Temporal dynamics of brain activation during a working memory task

Jonathan D. Cohen, William M. Perlstein, Todd S. Braver, Leigh E. Nystrom, Douglas C. Noll, John Jonides and Edward E. Smith
Additional contact information
Jonathan D. Cohen: Carnegie Mellon University
William M. Perlstein: University of Pittsburgh
Todd S. Braver: Carnegie Mellon University
Leigh E. Nystrom: University of Pittsburgh
Douglas C. Noll: University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
John Jonides: University of Michigan
Edward E. Smith: University of Michigan

Nature, 1997, vol. 386, issue 6625, 604-608

Abstract: Abstract Working memory is responsible for the short-term storage and online manipulation of information necessary for higher cognitive functions, such as language, planning and problem-solving1,2. Traditionally, working memory has been divided into two types of processes: executive control (governing the encoding manipulation and retrieval of information in working memory) and active maintenance (keeping information available 'online'). It has also been proposed that these two types of processes may be subserved by distinct cortical structures, with the prefrontal cortex housing the executive control processes, and more posterior regions housing the content-specific buffers (for example verbal versus visuospatial) responsible for active maintenance3,4. However, studies in non-human primates suggest that dorsolateral regions of the prefrontal cortex may also be involved in active maintenance5–8. We have used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine brain activation in human subjects during performance of a working memory task. We used the temporal resolution of this technique to examine the dynamics of regional activation, and to show that prefrontal cortex along with parietal cortex appears to play a role in active maintenance.

Date: 1997
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/386604a0 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:386:y:1997:i:6625:d:10.1038_386604a0

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/386604a0

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().