title: Attention supports verbal short-term memory via competition between dorsal and ventral attention networks.
abstract: Interactions between the neural correlates of short-term memory (STM) and attention have been actively studied in the visual STM domain but much less in the verbal STM domain. Here we show that the same attention mechanisms that have been shown to shape the neural networks of visual STM also shape those of verbal STM. Based on previous research in visual STM, we contrasted the involvement of a dorsal attention network centered on the intraparietal sulcus supporting task-related attention and a ventral attention network centered on the temporoparietal junction supporting stimulus-related attention. We observed that, with increasing STM load, the dorsal attention network was activated while the ventral attention network was deactivated, especially during early maintenance. Importantly, activation in the ventral attention network increased in response to task-irrelevant stimuli briefly presented during the maintenance phase of the STM trials but only during low-load STM conditions, which were associated with the lowest levels of activity in the dorsal attention network during encoding and early maintenance. By demonstrating a trade-off between task-related and stimulus-related attention networks during verbal STM, this study highlights the dynamics of attentional processes involved in verbal STM.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Cognition, and Behavior, Université de Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium. smajerus@ulg.ac.be
authors.forename: Steve
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Majerus
authors.forename: Lucie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Attout
authors.forename: Arnaud
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: D'Argembeau
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Degueldre
authors.forename: Wim
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Fias
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Maquet
authors.forename: Trecy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Martinez Perez
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Stawarczyk
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Salmon
authors.forename: Martial
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Van der Linden
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.forename: Evelyne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Balteau
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology*; D014705:Verbal Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult