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Active maintenance in prefrontal area 46 creates distractor-resistant memory

Nature Neuroscience volume 5, pages 479–484 (2002)Cite this article

Abstract

How does the brain maintain information in working memory while challenged by incoming distractions? Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we measured human brain activity during the memory delay of a spatial working memory task with distraction. We found that, in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), the magnitude of activity sustained throughout the memory delay was significantly higher on correct trials than it was on error trials. By contrast, the magnitude of sustained activity in posterior areas did not differ between correct and error trials. The correlation of activity between posterior areas was, however, associated with correct memory performance after distraction. On the basis of these findings, we propose that memory representations gain resistance against distraction during a period of active maintenance within working memory. This may be mediated by interactions between prefrontal and posterior areas.

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Figure 1: Schematic diagram of a distractor-plus trial.
Figure 2: Sustained activation during the memory delay.
Figure 3: Time course of activation for correct and error trials.
Figure 4: Correlation of activation.
Figure 5: Increased accuracy of memory performance as a function of activity in prefrontal area 46 for distractor-plus trials (filled circles).

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to C. Frith, M. Rugg and R. Frackowiak for comments. This study was supported by the Wellcome Trust. K.S. was supported by the Human Frontier Science Program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wellcome Department of Cognitive Neurology, Institute of Neurology, 12 Queeen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK

    Katsuyuki Sakai, James B. Rowe & Richard E. Passingham

  2. Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3UD, UK

    Richard E. Passingham

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  1. Katsuyuki Sakai
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Correspondence to Katsuyuki Sakai.

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Sakai, K., Rowe, J. & Passingham, R. Active maintenance in prefrontal area 46 creates distractor-resistant memory. Nat Neurosci 5, 479–484 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn846

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