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Functional neuroimaging of short-term memory: The neural mechanisms of mental storage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2001

Bart Rypma  and
John D.E. Gabrieli
Bart Rypma
Affiliation:
University of California, Department of Psychology, Berkeley, CA 94720-1650 rypma@socrates.berkeley.edu
John D.E. Gabrieli
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 19001 gabrieli@psych.stanford.edu
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Abstract

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Cowan argues that the true short-term memory (STM) capacity limit is about 4 items. Functional neuroimaging data converge with this conclusion, indicating distinct neural activity patterns depending on whether or not memory task-demands exceed this limit. STM for verbal information within that capacity invokes focal prefrontal cortical activation that increases with memory load. STM for verbal information exceeding that capacity invokes widespread prefrontal activation in regions associated with executive and attentional processes that may mediate chunking processes to accommodate STM capacity limits.

Type
Brief Report
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 24 , Issue 1 , February 2001 , pp. 143 - 144
Copyright
© 2001 Cambridge University Press