Dataset Information

Orbitofrontal contributions to human working memory.

ABSTRACT: Although cognitive neuroscience has made remarkable progress in understanding the involvement of the prefrontal cortex in human memory, the necessity of the orbitofrontal cortex for key competencies of working memory remains largely unexplored. We therefore studied human brain lesion patients to determine whether the orbitofrontal cortex is necessary for working memory function, administering subtests of the Wechsler memory scale, the Wechsler adult intelligence scale, and the n-back task to 3 participant groups: orbitofrontal lesions (n = 24), prefrontal lesions not involving orbitofrontal cortex (n = 40), and no brain lesions (n = 54). Orbitofrontal damage was reliably associated with deficits on neuropsychological tests involving the coordination of working memory maintenance, manipulation, and monitoring processes (n-back task) but not on pure tests of working memory maintenance (digit/spatial span forward) or manipulation (digit/spatial span backward and letter-number sequencing). Our findings elucidate a central component of the neural architecture of working memory, providing key neuropsychological evidence for the necessity of the orbitofrontal cortex in executive control functions underlying the joint maintenance, manipulation, and monitoring of information in working memory.

SUBMITTER: Barbey AK

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3059885 | biostudies-other | 2011 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Orbitofrontal contributions to human working memory.

Barbey Aron K AK Koenigs Michael M Grafman Jordan J

Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) 20100819 4

Although cognitive neuroscience has made remarkable progress in understanding the involvement of the prefrontal cortex in human memory, the necessity of the orbitofrontal cortex for key competencies of working memory remains largely unexplored. We therefore studied human brain lesion patients to determine whether the orbitofrontal cortex is necessary for working memory function, administering subtests of the Wechsler memory scale, the Wechsler adult intelligence scale, and the n-back task to 3 p ...[more]

PMID: 20724371

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Project description:Verbal working memory is one of the most studied non-motor functions with robust cerebellar involvement. While the superior cerebellum (lobule VI) has been associated with articulatory control, the inferior cerebellum (lobule VIIIa) has been linked to phonological storage. The present study was aimed to elucidate the differential roles of these regions by investigating whether the cerebellum might contribute to verbal working memory via predictions based on sequence learning/detection. 19 healthy adult subjects completed an fMRI-based Sternberg task which included repeating and novel letter sequences that were phonologically similar or dissimilar. It was hypothesized that learning a repeating sequence of study letters would reduce phonological storage demand and associated right inferior cerebellar activations and that this effect would be modulated by phonological similarity of the study letters. Specifically, while increased phonological storage demand due to high phonological similarity was expected to be reflected in increased right inferior cerebellar activations for similar relative to dissimilar study letters, the reduction in activation for repeating relative to novel sequences was expected to be more profound for phonologically similar than for dissimilar study letters, especially at higher memory load. Results confirmed the typical effects of cognitive load (5 vs. 2 study letters) and phonological similarity in several cerebellar and neocortical brain regions as well as in behavioral data (accuracy and response time). Importantly, activations in superior and inferior cerebellar regions were differentially modulated as a function of similarity and sequence novelty, indicating that particularly lobule VIIIa may contribute to verbal working memory by generating predictions of letter sequences that reduce the likelihood of phonological loop failure before stored items need to be retrieved. The present study is consistent with other investigations that support prediction, which can be based on sequence learning or detection, as an overarching cerebellar function.

Dataset Information

Orbitofrontal contributions to human working memory.

Publications

Orbitofrontal contributions to human working memory.

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