Sörqvist Patrik, Saetrevik Bjørn
Laboratory of Applied Psychology, Centre for Built Environment, University of Gävle, Gävle, SwedenDepartment of Biological and Medical Psychology, University of Bergen, and Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway.
Scand J Psychol. 2010 Oct;51(5):357-62. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9450.2010.00817.x.
Most previous studies of updating processes have not been able to contrast processes of substituting items in memory with other concurrent processes. In the present investigation, we used a new task called "number updating" and an fMRI protocol to contrast the activation of trials that require item substitution (adding a new item to the working memory representation and suppressing an old item) with trials that involve no substitution (discarding the new item). Trials that require item substitution activated the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the posterior medial frontal cortex and the parietal lobes, areas typically seen activated for working memory tasks in general. Trials that do not require substitution activated the anterior medial frontal cortex. Studies examining executive functions have associated this area with cognitive conflict, and may represent suppression of the substitution processes.
以往大多数关于更新过程的研究都未能将记忆中项目替换过程与其他并发过程进行对比。在本研究中，我们使用了一种名为“数字更新”的新任务和功能磁共振成像协议，以对比需要项目替换（在工作记忆表征中添加一个新项目并抑制一个旧项目）的试验与不涉及替换（丢弃新项目）的试验的激活情况。需要项目替换的试验激活了背外侧前额叶皮层、后内侧额叶皮层和顶叶，这些区域通常在一般的工作记忆任务中被激活。不需要替换的试验激活了前内侧额叶皮层。研究执行功能的研究将该区域与认知冲突联系起来，可能代表了对替换过程的抑制。
