37. An evaluation of models of the topographical organization of working memory function in frontal cortex with event-related fMRI

Abstract

Many models of the organization of working memory function in prefrontal cortex have been developed and/or tested with functional neuroimaging methods featuring the blocking of behavioral trials and the averaging across blocks of neuroimaging signal. Interpretation of the results of these first generation neuroimaging studies, however, is subject to several inferential constraints. We reassessed several models of the functional organization of working memory in prefrontal cortex by examining or reanalyzing data from event-related fMRI studies of working memory function that were not subject to the same inferential constraints. This process permitted us to reject some of the models derived from first generation neuroimaging data, to refine others, and to synthesize our results into a revised hybrid model of the working memory functions of prefrontal cortex. © 2001 Academic Press.