Distinct contributions by frontal and parietal cortices support working memory

Mackey, Wayne E.; Curtis, Clayton E.

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-06293-x

Cited by 49 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…These lesion results are supported by a recent transcranial magnetic stimulation study in which disruption of human dlPFC did not affect accuracy of memory-guided saccades (Mackey and Curtis, 2017 ). However, disruption of topographically-organized precentral sulcus and intraparietal sulcus regions impaired SWM accuracy (Mackey and Curtis, 2017 ) in a way that is consistent with analogous studies in macaque frontal eye fields (FEF) and lateral intraparietal area (LIP). Taken together, the data suggest that the dlPFC circuits that subserve SWM in macaque monkeys may not have a direct homolog in human dlPFC but that other frontal and parietal regions that support SWM may be more homologous in the two species.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 69%

Neither Cholinergic Nor Dopaminergic Enhancement Improve Spatial Working Memory Precision in Humans

Smith

Challa

Silver

2017

Front. Neural Circuits

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Acetylcholine and dopamine are neurotransmitters that play multiple important roles in perception and cognition. Pharmacological cholinergic enhancement reduces excitatory receptive field size of neurons in marmoset primary visual cortex and sharpens the spatial tuning of visual perception and visual cortical fMRI responses in humans. Moreover, previous studies show that manipulation of cholinergic or dopaminergic signaling alters the spatial tuning of macaque prefrontal cortical neurons during the delay period of a spatial working memory (SWM) task and can improve SWM performance in macaque monkeys and human subjects. Here, we investigated the effects of systemic cholinergic and dopaminergic enhancement on the precision of SWM, as measured behaviorally in human subjects. Cholinergic transmission was increased by oral administration of 5 mg of the cholinesterase inhibitor donepezil, and dopaminergic signaling was enhanced with 100 mg levodopa/10 mg carbidopa. Each neurotransmitter system was separately investigated in double-blind placebo-controlled studies. On each trial of the SWM task, a square was presented for 150 ms at a random location along an invisible circle with a radius of 12 degrees of visual angle, followed by a 900 ms delay period with no stimulus shown on the screen. Then, the square was presented at new location, displaced in either a clockwise (CW) or counterclockwise (CCW) direction along the circle. Subjects used their memory of the location of the original square to report the direction of displacement. SWM precision was defined as the amount of displacement corresponding to 75% correct performance. We observed no significant effect on SWM precision for either donepezil or levodopa/carbidopa. There was also no significant effect on performance on the SWM task (percent correct across all trials) for either donepezil or levodopa/carbidopa. Thus, despite evidence that acetylcholine and dopamine regulate spatial tuning of individual neurons and can improve performance of SWM tasks, pharmacological enhancement of signaling of these neurotransmitters does not substantially affect a behavioral measure of the precision of SWM in humans.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 69%

Neither Cholinergic Nor Dopaminergic Enhancement Improve Spatial Working Memory Precision in Humans

Smith

Challa

Silver

2017

Front. Neural Circuits

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“…Although electrical stimulation of an FEF neuron elicits an eye movement of a fixed magnitude and direction, SEF stimulation elicits an eye movement to a fixed region of the visual field relative to the position of the head, irrespective of the starting position of the eye ( 47 ). Although much less is known about topographic organization in SEF, a recent human neuroimaging study suggests it also contains an orderly map of continuous space similar to other visual areas ( 48 ).…”

Section: Ehc Neurophysiology and Neuroanatomymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All three papers used the identical method to localize and define dlPFC, first finding the motor hand area and then moving anteriorly a few centimeters; this method has also been described as an effective way to localize the human FEF ( 70 ). A more recent study using TMS to disrupt activity in human dlPFC found no impairment on memory-guided saccades ( 48 ).…”

Section: Ehc Neurophysiology and Neuroanatomymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Intersection between Ocular and Manual Motor Control: Eye–Hand Coordination in Acquired Brain Injury

et al. 2017

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Acute and chronic disease processes that lead to cerebral injury can often be clinically challenging diagnostically, prognostically, and therapeutically. Neurodegenerative processes are one such elusive diagnostic group, given their often diffuse and indolent nature, creating difficulties in pinpointing specific structural abnormalities that relate to functional limitations. A number of studies in recent years have focused on eye–hand coordination (EHC) in the setting of acquired brain injury (ABI), highlighting the important set of interconnected functions of the eye and hand and their relevance in neurological conditions. These experiments, which have concentrated on focal lesion-based models, have significantly improved our understanding of neurophysiology and underscored the sensitivity of biomarkers in acute and chronic neurological disease processes, especially when such biomarkers are combined synergistically. To better understand EHC and its connection with ABI, there is a need to clarify its definition and to delineate its neuroanatomical and computational underpinnings. Successful EHC relies on the complex feedback- and prediction-mediated relationship between the visual, ocular motor, and manual motor systems and takes advantage of finely orchestrated synergies between these systems in both the spatial and temporal domains. Interactions of this type are representative of functional sensorimotor control, and their disruption constitutes one of the most frequent deficits secondary to brain injury. The present review describes the visually mediated planning and control of eye movements, hand movements, and their coordination, with a particular focus on deficits that occur following neurovascular, neurotraumatic, and neurodegenerative conditions. Following this review, we also discuss potential future research directions, highlighting objective EHC as a sensitive biomarker complement within acute and chronic neurological disease processes.

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“…It is important to emphasize, again, that our findings do not reflect a general, unspecific preparation of an effector or action [ 13 , 25 , 26 ], as this was controlled for by our control task. We also ensured through our task design that there is a clear separation between the memory maintenance and the preparation of any specific motor action throughout the delay period, a problem that has been extensively highlighted in other works [ 10 , 11 , 17 ]. This was because in our experiment an action could only be planned and executed after the delay when the test set was shown.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Accordingly, it might be the prospective action plan that is (additionally) maintained in WM in such situation. Experimental support has been provided in support of this conceptual distinction between retrospective and prospective information maintenance: Studies of Curtis and colleagues [ 11 , 17 ] and Lindner and coworkers [ 14 ] report differences in brain activity whenever spatial objects not only had to be remembered but, at the same time, were targets to which saccades [ 11 ] or reaches [ 14 ] should be directed. Yet, in spite of these reported differences, both working memory and action planning tasks recruit an almost identical set of posterior parietal and frontal areas, reflecting strong functional ties between the two aspects of the perception-to-action processing stream [ 2 , 11 , 14 , 18 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Remember how to use it: Effector-dependent modulation of spatial working memory activity in posterior parietal cortex

2020

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Working memory (WM) is the key process linking perception to action. Several lines of research have, accordingly, highlighted WM's engagement in sensori-motor associations between retrospective stimuli and future behavior. Using human fMRI we investigated whether prior information about the effector used to respond in a WM task would have an impact on the way the same sensory stimulus is maintained in memory despite a behavioral response could not be readily planned. We focused on WM-related activity in posterior parietal cortex during the maintenance of spatial items for a subsequent match-to-sample comparison, which was reported either with a verbal or with a manual response. We expected WM activity to be higher for manual response trials, because of posterior parietal cortex's engagement in both spatial WM and hand movement preparation. Increased fMRI activity for manual response trials in bilateral anterior intraparietal sulcus confirmed our expectations. These results imply that the maintenance of sensory material in WM is optimized for motor context, i.e. for the effector that will be relevant in the upcoming behavioral responses.

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Distinct contributions by frontal and parietal cortices support working memory

Cited by 49 publications

References 36 publications

Neither Cholinergic Nor Dopaminergic Enhancement Improve Spatial Working Memory Precision in Humans

Neither Cholinergic Nor Dopaminergic Enhancement Improve Spatial Working Memory Precision in Humans

The Intersection between Ocular and Manual Motor Control: Eye–Hand Coordination in Acquired Brain Injury

Remember how to use it: Effector-dependent modulation of spatial working memory activity in posterior parietal cortex

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