TY - JOUR
T1 - Distinct bilateral prefrontal activity patterns associated with the qualitative aspect of working memory characterized by individual sensory modality dominance
AU - Matsumoto, Mayuko
AU - Sakurada, Takeshi
AU - Yamamoto, Shin Ichiroh
N1 - Funding Information:
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI -Initial of the author who received: T.S. -Grant numbers: 15K16366 and 17K13096 -URL: https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/index.html -The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. 2. Pfizer Health Research Foundation -Initial of the author who received: T.S. -Grant numbers: None -URL: https://www.health-research.or.jp/index.html -The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright: © 2020 Matsumoto et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2020/8
Y1 - 2020/8
N2 - In addition to quantitative individual differences in working memory (WM) capacity, qualitative aspects, such as enhanced sensory modality (modality dominance), can characterize individual WM ability. This study aimed to examine the neurological basis underlying the individual modality dominance component of WM using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). To quantify the degree of individual WM modality dominance, 24 participants were required to find seven hidden targets and hold their spatial location and appearance order with vibrotactile or visual stimuli aids. In this searching task, eight participants demonstrated higher performance with the tactile condition (tactile-dominant) whereas sixteen demonstrated visual dominance. We then measured prefrontal activity by fNIRS during memorization of visual stimulus numbers while finger tapping as a cognitive-motor dual-task. Individual modality dominance significantly correlated with bilateral frontopolar and dorsolateral prefrontal activity changes over repeated fNIRS sessions. In particular, individuals with stronger visual dominance showed marked decreases in prefrontal area activity. These results suggest that distinct processing patterns in the prefrontal cortex reflect an individual’s qualitative WM characteristics. Considering the individual modality dominance underlying the prefrontal areas could enhance cognitive or motor performance, possibly by optimizing cognitive resources.
AB - In addition to quantitative individual differences in working memory (WM) capacity, qualitative aspects, such as enhanced sensory modality (modality dominance), can characterize individual WM ability. This study aimed to examine the neurological basis underlying the individual modality dominance component of WM using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). To quantify the degree of individual WM modality dominance, 24 participants were required to find seven hidden targets and hold their spatial location and appearance order with vibrotactile or visual stimuli aids. In this searching task, eight participants demonstrated higher performance with the tactile condition (tactile-dominant) whereas sixteen demonstrated visual dominance. We then measured prefrontal activity by fNIRS during memorization of visual stimulus numbers while finger tapping as a cognitive-motor dual-task. Individual modality dominance significantly correlated with bilateral frontopolar and dorsolateral prefrontal activity changes over repeated fNIRS sessions. In particular, individuals with stronger visual dominance showed marked decreases in prefrontal area activity. These results suggest that distinct processing patterns in the prefrontal cortex reflect an individual’s qualitative WM characteristics. Considering the individual modality dominance underlying the prefrontal areas could enhance cognitive or motor performance, possibly by optimizing cognitive resources.
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U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0238235
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0238235
M3 - Article
C2 - 32845925
AN - SCOPUS:85089978402
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 15
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
IS - 8 August
M1 - e0238235
ER -