title: Frontoparietal and Cingulo-opercular Networks Play Dissociable Roles in Control of Working Memory.
abstract: We used magnetoencephalography to characterize the spatiotemporal dynamics of cortical activity during top-down control of working memory (WM). fMRI studies have previously implicated both the frontoparietal and cingulo-opercular networks in control over WM, but their respective contributions are unclear. In our task, spatial cues indicating the relevant item in a WM array occurred either before the memory array or during the maintenance period, providing a direct comparison between prospective and retrospective control of WM. We found that in both cases a frontoparietal network activated following the cue, but following retrocues this activation was transient and was succeeded by a cingulo-opercular network activation. We also characterized the time course of top-down modulation of alpha activity in visual/parietal cortex. This modulation was transient following retrocues, occurring in parallel with the frontoparietal network activation. We suggest that the frontoparietal network is responsible for top-down modulation of activity in sensory cortex during both preparatory attention and orienting within memory. In contrast, the cingulo-opercular network plays a more downstream role in cognitive control, perhaps associated with output gating of memory.
authors.affiliation: University of Oxford.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wallis
authors.affiliation: University of Oxford.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stokes
authors.affiliation: University of Oxford.
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cousijn
authors.affiliation: University of Oxford.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Woolrich
authors.affiliation: University of Oxford.
authors.forename: Anna Christina
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Nobre
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000513:Alpha Rhythm / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D015225:Magnetoencephalography / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult