Specialization & Integration in Human Working Memory

专业化

• 批准号: 6886713
• 负责人: SUSAN M COURTNEY-FARUQEE
• 金额: $ 27.51万
• 依托单位: JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2002
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2002-05-01 至 2007-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6886713
• 关键词: behavioral /social science research tag; bioimaging /biomedical imaging; brain imaging /visualization /scanning; face; functional magnetic resonance imaging; human middle age (35-64); human subject; language; magnetic resonance imaging; neural information processing; neuroanatomy; neurophysiology; prefrontal lobe /cortex; short term memory; visual stimulus; young adult human (21-34)

Working memory, the process of actively maintaining a representation of information for a brief period of time so that it is available for use, is a fundamental component of many aspects of higher cognitive processing. Working memory is necessary for analytical reasoning and vocabulary acquisition and appears to be highly correlated with IQ. Millions of people with conditions including HIV infection, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, Parkinson's disease, and schizophrenia, suffer from disruptions of working memory. Working memory is clearly an important cognitive function that appears to be susceptible to disruption in a wide range of diseases. Prefrontal cortex is thought to be critical to working memory function, but little is known about the specific neural mechanism of working memory. As part of a long range goal to improve our understanding of the role of prefrontal cortex in encoding, maintaining, and manipulating information, the goal of this particular project is to ascertain how different types of information are organized within the human prefrontal cortex. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, three specific aims will be pursued. First, this project will examine the neural systems involved in maintaining information about different types of objects and the degree to which these neural systems are distinct from those involved in maintaining information about spatial locations. Second, this project will examine the degree to which the neural systems for maintenance of object and verbal information are distinct. Finally, the project will examine the neural mechanisms involved in integrating and maintaining multiple types of information in a coherent representation of the world. The proposed project will significantly advance our understanding of how the prefrontal cortex organizes different types of information and the role of prefrontal cortex in working memory. This will improve our understanding of those conditions in which prefrontal function is disrupted, and advance the goal of creating effective, targeted therapeutic strategies to treat or prevent the loss of working memory function.

工作记忆是一种积极地在短时间内保持对信息的表征以供使用的过程，它是高级认知加工的许多方面的基本组成部分。工作记忆对于分析推理和词汇习得是必要的，并且似乎与智商高度相关。数百万患有艾滋病毒感染、注意力缺陷多动障碍、帕金森氏症和精神分裂症等疾病的人都患有工作记忆紊乱。工作记忆显然是一种重要的认知功能，在很多疾病中都很容易受到干扰。前额叶皮层被认为对工作记忆功能至关重要，但对工作记忆的具体神经机制知之甚少。作为提高我们对前额皮质在编码、维护和操纵信息中的作用的理解的长期目标的一部分，这个特殊项目的目标是确定不同类型的信息是如何在人类前额皮质中组织起来的。使用功能性磁共振成像，将追求三个具体目标。首先，这个项目将检查维护不同类型物体信息的神经系统，以及这些神经系统与维护空间位置信息的神经系统的区别程度。其次，这个项目将检查维持物体和语言信息的神经系统的不同程度。最后，该项目将研究在一个连贯的世界表征中整合和维护多种类型信息所涉及的神经机制。该项目将极大地促进我们对前额皮质如何组织不同类型的信息以及前额皮质在工作记忆中的作用的理解。这将提高我们对那些前额叶功能被破坏的情况的理解，并推进创造有效的、有针对性的治疗策略来治疗或预防工作记忆功能丧失的目标。