Neuroreport · 1995 · 37 citations · 0 references
Life SciencesNeurosciencePsychologyCognitive NeuroscienceCognitive PsychologyVisual AttentionAttention NetworksCortical NetworksExecutive FunctioningFunctional NeuroimagingNeural Basis Of AttentionWorking MemoryBrain RegionsCortical Functional OrganizationExecutive Function NetworksNeural Correlates Of CognitionParietal Cortex CircuitsPrefrontal Cortex InvolvementTask-based Functional ImagingWorking Memory Circuits
Complex mental operations rely on the coordinated activity of widely distributed brain regions constituting neurocognitive networks. Using multislice echoplanar functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) we have contrasted regional brain activity during a control and an experimental condition which differed with respect to the demands placed on verbal working memory. Subjects were seven right-handed healthy male volunteers. Analysis of group and individual data revealed activation in the anterior and posterior parasagittal cortex in all subjects, left parietal cortex (six subjects) and left dorsolateral prefontal cortex (five subjects). These results suggest that verbal working memory is subserved by a neurocognitive network comprising cortical regions involved in attention, executive function and short term mnemonic processes.