Faculty Collaboration Database

Capacity-speed relationships in prefrontal cortex. PLoS One 2011;6(11):e27504

Date

12/02/2011

Pubmed ID

22132105

Pubmed Central ID

PMC3223164

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0027504

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-81755184033 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   12 Citations

Abstract

Working memory (WM) capacity and WM processing speed are simple cognitive measures that underlie human performance in complex processes such as reasoning and language comprehension. These cognitive measures have shown to be interrelated in behavioral studies, yet the neural mechanism behind this interdependence has not been elucidated. We have carried out two functional MRI studies to separately identify brain regions involved in capacity and speed. Experiment 1, using a block-design WM verbal task, identified increased WM capacity with increased activity in right prefrontal regions, and Experiment 2, using a single-trial WM verbal task, identified increased WM processing speed with increased activity in similar regions. Our results suggest that right prefrontal areas may be a common region interlinking these two cognitive measures. Moreover, an overlap analysis with regions associated with binding or chunking suggest that this strategic memory consolidation process may be the mechanism interlinking WM capacity and WM speed.

Author List

Prabhakaran V, Rypma B, Narayanan NS, Meier TB, Austin BP, Nair VA, Naing L, Thomas LE, Gabrieli JD

Author

Timothy B. Meier PhD Associate Professor in the Neurosurgery department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Behavior
Female
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Memory, Short-Term
Photic Stimulation
Prefrontal Cortex
Time Factors
Young Adult