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Zhao S, Sang F, Liu C, Wang F, Liu J, Chen C, Wang J, Li X, Zhang Z. Age-related enhancement of the association between episodic memory and gray matter volume in medial temporal and frontal lobes. BEHAVIORAL AND BRAIN FUNCTIONS : BBF 2024; 20:10. [PMID: 38702688 PMCID: PMC11069137 DOI: 10.1186/s12993-024-00237-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2023] [Accepted: 04/25/2024] [Indexed: 05/06/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Episodic memory (EM) deteriorates as a result of normal aging as well as Alzheimer's disease. The neural underpinnings of such age-related memory impairments in older individuals are not well-understood. Although previous research has unveiled the association between gray matter volume (GMV) and EM in the elderly population, such findings exhibit variances across distinct age cohorts. Consequently, an investigation into the dynamic evolution of this relationship with advancing age is imperative. RESULT The present study utilized a sliding window approach to examine how the correlation between EM and GMV varied with age in a cross-sectional sample of 926 Chinese older adults. We found that both verbal EM (VEM) and spatial EM (SEM) exhibited positive correlations with GMV in extensive areas primarily in the temporal and frontal lobes and that these correlations typically became stronger with older age. Moreover, there were variations in the strength of the correlation between EM and GMV with age, which differed based on sex and the specific type of EM. Specifically, the association between VEM and GMVs in the insula and parietal regions became stronger with age for females but not for males, whereas the association between SEM and GMVs in the parietal and occipital regions became stronger for males but not for females. At the brain system level, there is a significant age-related increase in the correlations between both types of EM and the GMV of both the anterior temporal (AT) system and the posterior medial (PM) system in male group. In females, both types of EM show stronger age-related correlations with the GMV of the AT system compared to males. CONCLUSIONS Our study revealed a significant positive correlation between GMV in most regions associated with EM and age, particularly in the frontal and temporal lobes. This discovery offers new insights into the connection between brain structure and the diminishing episodic memory function among older individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shaokun Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China
- BABRI Centre, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China
| | - Feng Sang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China
- BABRI Centre, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China
| | - Chen Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China
- BABRI Centre, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China
| | - Fei Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China
- BABRI Centre, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China
| | - Jiawen Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China
- BABRI Centre, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China
| | - Chuansheng Chen
- Department of Psychological Science, University of California, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA
| | - Jun Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
- BABRI Centre, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
| | - Xin Li
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
- BABRI Centre, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
| | - Zhanjun Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China
- BABRI Centre, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China
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Teng C, Kaplan SM, Shomstein S, Kravitz DJ. Assessing the interaction between working memory and perception through time. Atten Percept Psychophys 2023; 85:2196-2209. [PMID: 37740152 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-023-02785-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/31/2023] [Indexed: 09/24/2023]
Abstract
Content maintained in visual working memory changes concurrent visual processing, suggesting that visual working memory may recruit an overlapping neural representation with visual perception. However, it remains unclear whether visual working memory representations persist as a sensory code through time, or are recoded later into an abstract code. Here, we directly contrasted a temporal decay + visual code account and a temporal decay + abstract code account within the temporal dynamics of the interaction between working memory and perception. By manipulating the ISI (inter-stimulus interval) between working memory encoding and a perceptual discrimination task, we found that task-relevant and therefore actively maintained perceptual information parametrically altered participants' ability to discriminate perceptual stimuli even 4 s after encoding, whereas task-irrelevant information caused only an acutely transient effect. While continuously present, the size of this shift in discrimination thresholds gradually decreased over time. Concomitantly, the size of the bias in working memory reports increased over time. The opposing directions of threshold and bias effects are consistent with the local maintenance of information in perceptual areas, explained by a temporal decay + visual code account. As the maintained representation decays over time, its ability to alter incoming perceptual signals decreases (reduced threshold effects) while its likelihood of being impacted by those same signals increases (increased bias effects). Altogether, these results suggest that the readout of working memory relies on a sensory representation at a cost of increased interference by ongoing perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chunyue Teng
- Department of Neuroscience, Lawrence University, Appleton, WI, USA.
