Cross-modal involvement of the primary somatosensory cortex in visual working memory: A repetitive TMS study.

Cross-modal involvement of the primary somatosensory cortex in visual working memory: A repetitive TMS study. Neurobiol Learn Mem. 2020 Oct 12;175:107325 Authors: Guidali G, Roncoroni C, Papagno C, Bolognini N Abstract Recent literature suggests that the primary somatosensory cortex (S1), once thought to be a low-level area only modality-specific, is also involved in higher-level, cross-modal, cognitive functions. In particular, electrophysiological studies have highlighted that the cross-modal activation of this area may also extend to visual Working Memory (WM), being part of a mnemonic network specific for the temporary storage and manipulation of visual information concerning bodies and body-related actions. However, the causal recruitment of S1 in the WM network remains speculation. In the present study, by taking advantage of repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS), we look for causal evidence that S1 is implicated in the retention of visual stimuli that are salient for this cortical area. To this purpose, in a first experiment, high-frequency (10 Hz) rTMS was delivered over S1 of the right hemisphere, and over two control sites, the right lateral occipital cortex (LOC) and the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), during the maintenance phase of a high-load delayed match-to-sample task in which body-related visual stimuli (non-symbolic hand gestures) have to be retained. In a second experiment, the specifi...
Source: Neurobiology of Learning and Memory - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Neurobiol Learn Mem Source Type: research