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A Privileged Working Memory State and Potential Top-Down Modulation for Faces, Not Scenes.

ABSTRACT: Top-down modulation is engaged during multiple stages of working memory (WM), including expectation, encoding, and maintenance. During WM maintenance period, an "incidental cue" can bring one of the two items into a privileged state and make the privileged item be recalled with higher precision, despite being irrelevant to which one to be probed as the target. With regard to the different representational states of WM, it's unclear whether there is top-down modulation on earth sensory cortical areas. Here, We used this behavioral paradigm of "incidental cue" and event-related fMRI to investigate whether there were a privileged WM state and top-down modulation for complex stimuli including faces and natural scenes. We found that faces, not scenes, could enter into the privileged state with improved accuracy and response time of WM task. Meanwhile, cue-driven baseline activity shifts in fusiform face area (FFA) were identified by univariate analysis in the recognition of privileged faces, compared to that of non-privileged ones. In addition, the functional connectivity between FFA and right inferior frontal junction (IFJ), middle frontal gyrus (MFG), inferior frontal gyrus, right intraparietal sulcus (IPS), right precuneus and supplementary motor area was significantly enhanced, corresponding to the improved WM performance. Moreover, FFA connectivity with IFJ and IPS could predict WM improvements. These findings indicated that privileged WM state and potential top-down modulation existed for faces, but not scenes, during WM maintenance period.

SUBMITTER: Lin H

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6360155 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A Privileged Working Memory State and Potential Top-Down Modulation for Faces, Not Scenes.

Lin Hai H Li Wei-Ping WP Carlson Synnöve S

Frontiers in human neuroscience 20190128

Top-down modulation is engaged during multiple stages of working memory (WM), including expectation, encoding, and maintenance. During WM maintenance period, an "incidental cue" can bring one of the two items into a privileged state and make the privileged item be recalled with higher precision, despite being irrelevant to which one to be probed as the target. With regard to the different representational states of WM, it's unclear whether there is top-down modulation on earth sensory cortical a ...[more]

PMID: 30745866

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Project description:BackgroundPosttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been found to be associated with emotion under-modulation from the prefrontal cortex and a breakdown of the top-down control of cognition and emotion. Novel adjunct therapies such as neurofeedback (NFB) have been shown to normalize aberrant neural circuits that underlie PTSD psychopathology at rest. However, little evidence exists for NFB-linked neural improvements under emotionally relevant cognitive load. The current study sought to address this gap by examining the effects of alpha-down NFB in the context of an emotional n-back task.MethodsWe conducted a 20-week double-blind randomized, sham-controlled trial of alpha-down NFB and collected neuroimaging data before and after the NFB protocol. Participants performed an emotional 1-back and 2-back working memory task, with interleaved trauma-neutral and trauma-relevant cues in the fMRI scanner. Data from 35 participants with a primary diagnosis of PTSD were analyzed in this study (n = 18 in the experimental group undergoing alpha-down NFB, n = 17 in the sham-control group).ResultsFirstly, within-group analyses showed clinically significant reductions in PTSD symptom severity scores at the post-intervention timepoint and 3-month follow-up for the experimental group, and not for the sham-control group. The neuroimaging analyses revealed that alpha-down NFB enhanced engagement of top-down cognitive and emotional control centers, such as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), and improved integration of the anterior and posterior parts of the default mode network (DMN). Finally, our results also indicate that increased alpha-down NFB performance correlated with increased activity in brain regions involved in top-down control and bodily consciousness/embodied processing of self (TPJ and posterior insula).ConclusionThis is the first study to provide mechanistic insights into how NFB may normalize dysfunctional brain activity and connectivity in PTSD under cognitive load with simultaneous symptom provocation, adding to a growing body of evidence supporting the therapeutic neuromodulatory effects of NFB. This preliminary study highlights the benefits of alpha-down NFB training as an adjunctive therapy for PTSD and warrants further investigation into its therapeutic effects on cognitive and emotion control in those with PTSD.

Dataset Information

A Privileged Working Memory State and Potential Top-Down Modulation for Faces, Not Scenes.

Publications

A Privileged Working Memory State and Potential Top-Down Modulation for Faces, Not Scenes.

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