Among the three systems, the central executive system controls attention and information flows to and from the phonological loop and visuospatial sketch pad, which separately buffer the verbal-acoustic and visual material. According to a multi-component model proposed by Baddeley and Hitch, working memory could be divided into an attention control system, the central executive, and two modality-based temporary storage systems, the phonological loop and the visuospatial sketch pad. Working memory involves the temporary storage and manipulation of information that is assumed to be necessary for a wide range of complex cognitive activities such as reasoning, comprehension and learning. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Ĭompeting interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.įunding: This work was supported by the Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 60931003), the Funds for International Cooperation and Exchange of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 61210001), and National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 61071178). Received: Accepted: JPublished: August 27, 2013Ĭopyright: © 2013 Zhang et al. PLoS ONE 8(8):Įditor: Michelle Hampson, Yale University, United States of America These findings provide preliminary evidence that working memory performance can be improved through learned regulation of activation in associated brain regions using rtfMRI.Ĭitation: Zhang G, Yao L, Zhang H, Long Z, Zhao X (2013) Improved Working Memory Performance through Self-Regulation of Dorsal Lateral Prefrontal Cortex Activation Using Real-Time fMRI. Between-group comparison of behavioral changes showed that the increase of digit span in the experimental group was significantly greater than that in the control group. Pre- and post-training behavioral tests indicated that performance of the digit span and letter memory task was significantly improved in the experimental group. After two rtfMRI training sessions, activation in the left DLPFC was significantly increased, whereas the control group that received sham feedback did not show any increase in DLPFC activation. In the present study, we employed the rtfMRI technique to train subjects to up-regulate the activation in the left DLPFC, which is linked to verbal working memory. The recently emerged real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rtfMRI) technique enables the individuals to acquire self-control of localized brain activation, potentially inducing desirable behavioral changes. However, it is unclear whether the activation in the DLPFC can be self-regulated and whether any self-regulation can affect working memory behavior. Previous studies have shown that the dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) plays a critical role in working memory and that behavioral training of working memory can alter the activity of DLPFC. Is Working Memory Capacity Task Dependent? Journal of Memory and Language, 28, 127-154.Working memory is important for a wide range of high-level cognitive activities. Dependent measures are calculated for the math portion as well as the letter recall portion of the experiment. The real trials work similarly to the last practice trials except feedback is not provided to participants. After a certain length of letters are presented, the participant is asked to recall the series of letters. A series of math problems are presented alongside a series of letters. The last practice is a combination of the two previous practices. The participant must decide whether the answer presented is True or False. Once the participant computes the answer, a True or False option is presented on the screen with either the correct or incorrect answer. A random multiplication and either math or subtraction (e.g., (3*2) + 1) is shown to a participant. The second practice tests a participant’s ability to mentally compute math problems. Responses are made by the participants using SlideButtons. Two or Three randomly selected letters are shown to the participant. The first practice tests a participant’s ability to recall a series of letters. A series of 3 practices Procedures occurs before the real trials begins. The Operation Span Task (Turner and Engle, 1989) is a test of working memory in participants.ĭuring this experiment, participants are asked to memorize a series of letters presented while mentally computing math problems. Experiment Author: Psychology Software Tools, Inc.
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