Neural Signatures of Stimulus Features in Visual Working Memory—A Spatiotemporal Approach

We examined the neural signatures of stimulus features in visual working memory (WM) by integrating functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and event-related potential data recorded during mental manipulation of colors, rotation angles, and color–angle conjunctions. The N200, negative slow wave...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. 1991) N.Y. 1991), 2010-01, Vol.20 (1), p.187-197
Main Authors: Morgan, Helen M., Jackson, Margaret C., Klein, Christoph, Mohr, Harald, Shapiro, Kimron L., Linden, David E. J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Color Perception - physiology
EEG
Electroencephalography
Evoked Potentials
Female
fMRI
Frontal Lobe - anatomy & histology
Frontal Lobe - physiology
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Memory, Short-Term - physiology
Neural Pathways
Parietal Lobe - anatomy & histology
Parietal Lobe - physiology
Photic Stimulation
source analysis
Space Perception - physiology
visual
Visual Cortex - anatomy & histology
Visual Cortex - physiology
working memory
Young Adult
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Summary:We examined the neural signatures of stimulus features in visual working memory (WM) by integrating functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and event-related potential data recorded during mental manipulation of colors, rotation angles, and color–angle conjunctions. The N200, negative slow wave, and P3b were modulated by the information content of WM, and an fMRI-constrained source model revealed a progression in neural activity from posterior visual areas to higher order areas in the ventral and dorsal processing streams. Color processing was associated with activity in inferior frontal gyrus during encoding and retrieval, whereas angle processing involved right parietal regions during the delay interval. WM for color–angle conjunctions did not involve any additional neural processes. The finding that different patterns of brain activity underlie WM for color and spatial information is consistent with ideas that the ventral/dorsal “what/where” segregation of perceptual processing influences WM organization. The absence of characteristic signatures of conjunction-related brain activity, which was generally intermediate between the 2 single conditions, suggests that conjunction judgments are based on the coordinated activity of these 2 streams.
ISSN:1047-3211
1460-2199
DOI:10.1093/cercor/bhp094