Yang Chia-Yen, Huang Chong-Kai
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Ming Chuan University, No. 5 De Ming Rd., Gui Shan District, Taoyuan County 333, Taiwan.
Department of Electrical Engineering, Chang Gung University, No. 259, Wen hua 1st Rd., Gui shan District, Taoyuan County 333, Taiwan.
J Integr Neurosci. 2018;17(3-4):695-707. doi: 10.3233/JIN-180096.
Working memory is the cognitive process of receiving, processing, and communicating information. Early evaluation and training may help to prevent a marked decline in working-memory ability. The aim of this study was to establish an n-back task system for objectively evaluating the working-memory ability based on the θ power, the γ power, and the degree of θ-γ synchronization. Our experiments were divided into four memory loads (1-back to 4-back) and further divided into digital and matrix stimulation modes. The γ band was divided into three components (γ1: 30-50 Hz, γ2: 50-70 Hz, and γ3: 70-90 Hz). The study recruited 23 healthy young subjects. The obtained results indicate that accuracy rates might be inappropriate for assessing the working memory. The θ power relates to working-memory recognition while the γ power varied with the memory load. Besides, a higher load level should be more appropriate for assessing the working-memory ability. Finally, the number of θ-γ3 couplings was highest between the frontal area and Pz and O2. In summary, the results of this study may be useful in multiple evaluations of working memory, and may lead to a wider variety of clinical applications in the future.
工作记忆是接收、处理和传递信息的认知过程。早期评估和训练可能有助于防止工作记忆能力显著下降。本研究的目的是建立一种基于θ波功率、γ波功率和θ-γ同步程度的n-back任务系统，以客观评估工作记忆能力。我们的实验分为四种记忆负荷（1-back至4-back），并进一步分为数字和矩阵刺激模式。γ波段分为三个分量（γ1：30-50Hz，γ2：50-70Hz，γ3：70-90Hz）。该研究招募了23名健康的年轻受试者。所得结果表明，准确率可能不适用于评估工作记忆。θ波功率与工作记忆识别有关，而γ波功率随记忆负荷而变化。此外，较高的负荷水平可能更适合评估工作记忆能力。最后，额叶区域与Pz和O2之间的θ-γ3耦合数量最高。总之，本研究结果可能有助于对工作记忆进行多种评估，并可能在未来带来更广泛的临床应用。
