Different hemispheric specializations for pitch and audioverbal working memory.
Critical times of involvement of areas important to working memory were examined both with pitch and audioverbal N-back tasks using single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). TMS was administered to 12 healthy participants over dorsolateral prefrontal and inferior parietal regions in each hemisphere at four different times after stimulus onset (250, 450, 650, and 850 ms). For the pitch N-back task, interference with working memory, as evidenced by a significant increase in reaction time, was observed with TMS over the right hemisphere regions. In contrast, for the audioverbal N-back task, TMS resulted in significantly increased reaction time only for left inferior parietal TMS delivered 450 ms after stimulus onset. These results imply different hemispheric specializations for pitch and audioverbal working memory.
Imm
Joon-Hyuk
JH
Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Research Institute of Radiological Science, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Kang
Eunjoo
E
Youn
Tak
T
Park
Haeil
H
Kim
Joong Il
JI
Kang
Jee In
JI
Kim
Se Joo
SJ
Lee
Jong Doo
JD
Park
Hae-Jeong
HJ
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology*; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D004576:Electromyography / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D010898:Pitch Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology*