van Ede Freek, Jensen Ole, Maris Eric
Radboud University.
University of Oxford.
J Cogn Neurosci. 2017 Aug;29(8):1455-1472. doi: 10.1162/jocn_a_01129. Epub 2017 Mar 30.
Flexible control over currently relevant sensory representations is an essential feature of primate cognition. We investigated the neurophysiological bases of such flexible control in humans during an intermodal working memory task in which participants retained visual or tactile sequences. Using magnetoencephalography, we first show that working memory retention engages early visual and somatosensory areas, as reflected in the sustained load-dependent suppression of alpha and beta oscillations. Next, we identify three components that are also load dependent but modality independent: medial prefrontal theta synchronization, frontoparietal gamma synchronization, and sustained parietal event-related fields. Critically, these domain-general components predict (across trials and within load conditions) the modality-specific suppression of alpha and beta oscillations, with largely unique contributions per component. Thus, working memory engages multiple complementary frontoparietal components that have discernible neuronal dynamics and that flexibly modulate retention-related activity in sensory areas in a manner that tracks the current contents of working memory.
对当前相关感觉表征的灵活控制是灵长类动物认知的一个基本特征。我们在一项多模态工作记忆任务中研究了人类这种灵活控制的神经生理基础，在该任务中参与者要记住视觉或触觉序列。使用脑磁图，我们首先表明工作记忆保持涉及早期视觉和体感区域，这反映在α和β振荡的持续负载依赖性抑制上。接下来，我们识别出三个同样依赖负载但与模态无关的成分：内侧前额叶θ同步、额顶叶γ同步和持续的顶叶事件相关场。至关重要的是，这些领域通用成分预测（跨试验和在负载条件内）α和β振荡的模态特异性抑制，每个成分有很大程度上独特的贡献。因此，工作记忆涉及多个互补的额顶叶成分，这些成分具有可辨别的神经元动力学，并且以跟踪工作记忆当前内容的方式灵活地调节感觉区域中与保持相关的活动。
