Intrinsic Functional Architecture Reflects Individual Differences in Passive Working Memory: An Exploratory...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Brain Imaging

Background:

• Passive working memory (WM) is difficult to detect due to minimal neural firing.
• The activity-silent working memory (ASWM) framework suggests transient connectivity changes, which are hard to track with fMRI.
• Understanding baseline neural architecture may reveal predispositions for successful passive WM.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between intrinsic functional brain architecture and individual differences in passive working memory.
• To explore how resting-state functional connectivity and structural MRI relate to passive WM performance.

Main Methods:

• Combined resting-state fMRI, structural MRI, and behavioral data from 151 healthy adults.
• Analyzed functional connectivity-behavior associations using a sequential change-detection task.
• Employed Granger causality analyses and exploratory structural analyses.

Main Results:

• Individual passive WM performance significantly correlated with intrinsic connections within dorsal attention, control, and sensorimotor networks.
• Granger causality revealed group-level temporal dependencies among these linked functional systems.
• Exploratory structural analysis indicated potential overlap between cortical thickness and sensorimotor network nodes.

Conclusions:

• Baseline intrinsic functional architecture is significantly associated with individual differences in passive working memory.
• The findings suggest that stable brain network organization supports latent memory representations.
• Preliminary structural findings complement the functional connectivity results, highlighting the role of neural scaffolding.