Binding of verbal and spatial information in human working memory involves large-scale neural synchronization at theta frequency

Wu, Xi; Chen, Xiangchuan; Li, Zhi-Hao; Han, Shihui; Zhang, Daren

doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2007.02.011

Cited by 63 publications

(50 citation statements)

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“…No such binding effect was expected when location was the relevant feature, however. Similar to the results obtained in previous neuroimaging studies of visual-feature binding (Donner et al, 2002;Shafritz et al, 2002;Todd and Marois, 2004;Vogel and Machizawa, 2004;Xu and Chun, 2006), findings from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and MEG/EEG studies highlight prefrontal and parietal regions as the neuroanatomical correlates of verbal-spatial binding Campo et al, 2005;Prabhakaran et al, 2000;Wu et al, 2007). In essence, these previous studies provide haemodynamic or evoked electrical/ magnetic correlates of binding without addressing the physiological mechanisms underlying this process.…”

supporting

confidence: 78%

“…In humans, greater prefrontal activity during integrated object-location processing has also been shown (Filbey et al, 2005;Mitchell et al, 2000;Simon-Thomas et al, 2003). Moreover, earlier functional neuroimaging (Prabhakaran et al, 2000) and neurophysiological studies (Campo et al, 2005;Wu et al, 2007) in humans have revealed increased activation in prefrontal areas during maintenance of integrated verbal-spatial information. As verbal-spatial binding was observed only in the verbal task it can be inferred that the greater oscillatory activity found in prefrontal areas might be signaling neural processes specifically involved in cross-code binding.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…Accumulated evidence from psychophysical, functional neuroimaging and transcranial magnetic stimulation studies strongly support the crucial role of posterior parietal cortex in visual-feature integration processes (Corbetta et al, 1995;Donner et al, 2002;Lee and Chun, 2001;Shafritz et al, 2002;Simon-Thomas et al, 2003;Marois, 2004, 2005;Vogel and Machizawa, 2004;Xu and Chun, 2006) and verbal-spatial binding Campo et al, 2005;Wu et al, 2007). The prefrontal cortex has been proposed to integrate object identity and location through connections within prefrontal areas (Prabhakaran et al, 2000;Rao et al, 1997) and through converging projections from parietal and temporal regions on the prefrontal cortex (Fuster, 1995;Rao et al, 1997).…”

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confidence: 95%

“…However, in real-world scenes we are faced daily with this kind of integrated information in the form of traffic signals, or tracking routes on maps, etc. Nonetheless, some progress has been made in understanding the behavioural mechanisms (Cowan et al, 2006;Elsley and Parmentier, 2009;Kahnemanetal., 1992;Mitroffand Alvarez, 2007;Morey,2009;Oberauer and Vockenberg, 2009) and the neural bases Campo et al, 2005;Prabhakaran et al, 2000;Wu et al, 2007) of verbal-spatial binding.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Specifically, this approach considers that neurons coding various features of objects are bound into a neuronal assembly by synchronization of their activity and has been supported by numerous studies (Doesburg et al, 2008b;Engel et al, 2001;Palva et al, 2005;Senkowski et al, 2006;Womelsdorf et al, 2007). Although neural oscillatory activity in the gamma band was originally proposed as the mechanism underlying binding processes (Singer, 2001;Singer and Gray, 1995;Tallon-Baudry and Bertrand, 1999), oscillations in other "classical" frequency ranges (theta, alpha and beta) have also been linked with visual-feature binding and cross-modal binding (Bassett et al, 2006;Hummel and Gerloff 2005;Mima et al, 2001;Palva et al, 2005;Wu et al, 2007). While it has been shown that WM operations engage oscillations in different frequency ranges (Grimault et al, 2009;Jokisch and Jensen, 2007;Sauseng et al, 2004;Tesche and Karhu, 2000), the actual role of each frequency in representing the contents of WM remains unclear (Kahana, 2006;Palva et al, 2005).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Oscillatory activity in prefrontal and posterior regions during implicit letter-location binding

