Distinct bilateral prefrontal activity patterns associated with the qualitative aspect of working memory characterized by individual sensory modality dominance

Abstract

In addition to quantitative individual differences in working memory (WM) capacity, qualitative aspects, such as enhanced sensory modality (modality dominance), can characterize individual WM ability. This study aimed to examine the neurological basis underlying the individual modality dominance component of WM using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). To quantify the degree of individual WM modality dominance, 24 participants were required to find seven hidden targets and hold their spatial location and appearance order with vibrotactile or visual stimuli aids. In this searching task, eight participants demonstrated higher performance with the tactile condition (tactile-dominant) whereas sixteen demonstrated visual dominance. We then measured prefrontal activity by fNIRS during memorization of visual stimulus numbers while finger tapping as a cognitive-motor dualtask. Individual modality dominance significantly correlated with bilateral frontopolar and dorsolateral prefrontal activity changes over repeated fNIRS sessions. In particular, individuals with stronger visual dominance showed marked decreases in prefrontal area activity. These results suggest that distinct processing patterns in the prefrontal cortex reflect an individual's qualitative WM characteristics. Considering the individual modality dominance underlying the prefrontal areas could enhance cognitive or motor performance, possibly by optimizing cognitive resources.

Individual Sensory Modality Dominance as an Influential Factor in the Prefrontal Neurofeedback Training for Spatial Processing: A Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study

“…Based on our previous study ( Matsumoto et al, 2020 ), we applied a target searching task to quantify individual WM modality dominance during spatial processing. The participants performed this searching task in a booth different from that used in the neurofeedback training task.…”

“…The efficacy of the neurofeedback training presented in this study was limited; the prefrontal neuromodulation contributed to the maintenance of vibrotactile rather than visual information. These results might be due to individual differences in cognitive function as characterized by the ability to process internal body information (Sakurada et al, 2017(Sakurada et al, , 2019aMatsumoto et al, 2020). Specifically, while most participants have a certain cognitive ability to process visual stimuli, some individuals are less good at processing internal body information such as vibrotactile stimuli.…”

“…Furthermore, individual WM ability that relates to spatial information processing ( Robertson et al, 2001 ) can be characterized by modality dominance. When participants were required to retain spatial information, they could be grouped into those who were good at retaining vibrotactile-based or visual-based spatial information ( Matsumoto et al, 2020 ). These findings indicate that modality dominance is one of the important parameters in characterizing the qualitative aspects of cognitive function, but whether distinct qualitative differences in cognitive function among individuals affects neurofeedback training efficacy remains unclear.…”

“…This study aimed to examine whether modality dominance in WM influences the efficacy of neurofeedback training. Based on our previous findings regarding the neural basis of individual differences in WM modality dominance ( Matsumoto et al, 2020 ), the neurofeedback protocol used in this study provided feedback of the bilateral DLPFC and frontopolar cortex (FPC), which are also critical for WM ( Owen et al, 2005 ; Pleger et al, 2006 ; Slotnick and Moo, 2006 ; Kaas et al, 2007 ; Giglia et al, 2014 ). We hypothesized that the individual modality dominance in WM is one of the influential factors in neurofeedback training.…”

Alterations of Prefrontal-Posterior Information Processing Patterns in Autism Spectrum Disorders

“…Peng et al (2018) proposed that the anterior prefrontal cortex might participate in the integration and advanced processing of nociception and pain, and in this process, the BA 10 can integrate the sensory aspect of pain by the information flow from the sensorimotor network to the lateral BA 10. Some studies also presented that BA 10 contributes to the process of transforming tactile and somatosensory information into abstract representation to maintain hapticospatial information during cognitive tasks (Kaas et al, 2007;Matsumoto et al, 2020). Thus, weakened entropy connectivity may potentially limit sensory information integration between brain areas in ASD.…”