| | - Simon M Kaplan
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Sarah Shomstein
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Dwight J Kravitz
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
- Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences, National Science Foundation, Arlington, VA, USA
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Lugtmeijer S, Geerligs L, Tsvetanov KA, Mitchell DJ, Cam-Can, Campbell KL. Lifespan differences in visual short-term memory load-modulated functional connectivity. Neuroimage 2023; 270:119982. [PMID: 36848967 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.119982] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2022] [Revised: 02/19/2023] [Accepted: 02/23/2023] [Indexed: 02/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Working memory is critical to higher-order executive processes and declines throughout the adult lifespan. However, our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying this decline is limited. Recent work suggests that functional connectivity between frontal control and posterior visual regions may be critical, but examinations of age differences therein have been limited to a small set of brain regions and extreme group designs (i.e., comparing young and older adults). In this study, we build on previous research by using a lifespan cohort and a whole-brain approach to investigate working memory load-modulated functional connectivity in relation to age and performance. The article reports on analysis of the Cambridge center for Ageing and Neuroscience (Cam-CAN) data. Participants from a population-based lifespan cohort (N = 101, age 23-86) performed a visual short-term memory task during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Visual short-term memory was measured with a delayed recall task for visual motion with three different loads. Whole-brain load-modulated functional connectivity was estimated using psychophysiological interactions in a hundred regions of interest, sorted into seven networks (Schaefer et al., 2018, Yeo et al., 2011). Results showed that load-modulated functional connectivity was strongest within the dorsal attention and visual networks during encoding and maintenance. With increasing age, load-modulated functional connectivity strength decreased throughout the cortex. Whole-brain analyses for the relation between connectivity and behavior were non-significant. Our results give additional support to the sensory recruitment model of working memory. We also demonstrate the widespread negative impact of age on the modulation of functional connectivity by working memory load. Older adults might already be close to ceiling in terms of their neural resources at the lowest load and therefore less able to further increase connectivity with increasing task demands.
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Affiliation(s)
- Selma Lugtmeijer
- Department of Psychology, Brock University, 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, St. Catharines, ON L2S 3A1, Canada.
| | - Linda Geerligs
- Radboud University, Thomas van Aquinostraat 4, 6525 GD, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
| | - Kamen A Tsvetanov
- Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 0QQ, United Kingdom; Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, United Kingdom.
| | - Daniel J Mitchell
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 7EF, United Kingdom.
| | - Cam-Can
- Cambridge Centre for Ageing and Neuroscience (Cam-CAN), University of Cambridge and MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 7EF, United Kingdom.
| | - Karen L Campbell
- Department of Psychology, Brock University, 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, St. Catharines, ON L2S 3A1, Canada.
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Yu X, Zhou Z, Becker SI, Boettcher SEP, Geng JJ. Good-enough attentional guidance. Trends Cogn Sci 2023; 27:391-403. [PMID: 36841692 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2023.01.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2022] [Revised: 01/24/2023] [Accepted: 01/25/2023] [Indexed: 02/27/2023]
Abstract
Theories of attention posit that attentional guidance operates on information held in a target template within memory. The template is often thought to contain veridical target features, akin to a photograph, and to guide attention to objects that match the exact target features. However, recent evidence suggests that attentional guidance is highly flexible and often guided by non-veridical features, a subset of features, or only associated features. We integrate these findings and propose that attentional guidance maximizes search efficiency based on a 'good-enough' principle to rapidly localize candidate target objects. Candidates are then serially interrogated to make target-match decisions using more precise information. We suggest that good-enough guidance optimizes the speed-accuracy-effort trade-offs inherent in each stage of visual search.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinger Yu
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA; Department of Psychology, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Zhiheng Zhou
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Stefanie I Becker
- School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | | | - Joy J Geng
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA; Department of Psychology, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA.
