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Assessing Working Memory in Children: The Comprehensive Assessment Battery for Children – Working Memory (CABC-WM)
Published on: June 12, 2017
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Associations between abstract working memory abilities and brain activity underlying long-term recognition of
Gemma Fernández-Rubio1, Francesco Carlomagno1,2, Peter Vuust1
1Center for Music in the Brain, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University & The Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark.
PNAS Nexus
|January 30, 2023
Summary
Working memory (WM) abilities correlate with brain activity during auditory sequence recognition. High WM performers utilize a broader neural network, including visual processing areas, for auditory memory tasks.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Neurobiology of Memory
Background:
- Memory involves interacting subsystems like short-term, long-term, and working memory (WM).
- The relationship between these memory subsystems, particularly at the neural level, remains underexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the link between individual working memory (WM) capacities and brain activity during auditory sequence recognition.
- To identify specific brain regions and networks involved in this relationship.
Main Methods:
- Participants' working memory (WM) abilities were assessed.
- Brain activity was measured during the recognition of previously memorized versus novel auditory sequences using neuroimaging techniques.
- Correlational analyses examined the relationship between WM performance and neural activation patterns.
Main Results:
- Auditory sequence recognition engaged a widespread brain network, including the cingulate gyrus, hippocampus, insula, and prefrontal cortex.
- Positive correlations were found between brain activity during auditory recognition and individual WM abilities.
- High WM performers showed increased recruitment of brain areas typically associated with visual processing, such as the inferior temporal and postcentral gyri.
Conclusions:
- Working memory (WM) abilities are positively correlated with neural activity underlying long-term auditory sequence recognition.
- This study provides novel insights into the interplay between different memory subsystems.
- Effective auditory memory recognition, especially in high WM individuals, may involve cross-modal recruitment of neural resources, including visual processing areas.
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