Evidence for a working memory construct evolution rather than a "paradigm shift": A new meta-analysis of normative functional neuroimaging studies of n-back tasks
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1
La Trobe University, School of Psychological Science, Australia
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2
Swinburne University of Technology, Australia
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3
La Trobe Univeristy, Australia
Understanding of the construct of working memory (WM) is an area of psychology that is constantly evolving. This evolution is highlighted by this study, which aimed to replicate, using newly updated specialised software (Eickhoff, Bzdok, Laird, Kurth, & Fox, 2012), a neuroanatomical meta-analysis of the common n-back WM tasks, originally conducted almost 10 years ago (Owen, McMillan, Laird, & Bullmore, 2005). The early meta-analysis revealed six main areas spreading across the frontal-parietal networks, dependent on the nature of the stimuli and task requirements. For this new study 394 papers were reviewed, 39 papers fit the inclusion criteria, including 10 of the 24 papers originally included by Owen et al. (2005). Four task based analyses were conducted: 1) All n-back studies regardless of category; 2) Verbal Identity Monitoring Tasks; 3) Non-verbal Identity Monitoring Tasks; 4) Non-verbal Location Monitoring Tasks. Results revealed a similar frontal-parietal network found by Owen et al. (2005), however while frontal dominance was revealed, a much greater parietal involvement was apparent with larger parietal clusters overall, and the left parietal cortex consistently coming through all task divisions. Differences also appeared in the specific frontal sites involved with less reliance on the prefrontal area and more spread across the entire frontal lobe, less hemispheric lateralization dependent on task type and more sites activated outside frontal-parietal areas. These new meta-analyses have theoretical implications for functional specialization of areas proposed by Owen et al. (2005), and highlight the need to move away from functional segregation of cognitive tasks towards a network view of cognition.
Keywords:
Meta-analysis,
network,
working memory,
functional MRI,
n-back
Conference:
XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 27 Jul - 31 Jul, 2014.
Presentation Type:
Poster
Topic:
Memory and Learning
Citation:
Lamp
G,
Goodin
P,
Laycock
R and
Crewther
S
(2015). Evidence for a working memory construct evolution rather than a "paradigm shift": A new meta-analysis of normative functional neuroimaging studies of n-back tasks.
Conference Abstract:
XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII).
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2015.217.00199
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Received:
19 Feb 2015;
Published Online:
24 Apr 2015.
*
Correspondence:
Ms. Gemma Lamp, La Trobe University, School of Psychological Science, Bundoora, Australia, gemma.lamp@gmail.com