Cognitive control mechanisms involved in removing information from working memory: evidence for distinct mechanisms

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Cognitive control mechanisms involved in removing information from working memory: evidence for distinct mechanisms Marie Banich1*, Kristen M. Seghete1, Gregory Burgess1, Luka Ruzic1 and Brendan Depue1* 1 University of Colorado at Boulder, United States The goal of the present fMRI study was to examine the neural systems involved in the cognitive control of information in working memory. The study was designed to determine whether different neural mechanisms are involved depending on the operation by which information in working memory is updated or changed. To address this issue, individuals heard or saw an item for 4 seconds, making it an active representation. The screen then went blank for the next four seconds, and individuals were asked to perform a mental operation on the just presented item: maintain it in mind, replace it with a different specified item, clear all thought from mind, or specifically suppress that particular item. Confirming that individuals complied with task requirements, level of activity in the relevant sensory processing region was greater for the maintain and replace conditions than for the clear and suppress conditions. In contrast, greater prefrontal activity was observed for the clear and suppress than maintain and replace conditions, suggesting that removing information from working memory requires cognitive control. The results further indicated that the neural systems activated when clearing the contents of working memory differed significantly from those involved in suppressing a specific item, not only with regards to level of activity in frontal brain regions but also with regards to the functional connectivity of these regions with posterior areas. Because of these distinct neural signatures, the results suggest that there are two ways to remove information from working memory, one that acts to remove specific representations, as in the suppress condition, and one that clears the working memory buffer in general, as in the clear condition. Funding: Supported by National Institute of Mental Health P50 MH079485. Keywords: cognitive control, fMRI Conference: XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI), Palma, Mallorca, Spain, 25 Sep - 29 Sep, 2011. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Poster Sessions: Performance Monitoring and Cognitive Control Citation: Banich M, Seghete KM, Burgess G, Ruzic L and Depue B (2011). Cognitive control mechanisms involved in removing information from working memory: evidence for distinct mechanisms. Conference Abstract: XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI). doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2011.207.00267 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 21 Nov 2011; Published Online: 28 Nov 2011. * Correspondence: Dr. Marie Banich, University of Colorado at Boulder, Colorado, United States, marie.banich@colorado.edu Dr. Brendan Depue, University of Colorado at Boulder, Colorado, United States, BrendanDepue1@GMAIL.COM Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Marie Banich Kristen M Seghete Gregory Burgess Luka Ruzic Brendan Depue Google Marie Banich Kristen M Seghete Gregory Burgess Luka Ruzic Brendan Depue Google Scholar Marie Banich Kristen M Seghete Gregory Burgess Luka Ruzic Brendan Depue PubMed Marie Banich Kristen M Seghete Gregory Burgess Luka Ruzic Brendan Depue Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.