayed match-to-sample task was employed to assess working memory load.
- Analysis focused on load effects for objects versus words.
Main Results:
- A common bilateral network, including the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and intraparietal sulcus, was activated for both object and word maintenance.
- Object maintenance showed stronger activation in the precuneus, suggesting mental imagery.
- Word maintenance activated premotor and auditory areas, indicating phonological rehearsal.
Conclusions:
- Overlapping neural codes exist for real-world objects and their verbal representations in working memory.
- Distinct neural processes, namely mental imagery for objects and phonological rehearsal for words, are differentially employed.
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