Cognitive Neuroscience Research Unit, Psychology Department, City, University of London, EC1V 0HB, UK; Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience and Movement Disorders, Institute of Neurology, University College London, WC1N 3BG, UK.
Cognitive Neuroscience Research Unit, Psychology Department, City, University of London, EC1V 0HB, UK.
Neuroimage. 2018 Jul 1;174:153-163. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.03.024. Epub 2018 Mar 13.
Working memory (WM) supports temporary maintenance of task-relevant information. This process is associated with persistent activity in the sensory cortex processing the information (e.g., visual stimuli activate visual cortex). However, we argue here that more multifaceted stimuli moderate this sensory-locked activity and recruit distinctive cortices. Specifically, perception of bodies recruits somatosensory cortex (SCx) beyond early visual areas (suggesting embodiment processes). Here we explore persistent activation in processing areas beyond the sensory cortex initially relevant to the modality of the stimuli. Using visual and somatosensory evoked-potentials in a visual WM task, we isolated different levels of visual and somatosensory involvement during encoding of body and non-body-related images. Persistent activity increased in SCx only when maintaining body images in WM, whereas visual/posterior regions' activity increased significantly when maintaining non-body images. Our results bridge WM and embodiment frameworks, supporting a dynamic WM process where the nature of the information summons specific processing resources.
工作记忆（WM）支持与任务相关信息的临时保持。这个过程与处理信息的感觉皮层中的持续活动有关（例如，视觉刺激激活视觉皮层）。然而，我们在这里认为，更具多面性的刺激会调节这种感觉锁定的活动，并招募独特的皮层。具体来说，身体的感知会激活感觉皮层（SCx），而不仅仅是早期的视觉区域（表明体现过程）。在这里，我们探索了在最初与刺激模式相关的感觉皮层之外的处理区域中的持续激活。我们在视觉 WM 任务中使用视觉和体感诱发电位，分离了在编码身体和非身体相关图像时不同程度的视觉和体感参与。只有在 WM 中保持身体图像时，SCx 中的持续活动才会增加，而当保持非身体图像时，视觉/后部区域的活动会显著增加。我们的结果架起了 WM 和体现框架之间的桥梁，支持了一个动态的 WM 过程，其中信息的性质会召集特定的处理资源。
