Delay activity during visual working memory: A meta-analysis of 30 fMRI experiments

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Neuroscience

Background:

• Visual working memory involves temporary storage and manipulation of visual information.
• The neural basis of the delay period in visual working memory remains debated, with inconsistent findings on sustained hemodynamic responses.
• Persistent neural activity is a known correlate, but precise brain regions are unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To precisely identify brain regions involved in the delay period of visual working memory.
• To resolve inconsistencies in previous neuroimaging studies.
• To understand how task demands influence neural substrates.

Main Methods:

• Coordinate-based meta-analysis of 30 functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments.
• Involved 515 healthy adult participants.
• Analyses included subgroup meta-analyses based on task demands and stimulus types.

Main Results:

• A widespread frontoparietal network was identified for delay-period activity.
• Activation was also observed in the right inferior temporal cortex.
• Findings were robust across different meta-analytic algorithms and resilient to heterogeneity and publication bias.

Conclusions:

• A frontoparietal-temporal network underpins visual working memory delay periods.
• Specific cognitive operations are flexibly expressed across this network based on experimental parameters.
• This provides a more unified understanding of the neural architecture supporting visual working memory.