Stimulus shapes strategy: Effects of stimulus characteristics and individual differences in academic achievement on the neural mechanisms engaged during the N-back task.

ABSTRACT: This fMRI study of 126 youth explored whether the neural mechanisms underlying the N-back task, commonly used to examine executive control over the contents of working memory, are associated with individual differences in academic achievement in reading and math. Moreover, the study explored whether these relationships occur regardless of the nature of the stimulus being manipulated in working memory (letters, numbers, nonsense shapes) or whether these relationships are specific to achievement domain and stimulus type (i.e., letters for reading and numbers for math). The results indicated that higher academic achievement in each of reading and math was associated with greater activation of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in the N-back task regardless of stimulus type (i.e., did not differ f

SUBMITTER: Leopold DR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11015100 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature