Maintaining verbal short-term memory representations in non-perceptual parietal regions

Abstract

Buffer accounts of verbal short-term memory (STM) assume dedicated buffers for maintaining different types of information (e.g., phonological, visual) whereas embedded processes accounts argue against the existence of buffers and claim that STM consists of the activated portion of long-term memory (LTM). We addressed this debate by determining whether STM recruits the same neural substrate as LTM, or whether additional regions are involved in short-term storage. Using fMRI with representational similarity analysis (RSA), we examined the representational correspondence of multi-voxel neural activation patterns with the theoretical predictions for the maintenance of both phonological and semantic codes in STM. We found that during the delay period of a phonological STM task, phonological representations could be decoded in the left supramarginal gyrus (SMG) but not the superior temporal gyrus (STG), a speech processing region, for word stimuli. Whereas the pattern in the SMG was specific to phonology, a different region in the left angular gyrus showed RSA decoding evidence for the retention of either phonological or semantic codes, depending on the task context. Taken together, the results provide clear support for a dedicated buffer account of phonological STM, although evidence for a semantic buffer is equivocal.