Working memory refers to the retention of information in conscious awareness when this information is not present in the environment, to its manipulation, and to its use in guiding behavior. Working memory has been implicated as a critical contributor to such essential cognitive functions and properties as language comprehension, learning, planning, reasoning, and general fluid intelligence. Additionally, individual differences in working memory performance predict a remarkable array of """"""""real world"""""""" outcome measures, from reading ability to standardized test performance to socioeconomic status to personality traits. Thus, understanding the cognitive and neural bases of working memory functions is central to understanding normal cognition, as well as its neurological and psychiatric dysfunctions. The PI's research program investigates the cognitive and neural bases of working memory function. It does so within a framework that holds that working memory is an emergent property that arises from the coordinated recruitment, via attention, of brain systems that have evolved to accomplish sensory-, representation-, or action-related functions.
The Specific Aims of the present application for renewal of the PI's R01 build on this work by articulating hypotheses than will support stronger inference than could those proposed in 2003 (due to the addition of novel multivariate methods for measuring functional connectivity and of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to the PI's methodological armamentarium), and by testing mechanistic hypotheses that have arisen from the PI's recent work. They are:
Specific Aim 1 : To test the hypothesis that working memory storage is supported by broadly distributed, functionally connected networks of regions posterior to the PFC.
Specific Aim 2 : To test the hypothesis that working memory storage is accomplished, in part, via the temporary activation of long-term memory (LTM) representations.
Specific Aim 3 : To test the hypothesis that the frontal eye fields (FEF) are a source of the attentional activation that supports working memory storage.

Public Health Relevance

Impairments of working memory are seen in many neurological, psychiatric, and developmental disorders. Achieving a better understanding of the cognitive and neurobiological organization of working memory functions, therefore, may have important implications for the diagnosis, clinical treatment, and cognitive rehabilitation of patients with these disorders.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01MH064498-06
Application #
7764741
Study Section
Cognition and Perception Study Section (CP)
Program Officer
Osborn, Bettina D
Project Start
2001-07-01
Project End
2013-11-30
Budget Start
2009-12-01
Budget End
2010-11-30
Support Year
6
Fiscal Year
2010
Total Cost
$525,138
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Wisconsin Madison
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
161202122
City
Madison
State
WI
Country
United States
Zip Code
53715
Gosseries, Olivia; Yu, Qing; LaRocque, Joshua J et al. (2018) Parietal-Occipital Interactions Underlying Control- and Representation-Related Processes in Working Memory for Nonspatial Visual Features. J Neurosci 38:4357-4366
Lapate, Regina C; Samaha, Jason; Rokers, Bas et al. (2017) Inhibition of Lateral Prefrontal Cortex Produces Emotionally Biased First Impressions: A Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Electroencephalography Study. Psychol Sci 28:942-953
Siclari, Francesca; Baird, Benjamin; Perogamvros, Lampros et al. (2017) The neural correlates of dreaming. Nat Neurosci 20:872-878
LaRocque, Joshua J; Riggall, Adam C; Emrich, Stephen M et al. (2017) Within-Category Decoding of Information in Different Attentional States in Short-Term Memory. Cereb Cortex 27:4881-4890
Boly, Melanie; Massimini, Marcello; Tsuchiya, Naotsugu et al. (2017) Are the Neural Correlates of Consciousness in the Front or in the Back of the Cerebral Cortex? Clinical and Neuroimaging Evidence. J Neurosci 37:9603-9613
Postle, Bradley R (2016) How does the brain keep information ""in mind""? Curr Dir Psychol Sci 25:151-156
Nieminen, Jaakko O; Gosseries, Olivia; Massimini, Marcello et al. (2016) Consciousness and cortical responsiveness: a within-state study during non-rapid eye movement sleep. Sci Rep 6:30932
LaRocque, Joshua J; Eichenbaum, Adam S; Starrett, Michael J et al. (2015) The short- and long-term fates of memory items retained outside the focus of attention. Mem Cognit 43:453-68
Kundu, Bornali; Chang, Jui-Yang; Postle, Bradley R et al. (2015) Context-specific differences in fronto-parieto-occipital effective connectivity during short-term memory maintenance. Neuroimage 114:320-7
Thibaut, F A; Chatelle, C; Wannez, S et al. (2015) Spasticity in disorders of consciousness: a behavioral study. Eur J Phys Rehabil Med 51:389-97

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