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Updated: Jun 11, 2026
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Modeling the Functional Network for Spatial Navigation in the Human Brain
Published on: October 13, 2023
Spatial working memory and spatial attention rely on common neural processes in the intraparietal sulcus
Timothy J Silk1, Mark A Bellgrove, Pia Wrafter
1The University of Queensland, School of Psychology and Queensland Brain Institute, Brisbane, Australia. tim.silk@mcri.edu.au
Neuroimage
|July 10, 2010
Summary
Spatial working memory and spatial attention share brain resources. Research shows the right supramarginal gyrus is key for both spatial memory and attention shifts.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Neuroimaging
Background:
- Spatial working memory and spatial attention are fundamental cognitive processes.
- Behavioral and neuroimaging studies suggest shared resources and neural overlap between these functions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the neural mechanisms underlying spatial working memory and spatial attention using fMRI.
- To determine the extent to which these two cognitive functions rely on common neural substrates.
Main Methods:
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used in 20 healthy participants.
- Participants performed a dual task combining spatial working memory with a visual search task.
- Task loads for both working memory and visual search were parametrically modulated.
Main Results:
- A network of prefrontal, premotor, and parietal regions showed increased activity with higher spatial working memory load.
- An interaction was observed in the right supramarginal gyrus along the intraparietal sulcus.
- Neural activity in this region decreased with increased visual search load, indicating shared resource limitation.
Conclusions:
- The right supramarginal gyrus, along the intraparietal sulcus, plays a critical role in mediating both spatial working memory and spatial attention shifts.
- These findings provide direct neural evidence for shared mechanisms between spatial working memory and spatial attention.
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