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Synchronous retinotopic frontal-temporal activity during long-term memory for spatial location.
1Department of Psychology, Boston College, McGuinn Hall, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA. sd.slotnick@bc.edu
Brain Research
|March 24, 2010
Summary
Spatial long-term memory involves retinotopic activity in frontal and visual sensory regions, but not parietal areas. Frontal and temporal retinotopic activations are synchronous during spatial memory retrieval.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Human Brain Imaging
Background:
- Early visual cortex exhibits retinotopy, a spatial map of the visual field.
- Retinotopic maps have recently been observed in frontal and parietal cortex during tasks involving spatial attention and working memory.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if spatial long-term memory is associated with retinotopic activity in frontal and parietal regions.
- To determine if retinotopic activity in higher-level control regions is synchronous with that in lower-level visual sensory regions.
Main Methods:
- Employed event-related potential (ERP) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) techniques.
- Participants encoded abstract shapes presented to the left or right of fixation.
- During retrieval, participants classified shapes as old (left/right) or new, while brain activity was recorded.
Main Results:
- Retinotopic effects were observed: left-sided memory activated the right hemisphere, and right-sided memory activated the left hemisphere.
- Retinotopic ERP activity was detected in frontal and visual sensory (occipital and temporal) regions.
- fMRI localized retinotopic activity in the frontal cortex to the frontal eye fields; no significant retinotopic memory effects were found in parietal regions.
Conclusions:
- Spatial long-term memory involves retinotopic activity in frontal and visual sensory areas, complementing findings in attention and working memory.
- Retinotopic activity in parietal cortex may necessitate an external peripheral stimulus.
- ERP cross-correlogram analysis indicated synchronous retinotopic activations in frontal and temporal regions, suggesting interaction during spatial information retrieval.
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