When less is more: TPJ and default network deactivation during encoding predicts working memory performance.

ABSTRACT: Previous work has shown that temporo-parietal junction (TPJ), part of a ventral attention network for stimulus-driven reorienting, deactivates during effortful cognitive engagement, along with the default mode network (DMN). TPJ deactivation has been reported both during working memory (WM) and rapid visual search, ostensibly to prevent reorienting to irrelevant objects. We tested whether the magnitude of this deactivation during WM encoding is predictive of subsequent WM performance. Using slow event-related fMRI and a delayed WM task in which distracter stimuli were presented during the maintenance phase, we found that greater TPJ and DMN deactivation during the encoding phase predicted better WM performance. TPJ and DMN, however, also showed several functional dissociations: (1) TPJ exh

SUBMITTER: Anticevic A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3226712 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature