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PMID: 18614038 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

Differential neural activation for updating rule versus stimulus information in working memory.

Neuron ·Vol. 59 ·No. 1 ·2008-07-10 ·Pages 173-82

Montojo CA, Courtney SM

Abstract

Establishing what information is actively maintained in working memory (WM) and how it is represented and controlled is essential to understanding how such information guides future behavior. WM has traditionally been investigated in terms of the maintenance of stimulus-specific information, such as locations or words. More recently, investigators have emphasized the importance of rules that establish relationships between those stimuli and the pending response. The current study used a mental arithmetic task with fMRI to test whether updating of numbers (i.e., stimuli) and updating of mathematical operations (i.e., rules) in WM relies on the same neural system. Results indicate that, while a common network is activated by both types of updating, rule updating preferentially activates prefrontal cortex while number updating preferentially activates parietal cortex. The results suggest that both numbers and rules are maintained in WM but that they are different types of information that are controlled independently.

MeSH Terms
Adult Analysis of Variance Brain/blood supply,physiology Brain Mapping Female Humans Image Processing, Computer-Assisted/methods Magnetic Resonance Imaging Male Mathematics Memory, Short-Term/physiology Mental Processes/physiology Oxygen/blood Photic Stimulation/methods Reaction Time/physiology
Chemicals
Oxygen
Authors & Affiliations
2 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Montojo Caroline A
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218-2686, USA.
Courtney Susan M
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Article Info
Journal
Neuron
Abbr.
Neuron
ISSN
1097-4199
DOI
10.1016/j.neuron.2008.05.012
Published
2008-07-10
Pages
173-82
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
8809320
PMCID
PMC2496967
Subset
IM
Grants
NIMH NIH HHS · R01 MH061625-03 · United States
NIMH NIH HHS · R01 MH061625-05 · United States
NIMH NIH HHS · R01 MH082957 · United States
NIMH NIH HHS · R01 MH061625-04 · United States
NIMH NIH HHS · R01 MH061625 · United States
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2008.05.012 PMC Full Text View journal details
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