title: PFC Activity Pattern During Verbal WM Task in Healthy Male and Female Subjects: A NIRS Study.
abstract: Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), as a non-invasive optical imaging method, has been widely used in psychology research. Working memory (WM) is an extensively researched psychological concept related to the temporary storage and processing of information. Many neuropsychological studies demonstrate that several brain areas of prefrontal cortex (PFC) are engaged during verbal WM tasks. The gender-based differences in WM remains under dispute. To better understand the active module and gender differences in PFC activity patterns during verbal WM tasks, we investigated the blood oxygenation changes of the PFC in 15 healthy subjects using a homemade multichannel continuous-wave NIRS instrument, while performing a verbal n-back task. We employed traditional activation and novel connectivity analyses simultaneously. Males had a higher level of oxygenation activity and connectivity in PFC than females. Only the results of females revealed a leftward lateralization in the 2-back task.
authors.affiliation: Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People's Republic of China.|Key Laboratory of Biomedical Photonics of Ministry of Education, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Chenyang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People's Republic of China.|Key Laboratory of Biomedical Photonics of Ministry of Education, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People's Republic of China.|Key Laboratory of Biomedical Photonics of Ministry of Education, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Dewu
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People's Republic of China.|Key Laboratory of Biomedical Photonics of Ministry of Education, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People's Republic of China. huigong@mail.hust.edu.cn.|Key Laboratory of Biomedical Photonics of Ministry of Education, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People's Republic of China. huigong@mail.hust.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gong
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D058256:Brain Waves; D005260:Female; D064368:Healthy Volunteers; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010092:Oximetry / Q000379:methods*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood*; D010101:Oxygen Consumption; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared; D014705:Verbal Behavior; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D010100:Oxygen
keywords: Functional connectivity; Gender difference; Hemodynamic; NIRS; Verbal working memory