et al. 2010

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Many cognitive abilities involve the integration of information from different modalities, a process referred to as "binding." It remains less clear, however, whether the creation of bound representations occurs in an involuntary manner, and whether the links between the constituent features of an object are symmetrical. We used magnetoencephalography to investigate whether oscillatory brain activity related to binding processes would be observed in conditions in which participants maintain one feature only (involuntary binding); and whether this activity varies as a function of the feature attended to by participants (binding asymmetry). Participants performed two probe recognition tasks that were identical in terms of their perceptual characteristics and only differed with respect to the instructions given (to memorize either consonants or locations). MEG data were reconstructed using a current source distribution estimation in the classical frequency bands. We observed implicit verbal-spatial binding only when participants successfully maintained the identity of consonants, which was associated with a selective increase in oscillatory activity over prefrontal regions in all frequency bands during the first half of the retention period and accompanied by increased activity in posterior brain regions. The increase in oscillatory activity in prefrontal areas was only observed during the verbal task, which suggests that this activity might be signaling neural processes specifically involved in cross-code binding. Current results are in agreement with proposals suggesting that the prefrontal cortex function as a "pointer" which indexes the features that belong together within an object.

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confidence: 78%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

mentioning

confidence: 95%

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Oscillatory activity in prefrontal and posterior regions during implicit letter-location binding

et al. 2010

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Working Memory in Schizophrenia: An EEG Study Using Power Spectrum and Coherence Analysis to Estimate Cortical Activation and Network Behavior

Pachou

Vourkas²,

Simos

et al. 2008

Brain Topogr

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This study examined regional cortical activations and cortico-cortical connectivity in a group of 20 high-functioning patients with schizophrenia and 20 healthy controls matched for age and sex during a 0- and a 2-back working memory (WM) task. An earlier study comparing schizophrenia patients with education level-matched healthy controls revealed less "optimally" organized network during the 2-back task, whereas a second study with healthy volunteers had suggested that the degree of cortical organization may be inversely proportional to educational level (less optimal functional connectivity in better educated individuals interpreted as the result of higher efficiency). In the present study, both groups succeeded in the 2-back WM task although healthy individuals had generally attained a higher level of education. First absolute power spectrum of the different frequency bands corresponding to the electrodes of each lobe was calculated. Then the mean values of coherence were calculated as an index of the average synchronization to construct graphs in order to characterize local and large scale topological patterns of cortico-cortical connectivity. The power spectra analyses showed signs of hypofrontality in schizophrenics with an asymmetry. Additionally, differences between the groups with greater changes during WM in healthy individuals were visible in all lobes more on the left side. The graph parameter results indicated decreased small-world architecture i.e. less optimal cortico-cortical functional organization in patients as compared to controls. These findings are consistent with the notion of aberrant neural organization in schizophrenics which is nevertheless sufficient in supporting adequate task performance.

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Alpha- and Theta-Range Cortical Synchronization and Corticomuscular Coherence During Joystick Manipulation in a Virtual Navigation Task

et al. 2013

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Previous studies have reported that multiple brain regions are activated during spatial navigation, but it remains unclear how this activation is converted to motor commands for navigation. This study was aimed to investigate synchronization across different brain regions and between cortical areas and muscles during spatial navigation. This synchronization has been suggested to be essential for integrating activity in the multiple brain areas to support higher cognitive functions and for conversion of cortical activity to motor commands. In the present study, the subjects were required to sequentially trace ten checkpoints in a virtual town by manipulating a joystick and to perform this three times while electroencephalograms and electromyograms from the right arm were monitored. Time spent on the task in the third trial was significantly lesser than that in the first trial indicating an improvement in task performance. This repeated learning was associated with an increase in alpha power at the electrodes over the contralateral sensorimotor region and in theta power at the electrodes over the bilateral premotor and frontotemporal regions. Alpha- and theta-range corticocortical coherences between these regions and other brain areas were also increased in the third trial compared to the first trial. Furthermore, alpha- and theta-range corticomuscular coherence was significantly increased in the second and third trials compared to the first trial. These results suggest that alpha- and theta-range synchronous activity across multiple systems is essential for the integrated brain activity required in spatial navigation and for the conversion of this activity to motor commands.

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Binding of verbal and spatial information in human working memory involves large-scale neural synchronization at theta frequency

Cited by 63 publications

References 50 publications

Oscillatory activity in prefrontal and posterior regions during implicit letter-location binding

Oscillatory activity in prefrontal and posterior regions during implicit letter-location binding

Working Memory in Schizophrenia: An EEG Study Using Power Spectrum and Coherence Analysis to Estimate Cortical Activation and Network Behavior

Alpha- and Theta-Range Cortical Synchronization and Corticomuscular Coherence During Joystick Manipulation in a Virtual Navigation Task

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