title: Steady-state visual evoked potentials reveal frontally-mediated working memory activity in humans.
abstract: Steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) reflect power changes at the stimulus driving frequency and have been used to assess brain activity reflecting cognitive processing. Only one study has demonstrated SSVEP modulation associated with working memory (WM), and none have compared the spatial localization of SSVEP modulations during WM performance with other brain imaging methods. Here we examined WM-related activity recorded with dense-array SSVEPs, analyzed using low resolution electromagnetic tomography, and compared the results to our previous findings using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). WM was associated with increased SSVEP activity over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, paralleling our previous fMRI findings. Frontal WM-related SSVEP power correlated selectively with task performance. These results demonstrate the utility of SSVEPs for studying representational aspects of cognition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA. wmp@grove.ufl.edu
authors.forename: William M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Perlstein
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Cole
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Larson
authors.forename: Kiesa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kelly
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Seignourel
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Keil
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008280:Magnetics; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance