Working Memory Capacities Neurally Dissociate: Evidence from Acute Stroke

Overview

Journal Cereb Cortex Commun

Publisher Oxford University Press

Date 2021 Apr 19

PMID 33870195

Citations 15

Authors

Randi C Martin

Junhua Ding

A Cris Hamilton

Tatiana T Schnur

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Substantial behavioral evidence implies the existence of separable working memory (WM) components for maintaining phonological and semantic information. In contrast, only a few studies have addressed the neural basis of phonological versus semantic WM using functional neuroimaging and none has used a lesion-symptom mapping (LSM) approach. Here, we address this gap, reporting a multivariate LSM study of phonological and semantic WM for 94 individuals at the acute stage of left hemisphere stroke. Testing at the acute stage avoids issues of brain reorganization and the adoption of patient strategies for task performance. The LSM analyses for each WM component controlled for the other WM component and semantic and phonological knowledge at the single word level. For phonological WM, the regions uncovered included the supramarginal gyrus, argued to be the site of phonological storage, and several cortical and subcortical regions plausibly related to inner rehearsal. For semantic WM, inferior frontal regions and the angular gyrus were uncovered. The findings thus provide converging evidence for separable systems for phonological and semantic WM that are distinguished from the systems supporting long-term knowledge representations in those domains.

Citing Articles

Distinct Functional Connectivity Patterns of Brain Networks Involved in Motor Planning Underlie Verbal and Spatial Working Memory.

Marti E, Coll S, Doganci N, Ptak R Brain Behav. 2025; 15(3):e70376.

PMID: 40022219 PMC: 11870840. DOI: 10.1002/brb3.70376.

Recovery of Verbal Working Memory Depends on Left Hemisphere White Matter Tracts.

Martin R, Ding J, Alwani A, Fung S, Schnur T bioRxiv. 2024; .

PMID: 39185144 PMC: 11343190. DOI: 10.1101/2024.08.16.608246.

Is working memory domain-general or domain-specific?.

Nozari N, Martin R Trends Cogn Sci. 2024; 28(11):1023-1036.

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Differences in Connected Speech Outcomes Across Elicitation Methods.

Schnur T, Wang S Aphasiology. 2024; 38(5):816-837.

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Impaired discourse content in aphasia is associated with frontal white matter damage.

Ding J, Middleton E, Mirman D Brain Commun. 2023; 5(6):fcad310.

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