Brain Connectivity Related to Working Memory Performance

By Michelle Hampson, N. Driesen, Pawel Skudlarski, John C. Gore, R. Todd Constable. Journal of Neuroscience, 2006

898 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Several brain areas show signal decreases during many different cognitive tasks in functional imaging studies, including the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and a medial frontal region incorporating portions of the medial frontal gyrus and ventral anterior cingulate cortex (MFG/vACC). It has been suggested that these areas are components in a default mode network that is engaged during rest and disengaged during cognitive tasks. This study investigated the functional connectivity between the PCC and MFG/vACC during a working memory task and at rest by examining temporal correlations in magnetic resonance signal levels between the regions. The two regions were functionally connected in both conditions. In addition, performance on the working memory task was positively correlated with the strength of this functional connection not only during the working memory task, but also at rest. Thus, it appears these regions are components of a network that may facilitate or monitor cognitive performance, rather than becoming disengaged during cognitive tasks. In addition, these data raise the possibility that the individual differences in coupling strength between these two regions at rest predict differences in cognitive abilities important for this working memory task.

Subfields: Cognitive Neuroscience

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/45816d8d5b4362bb4b27346b30138fdbc3ec36b1

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Citations in the corpus

The Oscillating Brain: Complex and Reliable (2009, background): “Between-subject differences in RSFC measures also correlate strongly with individual traits and behavioral characteristics (Di Martino et al., 2009; Fox et al., 2007; Hampson et al., 2006; Hesselmann et al., 2008; Kelly et al., 2008).”
Mesocorticolimbic Circuits are Impaired in Chronic Cocaine Users as Demonstrated by Resting State Functional Connectivity (2010, positive): “…speak either to brain activation during task performance or its correlation with task behavior, rsFC strength has been demonstrated to predict behavioral task performance requiring the use of that circuit (Hampson et al., 2006a; Hampson et al., 2006b; Kelly et al., 2008; Seeley et al., 2007 ).”
Measuring and manipulating brain connectivity with resting state functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging (fcMRI) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) (2012, background): “…of brain regions (De Luca et al., 2005; Vincent et al., 2006), identify subjects' aptitude for different cognitive tasks (Baldassarre et al., 2012; Hampson et al., 2006; Koyama et al., 2011; Seeley et al., 2007; van den Heuvel et al., 2009b; Zhu et al., 2011), facilitate refinement of…”
Plasticity of Brain Networks in a Randomized Intervention Trial of Exercise Training in Older Adults (2010, neutral): “Plasticity of brain networks in a randomized intervention trial of exercise training in older adults”
Influence of heart rate on the BOLD signal: the cardiac response function (2008, background): “Quantitative measurement of connectivity in networks such as the DMN is increasingly employed to draw inferences about behavior (Clare Kelly et al., 2008; Daselaar et al., 2004; Hampson et al., 2006), development (Damoiseaux et al.”
Functional connectivity of default mode network components: correlation, anticorrelation, and causality (2008, result): “The seeds placed in vmPFC and PCC showed positive correlations with each other, consistent with previous functional connectivity analyses of these two regions [Fox et al., 2005; Greicius et al., 2003; Hampson et al., 2006].”
Unrest at rest: Default activity and spontaneous network correlations (2007, background): “In considering findings from study of rest-state activity, David Ingvar (1979) speculated that “On the basis of previous experiences, represented in memories, the brain – one’s mind – is automatically busy with extrapolation of future events and, as it appears, constructing alternative hypothetical ”
Resting state functional connectivity in addiction: Lessons learned and a road ahead (2012, background): “Critically, the strength of these networks “at rest” predicts both behavioral performance and subsequent activation of the same brain areas during task performance (e.g., Hampson et al., 2006; Kelly et al., 2008; Kim et al., 2009; Seeley et al., 2007; Tambini et al., 2010).”
Why use a connectivity-based approach to study stroke and recovery of function? (2012, neutral): “This belief is based on a growing literature in normal subjects (Albert et al., 2009; Hampson et al., 2006; Lewis et al., 2009; Tambini et al., 2010; van den Heuvel et al., 2009) showing that in healthy subjects behavioral parameters and learning are significantly correlated with patterns of resting”
Human brain mapping: hemodynamic response and electrophysiology. (2008, methodology): “A similar study related to working memory was done by using fMRI (Hampson et al., 2006).”
The maturing architecture of the brain's default network (2008, background): “Although many argue that the default network is in some way related to internally directed mental activity (3, 7, 10), this argument is not universally accepted (5, 6, 14, 15).”
Cingulate-precuneus interactions: a new locus of dysfunction in adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. (2008, background): “Better performance on a working memory task has been reported to be positively related to the strength of functional connectivity between anterior and posterior default-mode components (VMPFC and PCC) (34).”
The role of the posterior cingulate cortex in cognition and disease. (2014, background): “However, in certain situations increased PCC activity or its functional connectivity is associated with improved behavioural performance, even when attention is externally directed (Hampson et al., 2006; Hahn et al., 2007; Sharp et al., 2011).”
Competition between functional brain networks mediates behavioral variability (2008, background): “As noted, some degree of coherent activity in the default mode network persists, even when overall activity within that network is suppressed (e.g., during task performance; Fransson, 2006; Greicius and Menon, 2004; Hampson et al., 2006).”
The Human Connectome Project: A data acquisition perspective (2012, background): “This can be done within a cognitive domain, as in working memory (e.g. Hampson et al., 2006), or across domains and connectivity patterns, as in comparing motor behavior to measures of connectivity across networks such as motor and attention (Carter et al., 2010).”
Graph-Based Network Analysis of Resting-State Functional MRI (2010, neutral): “…et al., 2007; Di Martino et al., 2008; Roy et al., 2009; Smith et al., 2009; Yan et al., 2009b), trait variability and behavioral characteristics (Hampson et al., 2006; Fox et al., 2007; Hesselmann et al., 2008; Kelly et al., 2008; Di Martino et al., 2009; Yan et al., 2009a), as well as various…”