Mecklinger Axel, Gruenewald Christin, Besson Mireille, Magnié Marie-Noelle, Von Cramon D Yves
Department of Psychology, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany.
Cereb Cortex. 2002 Nov;12(11):1115-23. doi: 10.1093/cercor/12.11.1115.
Previous work using single-cell recordings in monkeys and neuro-imaging studies in humans has shown that perceiving an object or imaging the action associated with the object recruits the same brain regions in the ventral premotor cortex as performing an action with the object. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) for examining whether similar brain regions are also activated while maintaining information about manipulable objects in working memory. Holding information about manipulable objects in working memory activated the left ventral premotor cortex and the left inferior frontal gyrus (Broca's area). Conversely, non-manipulable objects to be held in working memory co-activated Broca's area and the left angular gyrus. When contrasted directly, manipulable relative to non-manipulable objects activated the left ventral premotor cortex and the anterior intraparietal sulcus, a circuitry that is assumed to mediate the transformation of movement-relevant object properties into hand actions. These results indicate that visual working memory for manipulable objects is based on motor programmes associated with their use. Similar to speech motor programmes in verbal memory tasks, hand motor programmes may allow the maintenance of objects in working memory over short intervals.
先前在猴子身上进行的单细胞记录研究以及在人类身上进行的神经成像研究表明，感知一个物体或想象与该物体相关的动作时，所激活的腹侧运动前皮质中的脑区，与使用该物体执行动作时所激活的脑区相同。我们使用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）来研究在工作记忆中保持有关可操纵物体的信息时，是否也会激活类似的脑区。在工作记忆中保持有关可操纵物体的信息会激活左腹侧运动前皮质和左额下回（布洛卡区）。相反，要在工作记忆中保持的不可操纵物体则会共同激活布洛卡区和左角回。直接对比时，相对于不可操纵物体，可操纵物体激活了左腹侧运动前皮质和顶内沟前部，这一神经回路被认为介导了与运动相关的物体属性向手部动作的转化。这些结果表明，可操纵物体的视觉工作记忆是基于与其使用相关的运动程序。类似于言语记忆任务中的言语运动程序，手部运动程序可能使物体在短时间内维持在工作记忆中。
