Some surprising findings on the involvement of the parietal lobe in human memory

Abstract

The posterior parietal lobe is known to play some role in a far-flung list of mental processes: linking vision to action (saccadic eye movements, reaching, grasping), attending to visual space, numerical calculation, and mental rotation. Here we review findings from humans and monkeys that illuminate an untraditional function of this region: memory. Our review draws on neuroimaging findings that have repeatedly identified parietal lobe activations associated with short-term or working memory and episodic memory. We also discuss recent neuropsychological findings showing that individuals with parietal lobe damage exhibit both working memory and long-term memory deficits. These deficits are not ubiquitous; they are only evident under certain retrieval demands. Our review elaborates on these findings and evaluates various theories about the mechanistic role of the posterior parietal lobe in memory. The available data point towards the conclusion that the posterior parietal lobe plays an important role in memory retrieval irrespective of elapsed time. The two models that are best supported by existing data are the Attention to Memory Model and the Subjective Memory Model. We conclude by formalizing several open questions that are intended to encourage future research.Keywords parietal lobe; Balint's syndrome; short-term memory; working memory; episodic memory; spatial processing; retrieval; episodic buffer; meta-memory If you were to peruse any textbook on memory or neuroscience, you would be hard-pressed to find the terms "memory" and "parietal lobe" together. How then, do we explain the large number of neuroimaging findings reporting parietal lobe activations to various mnemonic demands? The sheer volume of these findings raises the question of whether the parietal lobe plays a functional role in mnemonic processing that has been overlooked.To address this question, we review evidence linking the parietal lobe to memory. We focus on visual short-term or working memory (WM) and episodic memory for the simple reason that there is now sufficient material in these literatures to provide some nascent consensus. We note that links between verbal WM and parietal lobe function has recently been reviewed elsewhere (Buchsbaum and D'Esposito, 2008).Corresponding author: Ingrid R. Olson, Department of Psychology, Temple University, 1701 N. 13 th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122, Telephone: 215-204-7318, Email: iolson@temple.edu. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. NIH Public Access Anatomy and Connectivity of the Posterior Parietal CortexBecause in vivo axon tracin...

The contribution of the right supra-marginal gyrus to sequence learning in eye movements

“…Consistent with this idea of retrieval, Silk et al (2010) have suggested that the motor planning map retained by neural activity in the right SMG is used as a basis for the control of attentional shifts. This highlights the close association that has been found to exist between the mechanisms of memory and attention in the PPC proposed by many studies (Jonides, Smith, Koeppe, Awh, Minoshima & Mintun, 1993;Smith & Jonides, 1997;Courtney, Ungerleider, Keil & Haxby, 1997;Vandenburgh et al, 1996;Nobre et al, 1997;Ungerleider, Courtney & Haxby, 1998;Kessels, d'Alfonso, Postma & de Haan, 2000;Corbetta et al, 2000;Hussain et al, 2001;Rizzolatti & Matelli, 2003: Koch, Oliveri, Torriero, Carlesimo, Turriziani & Caltagirone, 2005Curtis, 2006;Van Asselen, Kesseks, Neggers, Kapelle, Frijns & Postma, 2006;Berryhill & Olson, 2008a,b;Olson & Berryhill, 2009;Cabeza, Ciaramelli & Moscovitch, 2012;Corbetta & Shulman, 2002;Singh-Curry & Husain, 2009). One view is that attention and memory rely upon overlapping cortical networks sharing common neural resources within the PPC (Awh, Jonides & Reuter-Lorenz, 1998;Awh, Vogel & Oh, 2006;Postle Awh, Jonides, Smith & D'Esposito, 2004;Theeuwes, Belopolsky & Olivers, 2009).…”

“…The PPC is commonly divided into the superior parietal lobe (SPL) which lies dorsal to the intra-parietal sulcus (IPS), and the more ventral inferior parietal lobe (IPL), which comprises the angular gyrus (AG), the supramarginal gyrus (SMG) and the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) Olson & Berryhill, 2009;Hutchinson et al, 2009). Accurate targeting of each subject's right SMG for TMS was achieved using procedures previously described by this and other laboratories (Sack et al, 2009;McKeefry et al, 2008) using a 3-D ultrasound digitizer CMS30P (Zebris, Tübingen, Germany) in conjunction with the BrainVoyager QX software (version 2.0 Brain Innovation, Netherlands).…”

Functional Heterogeneity in Posterior Parietal Cortex Across Attention and Episodic Memory Retrieval

“…Because this region is consistently implicated in a vast array of tasks--from attention and numerical cognition to decision-making and action intention--it has proven difficult to identify the shared and distinct computational processes supported by PPC that account for its participation in these widely varied domains. Recently, memory researchers have also turned their attention to the role of PPC in cognition because human neuroimaging experiments have consistently revealed PPC activity during episodic retrieval (Wheeler and Buckner 2004;Wagner et al 2005;Cabeza et al 2008;Ciaramelli et al 2008;Vilberg and Rugg 2008b;Olson and Berryhill 2009). Moreover, studies of human patients with lesions to PPC have revealed subtle, but significant, memory impairments (Berryhill et al 2007;Davidson et al 2008;Berryhill et al 2010;Ciaramelli et al 2010;Drowos et al 2010; Simons et al 2010, cf.…”

Will Working Memory Training Generalize to Improve Off-Task Behavior in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder?

“…Studies of the neural mechanism of action of WMT in 2 modestly sized functional magnetic resonance imaging studies in healthy adults (n03 and n08) in Olesen et al [35] and (n03) in Westerberg and Klingberg [41] suggest that WMT increases brain activity in the PFC and parietal cortex [35], regions frequently associated with WM processing and executive functioning in general [42,43]. A functional magnetic resonance study of training in ADHD using a broad package of exercises [44], focusing on response inhibition and selective attention rather than WM, found increased frontal, middle temporal, and cerebellar activity after training.…”