Effects of Training in Visuospatial Working Memory

Wake Forest University Health Sciences, Winston-Salem NC

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Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is an area of the brain essential for cognitive processes such as visual working memory. Nearly all previous working memory studies in the prefrontal cortex, especially in animal models, have used subjects that were highly trained in behavioral tasks. Very little is known about the effects of this training on the prefrontal cortex and how native working memory responses are altered due to the training paradigm. The experiments proposed will study the properties of the anterior and posterior prefrontal cortex divisions prior to and following mastery of visuospatial working memory tasks in order to determine the neurophysiological structure of the prefrontal cortex during these time points. Similarly, the experiments will also investigate the properties of the working memory capacity limit for incoming visuospatial stimuli prior to and following training in a multiple-stimulus task. The results from these experiments will provide information about the processing of visual working memory in the brain and will provide insights on working memory training strategies in neurological disorders such as stroke as well in conditions such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.