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Phylactou P, Shimi A, Konstantinou N. Causal evidence for the role of the sensory visual cortex in visual short-term memory maintenance. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2023; 10:230321. [PMID: 37090966 PMCID: PMC10113812 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.230321] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2023] [Accepted: 03/27/2023] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
The role of the sensory visual cortex during visual short-term memory (VSTM) remains controversial. This controversy is possibly due to methodological issues in previous attempts to investigate the effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) on VSTM. The aim of this study was to use TMS, while covering previous methodological deficits. Sixty-four young adults were recruited to participate in two experiments (Experiment 1: n = 36; Experiment 2: n = 28) using a VSTM orientation change-detection task under TMS. Monocular vision was ensured using red-blue goggles combined with red-blue stimuli. Double-pulse TMS was delivered at different times (Experiment 1: 0, 200 or 1000 ms; Experiment 2: 200, 1000 ms) during a 2 s maintenance phase, on one side of the occipital hemisphere. In Experiment 2, a sham TMS condition was introduced. Decreased detection sensitivity (d') in the ipsilateral occipital hemisphere to visual hemifield, and in the real TMS (compared with sham TMS) condition indicated inhibitory TMS effects, and thus, a causal involvement of the sensory visual cortex during early (200 ms) and late (1000 ms) maintenance in VSTM. These findings are aligned with sensory recruitment, which proposes that both perceptual and memory processes rely upon the same neural substrates in the sensory visual cortex. The methods used in this study were preregistered and had received in-principle acceptance on 6 June 2022 (Stage 1 protocol can be found in: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/EMPDT).
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Affiliation(s)
- Phivos Phylactou
- Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol 3041, Cyprus
| | - Andria Shimi
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences and Education, University of Cyprus, CY-1678 Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Nikos Konstantinou
- Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol 3041, Cyprus
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6
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Sensory recruitment in visual short-term memory: A systematic review and meta-analysis of sensory visual cortex interference using transcranial magnetic stimulation. Psychon Bull Rev 2022; 29:1594-1624. [PMID: 35606595 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-022-02107-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Sensory visual areas are involved in encoding information in visual short-term memory (VSTM). Yet it remains unclear whether sensory visual cortex is a necessary component of the brain network for maintenance of information in VSTM. Here, we aimed to systematically review studies that have investigated the role of the sensory visual cortex in VSTM using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and to quantitatively explore these effects using meta-analyses. Fourteen studies were identified and reviewed. Eight studies provided sufficient data for meta-analysis. Two meta-analyses, one regarding the VSTM encoding phase (17 effect sizes) and one regarding the VSTM maintenance phase (15 effect sizes), two meta-regressions (32 effect sizes in each), and one exploratory meta-analysis were conducted. Our results indicate that the sensory visual cortex is similarly involved in both the encoding and maintenance VSTM phase. We suggest that some cases where evidence did not show significant TMS effects was due to low memory or perceptual task demands. Overall, these findings support the idea that sensory visual areas are part of the brain network responsible for successfully maintaining information in VSTM.
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Tibon R, Geerligs L, Campbell K. Bridging the big (data) gap: levels of control in small- and large-scale cognitive neuroscience research. Trends Neurosci 2022; 45:507-516. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2022.03.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2021] [Revised: 03/11/2022] [Accepted: 03/29/2022] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
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8
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Xu Y. Towards a better understanding of information storage in visual working memory. VISUAL COGNITION 2021; 29:437-445. [DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2021.1946230] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Yaoda Xu
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, USA
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9
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Iamshchinina P, Christophel TB, Gayet S, Rademaker RL. Essential considerations for exploring visual working memory storage in the human brain. VISUAL COGNITION 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2021.1915902] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Polina Iamshchinina
- Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
- Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Thomas B. Christophel
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience and Berlin Center for Advanced Neuroimaging and Clinic for Neurology, Charité Universitätsmedizin, Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Surya Gayet
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Rosanne L. Rademaker
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- Department of Psychology, University of California, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck Society, Frankfurt, Germany
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