Higher-order Cortex Maintains Supramodal and Cross-modal Representations during Working Memory
Presented During:
Thursday, June 26, 2025: 11:30 AM - 12:45 PM
Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre
Room:
P2 (Plaza Level)
Poster No:
864
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Doyoung Park1, Seong-Hwan Hwang1, Keonwoo Lee1, Yeeun Ryoo2, Hyoung Kim1, Sue-Hyun Lee1
Institutions:
1Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, Republic of, 2Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, Korea, Republic of
First Author:
Co-Author(s):
Introduction:
Working memory is a fundamental cognitive process essential for guiding our behavior in daily life, where sensory information flows continuously from the external world (Baddeley, 1986; D'Esposito & Postle, 2015). While numerous studies have demonstrated that sensory information maintained in working memory is localized within the corresponding sensory areas (Harrison & Tong, 2009; Kumar et al., 2016; Lee & Baker, 2016; Schmidt & Blankenburg, 2018), a challenge persists in utilizing this retained sensory information without interfering with concurrent sensory input of the same modality (Bettencourt & Xu, 2016; Christophel et al., 2017; Xu, 2017). One plausible hypothesis to address this issue is the dual maintenance of essential information in higher-order cortical areas in a form different from sensory representations (Christophel et al., 2017; Riley & Constantinidis, 2016). However, little empirical evidence supports the existence of such high-level representations. In this study, we provide evidence of two distinct forms of high-level representations by directly comparing working memory of tactile and visual stimuli.
Methods:
While scanning BOLD fMRI (3T, echo-planar imaging (EPI) sequence, TR = 2000 ms, TE = 25 ms, in-plane resolution = 2.8 x 2.8 mm, slice thickness = 2.5 mm), participants (n = 29) performed delayed match-to-sample tasks in which they had to retain braille patterns, presented through touch or vision, and indicate whether the sample and the probe stimuli, given in the same or different modality, match in shape (Figure 1a). To examine the neural representations maintained during the delay period of each task, we derived discrimination indices as the difference between within-braille and between-braille correlations of activation patterns (Figure 1b). This analysis was applied across pairs of tasks as well to directly compare the representations of braille identity between different tasks and ascertain their correspondence. In addition, we used multi-class classification analysis to confirm the cross-task decoding of braille pattern information.
Results:
We found two different types of high-level working memory representations in the parietal and prefrontal cortex. First, we found common neural substrates for the maintenance of braille pattern information during the tactile and visual working memory tasks in the superior parietal cortex (Figure 1c). Importantly, we identified supramodal representations that encode braille identity information in a consistent form regardless of the processed sensory modality in the superior parietal cortex (significant cross-task discrimination index between the tactile-to-tactile and visual-to-visual tasks in superior parietal lobule: t(28) = 2.472, p = 0.010; and in intraparietal sulcus: t(28) = 2.059, p = 0.025, right-tailed, FDR-corrected). These representations were invariably observed during cross-modal tasks as well as unimodal working memory tasks alongside modality-dependent sensory representations. On the other hand, the prefrontal cortex and inferior parietal cortex held representations specifically during cross-modal working memory tasks. This result suggests that a different type of high-level representation is additionally retained depending on behavioral goals that require the integration of features from different sensory modalities.
Conclusions:
Collectively, these findings suggest a novel framework for working memory maintenance that incorporates two distinct types of high-level representations – supramodal and cross-modal representations. The supramodal representations in the superior parietal cortex and the cross-modal representations in the prefrontal and inferior parietal cortex may be synergistically utilized with the sensory representations of working memory to efficiently guide our behaviors in diverse sensory environments.
Learning and Memory:
Working Memory 1
Modeling and Analysis Methods:
Multivariate Approaches
Novel Imaging Acquisition Methods:
BOLD fMRI
Perception, Attention and Motor Behavior:
Perception: Multisensory and Crossmodal 2
Perception: Tactile/Somatosensory
Keywords:
Cognition
FUNCTIONAL MRI
Memory
Multivariate
Somatosensory
Touch
Vision
Other - Working Memory
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
Abstract Information
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2. Bettencourt, K. C., & Xu, Y. (2016). Decoding the content of visual short-term memory under distraction in occipital and parietal areas. Nature Neuroscience, 19(1), 150–157.
3. Christophel, T. B., Klink, P. C., Spitzer, B., Roelfsema, P. R., & Haynes, J.-D. (2017). The distributed nature of working memory. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 21(2), 111–124.
4. D’Esposito, M., & Postle, B. R. (2015). The cognitive neuroscience of working memory. Annual Review of Psychology, 66, 115–142.
5. Harrison, S. A., & Tong, F. (2009). Decoding reveals the contents of visual working memory in early visual areas. Nature, 458(7238), 632–635.
6. Kumar, S., Joseph, S., Gander, P. E., Barascud, N., Halpern, A. R., & Griffiths, T. D. (2016). A brain system for auditory working memory. Journal of Neuroscience, 36(16), 4492–4505.
7. Lee, S.-H., & Baker, C. I. (2016). Multi-voxel decoding and the topography of maintained information during visual working memory. Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience, 10, 2.
8. Riley, M. R., & Constantinidis, C. (2016). Role of prefrontal persistent activity in working memory. Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience, 9, 181.
9. Schmidt, T. T., & Blankenburg, F. (2018). Brain regions that retain the spatial layout of tactile stimuli during working memory—A ‘tactospatial sketchpad’? NeuroImage, 178, 531–539.
10. Xu, Y. (2017). Reevaluating the sensory account of visual working memory storage. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 21(10), 794–815.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Basic Science Research Program (RS-2024-00459828) and the Neurological Disorder Research Program (2020M3E5D9079913) through NRF of Korea, and the New Faculty Startup Fund and Creative-Pioneering Researchers Program through Seoul National University.