Oscillatory brain activity during human somatosensory working memory maintenance

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Oscillatory brain activity during human somatosensory working memory maintenance Saskia Haegens1*, D. Osipova1, R. Oostenveld1 and O. Jensen1 1 F.C. Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Netherlands We used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to investigate somatosensory working memory maintenance. The somatosensory system is an excellent model system to study the involvement of primary and secondary sensory areas in working memory. MEG allows us to explore the temporal dynamics of the somatosensory system in terms of oscillatory activity. Subjects performed a delayed-match-to-sample task, with stimuli consisting of pulse trains delivered using median nerve stimulation. Time-frequency representations of power were calculated for the retention period. The maintenance of somatosensory working memory representations was reflected by sustained gamma band activity over bilateral somatosensory regions. Moreover, we observed transient involvement of contralateral primary somatosensory cortex in working memory retention. Additionally, we observed an increase in alpha band activity over posterior areas and ipsilateral somatosensory cortex. This alpha band increase was stronger for trials with correct memory performance than for incorrect trials. Previous studies in the visual and auditory domains found a similar engagement of sustained gamma activity during working memory maintenance, in the respective sensory areas. Our findings extend the notion that sustained gamma band activity reflects the mechanism of working memory maintenance to the somatosensory system. We interpret the alpha activity to reflect a functional inhibitory mechanism, since it was identified in brain regions not required for the task. We propose that the ipsilateral alpha activity plays a similar role for the somatosensory system as posterior alpha plays for the visual system. This study suggests that findings from other modalities, such as the visual system, can be extended to the somatosensory system. Conference: 10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience, Bodrum, Turkey, 1 Sep - 5 Sep, 2008. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Brain Electrical Oscillations in Cognition Citation: Haegens S, Osipova D, Oostenveld R and Jensen O (2008). Oscillatory brain activity during human somatosensory working memory maintenance. Conference Abstract: 10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.09.2009.01.123 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: 05 Dec 2008; Published Online: 05 Dec 2008. * Correspondence: Saskia Haegens, F.C. Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Nijmegen, Netherlands, saskia.haegens@fcdonders.ru.nl 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 Saskia Haegens D. Osipova R. Oostenveld O. Jensen Google Saskia Haegens D. Osipova R. Oostenveld O. Jensen Google Scholar Saskia Haegens D. Osipova R. Oostenveld O. Jensen PubMed Saskia Haegens D. Osipova R. Oostenveld O. Jensen 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.