Smith E E, Jonides J
Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1109, USA.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1998 Sep 29;95(20):12061-8. doi: 10.1073/pnas.95.20.12061.
We review a program of research that uses neuroimaging techniques to determine the functional and neural architecture of human working memory. A first set of studies indicates that verbal working memory includes a storage component, which is implemented neurally by areas in the left-hemisphere posterior parietal cortex, and a subvocal rehearsal component, which is implemented by left-hemisphere speech areas, including Broca's area as well as the premotor and supplementary motor areas. We provide a number of neuroimaging dissociations between the storage and rehearsal areas. A second set of studies focuses on spatial working memory and indicates that it is mediated by a network of predominantly right-hemisphere regions that include areas in posterior parietal, occipital, and frontal cortex. We provide some suggestive evidence that these areas, too, divide into storage and rehearsal regions, with right-hemisphere posterior parietal and premotor regions subserving spatial rehearsal. In a final set of studies, we turn to "executive processes," metaprocesses that regulate the processing of working-memory contents. We focus on the executive process of inhibition as it is used in verbal working memory. We provide evidence that such inhibition is mediated by the left-hemisphere prefrontal region and that it can be dissociated from verbal storage and rehearsal processes.
我们回顾了一项研究计划，该计划使用神经成像技术来确定人类工作记忆的功能和神经结构。第一组研究表明，言语工作记忆包括一个存储成分，其在神经层面上由左半球后顶叶皮层的区域实现，以及一个默读复述成分，其由左半球的言语区域实现，包括布洛卡区以及运动前区和辅助运动区。我们提供了存储区和复述区之间的一些神经成像分离证据。第二组研究聚焦于空间工作记忆，并表明它由一个主要位于右半球区域的网络介导，这些区域包括后顶叶、枕叶和额叶皮层的区域。我们提供了一些暗示性证据，表明这些区域也分为存储区和复述区，右半球后顶叶和运动前区负责空间复述。在最后一组研究中，我们转向“执行过程”，即调节工作记忆内容处理的元过程。我们聚焦于言语工作记忆中使用的抑制执行过程。我们提供证据表明，这种抑制由左半球前额叶区域介导，并且它可以与言语存储和复述过程分离。
