Search results for "Working memory"

Basic operations in working memory: contributions from functional imaging studies.

2010

Abstract Working memory (WM) constitutes a fundamental aspect of human cognition. It refers to the ability to keep information active for further use, while allowing it to be prioritized, modified and protected from interference. Much research has addressed the storage function of WM, however, its ‘working’ aspect still remains underspecified. Many operations that work on the contents of WM do not appear specific to WM. The present review focuses on those operations that we consider “basic” because they operate in the service of memory itself, by providing its basic functionality of retaining information active, in a stable yet flexible way. Based on current process models of WM we review f…

Clinico-Immunological Status and Neurocognitive Function of Perinatally Acquired HIV-Positive Children on cART: A Cross-Sectional Correlational Study…

2020

Despite the undisputed benefits of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART), perinatally acquired human immunodeficiency virus (PHIV) children on treatment often present with a spectrum of neurological deficits known as HIV-associated neurocognitive impairment. Even higher CD4 cell count does not seem to prevent the development of neurocognitive impairment in children with PHIV. While CD4 cell count has shown to have the greatest prognostic value, its association with neurocognitive abilities remains to be clarified. This study aimed at determining the correlation between plasma CD4+ lymphocyte and neurocognitive function in children with PHIV on cART. In total, 152 purposively recruited h…

Automatic Temporal Expectancy: A High-Density Event-Related Potential Study

2013

How we compute time is not fully understood. Questions include whether an automatic brain mechanism is engaged in temporally regular environmental structure in order to anticipate events, and whether this can be dissociated from task-related processes, including response preparation, selection and execution. To investigate these issues, a passive temporal oddball task requiring neither time-based motor response nor explicit decision was specifically designed and delivered to participants during high-density, event-related potentials recording. Participants were presented with pairs of audiovisual stimuli (S1 and S2) interspersed with an Inter-Stimulus Interval (ISI) that was manipulated acc…

The role of transcranial magnetic stimulation in the study of cerebellar cognitive function.

2007

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) allows non-invasive stimulation of brain structures. This technique can be used either for stimulating the motor cortex, recording motor evoked potentials from peripheral muscles, or for modulating the excitability of other non-motor areas in order to establish their necessity for a given task. TMS of the cerebellum can give interesting insights on the cerebellar functions. Paired-TMS techniques, delivering stimuli over the cerebellum followed at various interstimulus intervals by stimuli over the motor cortex, allow studying the pattern of connectivity between the cerebellum and the contralateral motor cortex in physiological as well as in pathologic…

Verbal learning and memory and their associations with brain morphology and illness course in schizophrenia spectrum psychoses.

2012

The California Verbal Learning Test and structural brain imaging were administered to 57 subjects with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and 94 controls in a general population sample. Cases had lower semantic cluster scores. Poorer verbal memory strategies were associated with longer duration of illness and heavier use of antipsychotic medication. After controlling for duration of illness, sex, and total gray matter, poorer verbal memory was associated with lower gray matter volume in the cingulate cortex, juxtapositional lobule, right superior temporal gyrus, and precuneus. After controlling for use of antipsychotic medication, there was an association between higher serial clustering and …

Controlling reactive aggression through cognitive evaluation of proactive aggression cues

2006

The authors investigated how the relationship between the acts of proactive and reactive aggression was moderated by the individual differences in cognitive regulation of emotion. An aggression paradigm, a electrocardiogram recording, a cognitive assessment battery, and a short form IQ test were completed by 109 children, aged 8 to 13 years (Juujarvi, Kaartinen, Laitinen, Vanninen, & Pulkkinen, 2006; Juujarvi, Kooistra, Kaartinen, & Pulkkinen, 2001; Lehto, Juujarvi, Kooistra, & Pulkkinen, 2003). The less the children subdued the intensity of their defence to the attacks in the aggression paradigm, the poorer they performed in the cognitive assessment battery tasks measuring Working memory c…

A cognitive architecture for inner speech

2020

Abstract A cognitive architecture for inner speech is presented. It is based on the Standard Model of Mind, integrated with modules for self-talking. Briefly, the working memory of the proposed architecture includes the phonological loop as a component which manages the exchanging information between the phonological store and the articulatory control system. The inner dialogue is modeled as a loop where the phonological store hears the inner voice produced by the hidden articulator process. A central executive module drives the whole system, and contributes to the generation of conscious thoughts by retrieving information from long-term memory. The surface form of thoughts thus emerges by …

Encoding into Visual Working Memory: Event-Related Brain Potentials Reflect Automatic Processing of Seemingly Redundant Information.

2013

Encoding and maintenance of information in visual working memory in an S1-S2 task with a 1500 ms retention phase were investigated by means of event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Participants were asked to decide whether two visual stimuli were physically identical (identity comparison (IC) task) or belonged to the same set or category of equivalent patterns (category comparison (CC) task). The stimuli differ with regard to two features. (1) Each pattern can belong to a set of either four (ESS 4) or eight (ESS 8) equivalent patterns, mirroring differences in the complexity with regard to the representational structure of each pattern (i.e., equivalence set size (ESS)). (2) The set of pat…

Reading Comprehension and Working Memory's Executive Processes: An Intervention Study in Primary School Students

2013

ABSTRA C T Reading comprehension is a highly demanding task that involves the simultaneous process of extracting and constructing meaning in which working memory’s executive processes play a crucial role. In this article, a training program on working memory’s executive processes to improve reading comprehension is presented and empirically tested in two experiments with third-grade primary school students. Experiment 1 showed a greater gain after training the experimental group in contrast to the control group in reading comprehension and intelligence. In experiment 2, we focused on the training processes and compared training results of high and low pretest reading comprehension groups. R…

2020

Abstract Efficient neuronal communication between brain regions through oscillatory synchronization at certain frequencies is necessary for cognition. Such synchronized networks are transient and dynamic, established on the timescale of milliseconds in order to support ongoing cognitive operations. However, few studies characterizing dynamic electrophysiological brain networks have simultaneously accounted for temporal non-stationarity, spectral structure, and spatial properties. Here, we propose an analysis framework for characterizing the large-scale phase-coupling network dynamics during task performance using magnetoencephalography (MEG). We exploit the high spatiotemporal resolution of…