Journal
NEUROIMAGE
Volume 21, Issue 1, Pages 340-351Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2003.09.019
Keywords
verbal working memory; auditory; visual; prefrontal cortex; parietal cortex
Funding
- NICHD NIH HHS [HD40761] Funding Source: Medline
- NIMH NIH HHS [MH62430] Funding Source: Medline
- EUNICE KENNEDY SHRIVER NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CHILD HEALTH &HUMAN DEVELOPMENT [K25HD040761] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
- NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH [R03MH062430] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
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The neural bases of verbal (nonspatial) working memory (VWM) have been primarily examined using visual stimuli. Few studies have investigated the neural bases of VWM using auditory stimuli, and fewer have explored modality differences in VWM. In this study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine similarities and differences between visual VWM (vis-VWM) and auditory VWM (aud-VWM) utilizing identical stimuli and a within-subjects design. Performance levels were similar in the two modalities and there was extensive overlap of activation bilaterally in the dorsolateral and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC and VLPFC), intraparietal sulcus, supramarginal gyrus and the basal ganglia. However, a direct statistical comparison revealed significant modality differences: the left posterior parietal cortex, primarily along the intraparietal sulcus, showed greater responses during vis-VWM whereas the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex showed greater responses during aud-VWM. No such differences were observed in the right hemisphere. Other modality differences in VWM were also observed, but they were associated with relative decreases in activation. In particular, we detected bilateral suppression of the superior and middle temporal (audit-Dry) cortex during vis-VWM, and of the occipital (visual) cortex during aud-VWM, thus suggesting that cross-modal inhibitory processes may help to provide preferential access to high-order heteromodal association areas. Taken together, our findings suggest that although similar prefrontal and parietal regions are involved in aud-VWM and vis-VWM, there are important modality differences in the way neural signals art! generated, processed and routed during VWM. (C) 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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