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Neural Substrate for Metacognitive Accuracy of Tactile Working Memory
Juha Gogulski1,2, Rasmus Zetter2, Mikko Nyrhinen1,2,3
1Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki 00014, Finland.
Cerebral Cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)
|October 3, 2017
Summary
The prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays a role in metacognition. Navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) revealed that a specific PFC area in the superior frontal gyrus (SFG) enhances temporal tactile working memory (WM) monitoring.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Neuroscience
Background:
- The human prefrontal cortex (PFC) is crucial for metacognition, enabling self-monitoring of cognitive processes.
- Understanding the neural basis of somatosensory metacognition, particularly tactile working memory (WM), is an active area of research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the neural architecture underlying somatosensory metacognition.
- To determine the causal role of specific prefrontal cortex (PFC) regions connected to the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) in tactile WM metacognition.
Main Methods:
- Employed navigated single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to modulate activity in PFC regions connected to S1.
- Subjects performed tactile WM tasks (spatial and temporal) and provided confidence ratings.
- TMS was applied to superior frontal gyrus (SFG) and middle frontal gyrus (MFG) areas, along with a control site.
Main Results:
- TMS of the SFG selectively enhanced metacognitive accuracy for temporal tactile WM, but not spatial tactile WM.
- TMS of the MFG, despite its connection to S1, did not affect metacognitive accuracy for either task.
- Control stimulation showed no significant impact on metacognitive accuracy.
Conclusions:
- Provides causal evidence for distinct neuroanatomical substrates within the PFC for different aspects of tactile WM metacognition.
- Highlights the SFG's specific role in the introspective accuracy of temporal tactile information processing.
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