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| Research article summary (published 21 Jan 2003): |
Encoding strategies dissociate prefrontal activity from working memory demand.
Full Abstract
It is often proposed that prefrontal cortex is important in organization and control of working memory contents. In some cases, effective reorganization can decrease task difficulty, implying a dissociation between frontal activity and basic memory demand. In a spatial working memory task, we studied the improvement of performance that occurs when materials can be reorganized into higher level groups or chunks. Structured sequences, encouraging reorganization and chunking, were compared with unstructured sequences. Though structured sequences were easier to remember, event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) showed increased activation of lateral frontal cortex, in particular during memory encoding. The results show that, even when memory demand decreases, organization of working memory contents into higher level chunks is associated with increased prefrontal activity.
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Author information
Author/s: Bor, Daniel (D); Duncan, John (J); Wiseman, Richard J (RJ); Owen, Adrian M (AM);
Affiliation: Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge CB2 2EF, United Kingdom. daniel.bor@mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk
Journal and publication information
Publication Type: Clinical Trial; Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Journal: Neuron (Neuron), published in United States. (Language: eng)
Reference: 2003-Jan; vol 37 (issue 2) : pp 361-7
Dates: Created 2003/01/27; Completed 2003/04/04; Revised 2006/11/15;
PMID: 12546829, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)
Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.
Comments and Corrections
CommentIn: Neuron. 2003 Jan 23;37(2):191-2. (PMID: 12546814)
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