Paulesu E, Frith C D, Frackowiak R S
MRC Cyclotron Unit, Hammersmith Hospital, London, UK.
Nature. 1993 Mar 25;362(6418):342-5. doi: 10.1038/362342a0.
By repeating words 'in our head', verbal material (such as telephone numbers) can be kept in working memory almost indefinitely. This 'articulatory loop' includes a subvocal rehearsal system and a phonological store. Little is known about neural correlates of this model of verbal short-term memory. We therefore measured regional cerebral blood flow, an index of neuronal activity, in volunteers performing a task engaging both components of the articulatory loop (short-term memory for letters) and a task which engages only the subvocal rehearsal system (rhyming judgement for letters). Stimuli were presented visually and the subjects did not speak. We report here that comparisons of distribution of cerebral blood flow in these conditions localized the phonological store to the left supramarginal gyrus whereas the subvocal rehearsal system was associated with Broca's area. This is, to our knowledge, the first demonstration of the normal anatomy of the components of the 'articulatory loop'.
通过在脑海中重复词语，言语材料（如电话号码）几乎可以无限期地保存在工作记忆中。这种“发音环路”包括一个默读复述系统和一个语音存储区。关于这种言语短期记忆模型的神经关联知之甚少。因此，我们测量了志愿者在执行一项涉及发音环路两个组成部分（字母的短期记忆）的任务以及一项仅涉及默读复述系统的任务（字母的押韵判断）时的局部脑血流量，这是神经元活动的一个指标。刺激以视觉方式呈现，受试者不说话。我们在此报告，在这些条件下对脑血流量分布的比较将语音存储区定位到左侧缘上回，而默读复述系统与布洛卡区有关。据我们所知，这是对“发音环路”各组成部分正常解剖结构的首次证明。
