title: Consolidation time affects performance and neural activity during visual working memory.
abstract: We tested the effects of variation of stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) on visual working memory (WM) performance across different load levels and the underlying brain activation patterns using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 48 healthy participants. Participants were instructed to memorise arrays of coloured squares and had to perform a match/non-match judgement on a probe stimulus after a jittered delay. We presented visual pattern masks at four SOAs after the offset of the memory array (100 ms, 200 ms, 400 ms, and 800 ms). Memory performance decreased with increased load and shortened SOA. Brain activation data showed significant effects of load (during encoding and retrieval), SOA (retrieval) and an interaction of load by SOA (encoding), mainly in frontal and parietal areas. There was also a direct relationship between successfully stored items and activation in the right inferior parietal lobule and the left middle frontal gyrus. The neurobehavioral results suggest that the frontal regions, together with the inferior parietal lobe, are associated with successful WM performance, especially under the most challenging conditions of high load and short SOAs.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neurophysiology and Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Goethe Universität, Frankfurt/Main, Germany. Electronic address: Christian.Knoechel@kgu.de.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Knöchel
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neurophysiology and Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Goethe Universität, Frankfurt/Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Viola
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Oertel-Knöchel
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neurophysiology and Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Goethe Universität, Frankfurt/Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bittner
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neurophysiology and Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Goethe Universität, Frankfurt/Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stäblein
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neurophysiology and Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Goethe Universität, Frankfurt/Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Vera
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Heselhaus
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neurophysiology and Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Goethe Universität, Frankfurt/Main, Germany.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Prvulovic
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neurophysiology and Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Goethe Universität, Frankfurt/Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Fabian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fusser
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neurophysiology and Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Goethe Universität, Frankfurt/Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Tarik
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Karakaya
authors.affiliation: Institute of General Practice, Goethe Universität, Frankfurt/Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pantel
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neurophysiology and Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Goethe Universität, Frankfurt/Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Konrad
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Maurer
authors.affiliation: MRC Centre for Clinical Neurosciences, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
authors.forename: David E J
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Linden
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology; D059907:Functional Neuroimaging; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Encoding; Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI); Memory retrieval; Stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA); Working memory