Dorsolateral prefrontal contributions to human working memory

Aron K. Barbey; Michael Koenigs; Jordan Grafman

doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2012.05.022

Dorsolateral prefrontal contributions to human working memory

Aron K. Barbey^*, Michael Koenigs, Jordan Grafman

^*Corresponding author for this work

Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

643 Scopus citations

Abstract

Although neuroscience has made remarkable progress in understanding the involvement of prefrontal cortex (PFC) in human memory, the necessity of dorsolateral PFC (dlPFC) for key competencies of working memory remains largely unexplored. We therefore studied human brain lesion patients to determine whether dlPFC is necessary for working memory function, administering subtests of the Wechsler Memory Scale, the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, and the N-Back Task to three participant groups: dlPFC lesions (n = 19), non-dlPFC lesions (n = 152), and no brain lesions (n = 54). DlPFC damage was associated with deficits in the manipulation of verbal and spatial knowledge, with left dlPFC necessary for manipulating information in working memory and right dlPFC critical for manipulating information in a broader range of reasoning contexts. Our findings elucidate the architecture of working memory, providing key neuropsychological evidence for the necessity of dlPFC in the manipulation of verbal and spatial knowledge.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	1195-1205
Number of pages	11
Journal	Cortex
Volume	49
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2012.05.022
State	Published - May 2013

Funding

We are grateful to S. Bonifant, B. Cheon, C. Ngo, A. Greathouse, V. Raymont, K. Reding, and G. Tasick for their invaluable help with the testing of participants and organization of this study. This work was supported by funding from the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke intramural research program and a project grant from the United States Army Medical Research and Material Command administered by the Henry M. Jackson Foundation (Vietnam Head Injury Study Phase III: a 30-year post-injury follow-up study, grant number DAMD17-01-1-0675 ).

Keywords

Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
Lesion data
Prefrontal cortex
Working memory

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology
Cognitive Neuroscience

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10.1016/j.cortex.2012.05.022

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abstract = "Although neuroscience has made remarkable progress in understanding the involvement of prefrontal cortex (PFC) in human memory, the necessity of dorsolateral PFC (dlPFC) for key competencies of working memory remains largely unexplored. We therefore studied human brain lesion patients to determine whether dlPFC is necessary for working memory function, administering subtests of the Wechsler Memory Scale, the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, and the N-Back Task to three participant groups: dlPFC lesions (n = 19), non-dlPFC lesions (n = 152), and no brain lesions (n = 54). DlPFC damage was associated with deficits in the manipulation of verbal and spatial knowledge, with left dlPFC necessary for manipulating information in working memory and right dlPFC critical for manipulating information in a broader range of reasoning contexts. Our findings elucidate the architecture of working memory, providing key neuropsychological evidence for the necessity of dlPFC in the manipulation of verbal and spatial knowledge.",

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Dorsolateral prefrontal contributions to human working memory

Abstract

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