Verbal working memory: magnetic resonance morphometric analysis and a psychophysiological model

Neuropsychological characteristics of verbal working memory (memory capacity, permanency, and different types of memory errors) of 43 healthy subjects of older age were compared with the anatomical characteristics of their brain structures (volume of the hippocampi and the caudate nuclei, size of the cingulate-cortex regions of both hemispheres). The obtained data demonstrate a correlation between the permanency of verbal-information maintenance and left caudate-nucleus volume and a positive correlation between associative-memory capacity and left hippocampus volume. A decline in the number of verbal-memory errors (confabulations) is related to the increased size of the left anterior cingulate cortex. Furthermore, verbal working-memory capacity and permanency correlate negatively with the size of the left posterior dorsal cingulate cortex, whereas the number of fluctuations and word replacements correlate positively with the increased size of this brain region. We suggest a psychophysiological model of verbalstimulus maintenance in working memory based on the results of our study and published research data. Keywords: magnetic resonance morphometric analysis, working memory, verbal memory, caudate nucleus, cingulate cortex, hippocampus, working-memory model Neurophysiological mechanisms of verbal information processing are traditionally related to the functioning of the temporal cortex of the left hemisphere of the brain. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that a lesion in this brain region usually causes trouble in speech perception, as well as other problems with audio-verbal information processing, including severe verbal-memory impairment. However, the temporal cortex is not the only brain structure that takes part in this cognitive process; moreover, from all appearances, verbal memory is related to the combined functioning of several brain regions. It has been revealed that verbal memory is related to the hippocampus, which is a part of the limbic system of the brain. According to the results of fMRI studies, the hippocampus is activated during the performance of verbal-memory tasks. Furthermore, it is activated more frequently in the stage of information retrieval than in the stage of its consolidation (Karlsgodt, Shirinyan, van Erp, Cohen, & Can

Modelling human choices: MADeM and decision‑making

Research supported by FAPESP 2015/50122-0 and DFG-GRTK 1740/2. RP and AR are also part of the Research, Innovation and Dissemination Center for Neuromathematics FAPESP grant (2013/07699-0). RP is supported by a FAPESP scholarship (2013/25667-8). ACR is partially supported by a CNPq fellowship (grant 306251/2014-0)

26th Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting (CNS*2017): Part 3 - Meeting Abstracts - Antwerp, Belgium. 15–20 July 2017

This work was produced as part of the activities of FAPESP Research,\ud Disseminations and Innovation Center for Neuromathematics (grant\ud 2013/07699-0, S. Paulo Research Foundation). NLK is supported by a\ud FAPESP postdoctoral fellowship (grant 2016/03855-5). ACR is partially\ud supported by a CNPq fellowship (grant 306251/2014-0)

Verbal working memory: magnetic resonance, morphometric analysis and a psychophisiological model

Neuropsychological characteristics of verbal working memory (memory capacity, permanency, and different types of memory errors) of 43 healthy subjects of older age were compared with the anatomical characteristics of their brain structures (volume of the hippocampi and the caudate nuclei, size of the cingulate-cortex regions of both hemispheres). The obtained data demonstrate a correlation between the permanency of verbal- information maintenance and left caudate-nucleus volume and a positive correlation between associative-memory capacity and left hippocampus volume. A decline in the number of verbal-memory errors (confabulations) is related to the increased size of the left anterior cingulate cortex. Furthermore, verbal working-memory capacity and permanency correlate negatively with the size of the left posterior dorsal cingulate cortex, whereas the number of fluctuations and word replacements correlate positively with the increased size of this brain region. We suggest a psychophysiological model of verbalstimulus maintenance in working memory based on the results of our study and published research data

The Cingulate Cortex and Human Memory Processes

This study presents data from a magnetic-resonance morphometric (MRMM) analysisof the main regions of the cingulate cortex (in both hemispheres) and theirrole in memory processes in a group of healthy, females of older age. The resultsdemonstrate a statistically reliable correlation between overall performance andthe type of errors in different neuropsychological memory tests and the relativesize of these regions. The discovered pattern of correlations can be explained byhypothesizing the reciprocal functional influence of the two major areas of thecingulate cortex – its anterior and posterior dorsal parts – on performance in neuropsychologicalmemory tests