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Feature integration in visual working memory: parietal gamma activity is related to cognitive coordination
Helen M Morgan1, Suresh D Muthukumaraswamy, Carina S Hibbs
1Wolfson Centre for Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Bangor University, Bangor, LL57 2AS, UK. h.morgan@bangor.ac.uk
Journal of Neurophysiology
|September 24, 2011
Summary
Parietal gamma activity in the brain is linked to successfully coordinating visual and spatial information in working memory. This finding suggests a role for gamma oscillations in cognitive coordination.
Area of Science:
- Systems Neuroscience
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Neuroimaging
Background:
- The coordination of distinct brain subprocesses is a key challenge in systems neuroscience.
- The parietal lobe and gamma frequency oscillations are implicated in neural coordination and perception.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the neural correlates of integrating mental representations in working memory.
- To test the hypothesis that parietal gamma activity relates to successful cognitive coordination.
Main Methods:
- Magnetoencephalography (MEG) was used to measure brain activity.
- Participants performed working memory tasks involving manipulation of visual and spatial information (colors and angles).
Main Results:
- Higher high gamma (80-100 Hz) activity was observed in the parietal cortex during manipulation of visual-spatial conjunctions compared to single features.
- Parietal gamma activity positively correlated with successful performance on the conjunction task, but not on single-feature tasks.
Conclusions:
- Cortical gamma activity in the parietal cortex may play a crucial role in cognitive coordination.
- These findings contribute to understanding how the brain integrates information for complex cognitive operations.
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