Evidence for the involvement of the ventro-medial prefrontal cortex in a short-term storage of visual images

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to clarify the role of the ventro-medial prefrontal cortex in short-term visual memory. Patients with focal lesions to the right gyrus rectus were impaired on a size judgement task, which required short-term retention of laterally presented visual patterns. The impairment was most evident when the stimuli were addressed to the damaged hemisphere (left visual field presentations) and when separated by very short (50-500 ms) intervals. The findings suggest that the ventro-medial part of the orbitofrontal cortex, like the ventro-lateral part, is involved in short-term storage of icon-like representations of visual objects, and also that there exists a right-hemispheric specialization for that function. Our study presents the first direct evidence of such specific memory effects in humans using a lesion method and points to the importance of the right gyrus rectus area in maintaining the representation of stimuli after they are removed from view.