Contrasting early visual cortical activation states causally involved in visual imagery and short-term memory
Contrasting early visual cortical activation states causally involved in visual imagery and short-term memory
复制标题
DOI：
10.1111/j.1460-9568.2009.06911.x
复制
发表时间：
2009-10-01
影响因子：
3.4
通讯作者：
Silvanto, Juha
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Cattaneo, Zaira;Vecchi, Tomaso;Silvanto, Juha
视觉表象和视觉短时记忆是否共享相同的神经资源，以及早期视皮层（V1/V2）参与这些过程的程度，一直是争论的主题。在这里，我们使用经颅磁刺激（TMS）在两个独立的实验中，对比与视觉意象和视觉STM在早期视觉皮层的神经状态。在实验1中，我们研究了视觉表象和视觉短时记忆任务中保持期结束时V1/V2的激活状态。V1/V2 TMS促进了这两项任务的表现;图像和STM以相同的方式与TMS相互作用的发现表明，这两个过程对早期视觉皮层兴奋性有相似的影响。在实验2中，我们研究了保留阶段开始时V1/V2的激活状态。V1/V2 TMS在视觉STM任务中损害了表现，而它对表象任务没有影响。两者合计，我们的研究结果表明，与视觉意象和视觉STM的早期视觉皮层激活状态的后期阶段是相似的，这两个过程之间的差异是显而易见的，在早期阶段的任务。我们的研究结果还表明，早期视觉皮层在视觉短时记忆中的因果作用包括最初的翻译的视觉输入到工作记忆和随后的维护的心理表征。最后，我们的研究结果表明，视觉STM感觉募集工作记忆可能通过V1/V2神经元的兴奋性调节。
Whether visual imagery and visual short-term memory (STM) share the same neural resources, and the extent to which the early visual cortex (V1/V2) is involved in these processes, has been the subject of much debate. Here, we used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in two separate experiments to contrast the neural states associated with visual imagery and visual STM in the early visual cortex. In Experiment 1, we investigated V1/V2 activation states at the end of the retention phase in a visual imagery and a visual STM task. V1/V2 TMS facilitated performance in both tasks; the finding that imagery and STM interacted with TMS in the same way suggests that the two processes have similar effects on early visual cortical excitability. In Experiment 2, we investigated V1/V2 activation states at the beginning of the retention phase. V1/V2 TMS impaired performance in the visual STM task, whereas it had no effect on the imagery task. Taken together, our findings show that the late phases of the early visual cortical activation state associated with visual imagery and visual STM are similar; differences between the two processes are apparent in the early phases of the tasks. Our results also suggest that the causal role of the early visual cortex in visual STM includes both the initial translation of the visual input into working memory and the subsequent maintenance of the mental representation. Finally, our findings indicate that visual STM sensory recruitment in working memory might act via excitability modulation of V1/V2 neurons.