Retention of verbal and nonverbal information in the working memory. An analysis of functional and effective connectivity

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Abstract

In this work we estimated differences in the structure of brain systems that ensure encoding and retention in working memory (WM) of two types of information: verbal (letters) and non-verbal (segments of an open broken line) sequences presented either statically or dynamically. Brain systems were characterized by the strength of functional and effective connections between eight approximately bilaterally symmetrical cortical loci, including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and regions of the temporal (STG), parietal (IPS), and occipital (v2) cortices.

Using an 8-channel vector autoregressive model in the space of cortical EEG sources, it was shown in a group of subjects in whom high-density EEG was recorded that: (1) the brain organization of the WM when holding a sequence of letters differs from that when holding a sequence of broken line segments; (2) the brain organization of the WM depends on the mode of presentation of sequences: the strength of the functional connection is different during dynamic and static presentation of the sequence; (3) differences in the structure of functional and effective connections are not of a pronounced frequency-selective nature and are observed in all studied EEG frequency ranges from theta (4–8 Hz) to high-frequency gamma (50–60 Hz); (4) the most reliable differences between the task of retaining a sequence of letters and the task of retaining a sequence of broken line segments are observed in the alpha and beta frequency ranges during static visual presentation of sequences in the strength of functional connectivity measured using coherence between the left hemisphere dlPFC and the right hemisphere STG, as well as in theta range between the right hemisphere dlPFC and the left visual cortex v2; (5) the most reliable difference between static and dynamic presentation modes is observed in the task of holding broken line segments in the gamma frequency range (50–60 Hz) between the dlPFC in the right hemisphere and the left visual cortex v2.

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About the authors

А. V. Kurgansky

Institute of Child Development; Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology, Russian Academy of Sciences; The Presidential Academy (RANEPA)

Author for correspondence.
Email: akurg@yandex.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow; Moscow; Moscow

A. A. Korneev

Institute of Child Development; Moscow State University

Email: akurg@yandex.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow; Moscow

D. I. Lomakin

Institute of Child Development

Email: akurg@yandex.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow

R. I. Machinskaya

Institute of Child Development; The Presidential Academy (RANEPA)

Email: akurg@yandex.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow; Moscow

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Supplementary files

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2. Fig. 1. Temporal structure of a typical experimental trial. Along the time axis from left to right, shown are following stages of the trial separated by vertical lines (SB – start of stimulation; SE – end of stimulation; Go – presentation of an imperative signal) shown are: the stage of prestimulus attention (ATT), the period of visual stimulation – presentation of a sequence of stimuli (STIM), the stage of holding the sequence in working memory (RET) and the stage of motor reproduction of the retained sequence in response to the presentation of an imperative signal (Go signal). Above the portion of the time axis corresponding to visual stimulation are shown the two types of visual sequences used: letter strings (LET) and broken lines or “trajectories” (TRJ), composed of vertical and horizontal straight segments. Each type of sequence was presented either statically (STAT) or dynamically (DYN) (details in the text). Connectivity was assessed in segments lasting 500 ms (marked with EEG label); one of them corresponded to the ATT phase and immediately preceded the start of stimulation (SB), and the other consisted of the first 500 ms of EEG immediately after the end of stimulation (SE).

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3. Fig. 2. Shown are the COH values averaged over the group of subjects for the F-T, F-P and F-O links. ((a), (б), (в)) in two tasks: LET and TRJ (averaged over the levels of factors FBAND, HEM_F, MODE); ((г), (д), (е)) – COH values in two modes of sequence presentation: STAT and DYN (averaged over the levels of factors FBAND, HEM_F, TASK). White circles correspond to the location of the temporal (T), parietal (P) and occipital (O) ROIs in the left hemisphere, and black circles correspond to the location in the right hemisphere.

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4. Fig. 3. Shown are the DTF values averaged over the group of subjects for the F-T, F-P and F-O links. ((a), (б), (в)) in two tasks: LET and TRJ (averaged over the levels of factors FBAND, DIR, HEM_F, MODE); ((г), (д), (е)) – COH values in two modes of sequence presentation: STAT and DYN (averaged over the levels of factors FBAND, DIR, HEM_F, TASK). White circles correspond to the location of the temporal (T), parietal (P) and occipital (O) ROIs in the left hemisphere, and black circles correspond to the location in the right hemisphere.

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5. Fig. 4. Coherence versus frequency function averaged over all subjects for two conditions (upper row) and examples of individual functions for these conditions (lower row). The top row of panels ((a), (б), (в)) shows graphs of the dependence averaged over the group of subjects. (a) in a pair of ROIs formed by the dlPFC in the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere STG in static visual presentation condition; The solid curve corresponds to the LET task, and the dashed curve corresponds to the TRJ task; (б) in a pair of ROIs formed by the dlPFC in the right hemisphere and the left visual cortex v2, with a static visual presentation; The solid curve corresponds to the LET task, and the dashed curve corresponds to the TRJ task; (в) in the pair formed by dlPFC in the right hemisphere and the left visual cortex v2, in the TRJ task; The solid curve corresponds to the static STAT presentation mode, and the dashed curve corresponds to the dynamic DYN. In the top row of panels ((a), (б), (в)), the thick curve (solid or dashed) indicates the average function for the group of subjects, and the corresponding solid or dashed thin lines above and below it indicate the corridor (mean ± standard error). The bottom row of panels ((г), (д), (е)) shows examples of individual functions corresponding to the upper curves: (г) contains an individual example for (a), (д) for (б) and (е) for (в). The light gray vertical bar marks the frequency regions in which the two curves shown in panels ((a), (б), (в)) differ statistically significantly. The same vertical stripes are reproduced in the corresponding examples of individual curves ((г), (д), (е)).

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