Layer-dependent activity in human prefrontal cortex during working memory

Working memory involves storing and/or manipulating previously encoded information over a short-term delay period, which is typically followed by a behavioral response based on the remembered information. Although working memory tasks often engage dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, few studies have inv...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature neuroscience 2019-10, Vol.22 (10), p.1687-1695
Main Authors: Finn, Emily S., Huber, Laurentius, Jangraw, David C., Molfese, Peter J., Bandettini, Peter A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
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631/378/1595/1636
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Adult
Analysis
Animal Genetics and Genomics
Behavioral Sciences
Biological Techniques
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
Brain mapping
Brain Mapping - methods
Cognition - physiology
Cognitive ability
Delay
Female
Functional magnetic resonance imaging
Humans
Information processing
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Memory
Memory tasks
Memory, Short-Term - physiology
Middle Aged
Neural circuitry
Neurobiology
Neurosciences
Prefrontal cortex
Prefrontal Cortex - anatomy & histology
Prefrontal Cortex - diagnostic imaging
Prefrontal Cortex - physiology
Psychomotor Performance - physiology
Short term memory
Young Adult
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Summary:Working memory involves storing and/or manipulating previously encoded information over a short-term delay period, which is typically followed by a behavioral response based on the remembered information. Although working memory tasks often engage dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, few studies have investigated whether their subprocesses are localized to different cortical depths in this region, and none have done so in humans. Here we use high-resolution functional MRI to interrogate the layer specificity of neural activity during different periods of a delayed-response task in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. We detect activity time courses that follow the hypothesized patterns: namely, superficial layers are preferentially active during the delay period, specifically in trials requiring manipulation (rather than mere maintenance) of information held in working memory, and deeper layers are preferentially active during the response. Results demonstrate that layer-specific functional MRI can be used in higher-order brain regions to noninvasively map cognitive processing in humans. By developing layer-specific functional MRI techniques for a high-order cognitive brain area, Finn et al. dissociate activity in superficial and deeper cortical layers during different periods of a working memory task in human dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.
ISSN:1097-6256
1546-1726
1546-1726
DOI:10.1038/s41593-019-0487-z