Common neural substrates for ordinal representation in short-term memory, numerical and alphabetical cognition

PLoS One. 2014 Mar 14;9(3):e92049. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0092049. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

The representation and maintenance of serial order information is one of the main functions of verbal short-term memory (STM) but its neural correlates remain poorly understood. We show here that the neural substrates allowing for coding of order information in STM are shared with those supporting ordinal processing in the numerical and alphabetical domains. We designed an fMRI experiment determining the neural substrates sensitive to ordinal distance effects in numerical judgment, alphabetical judgment and serial order STM tasks. Null conjunction analyses for parametric ordinal distance effects showed a common involvement of the horizontal segment of the left intraparietal sulcus over the three tasks; in addition, right intraparietal sulcus involvement was also observed for ordinal distance effects in the STM and numerical judgment tasks. These findings demonstrate that shared neural correlates in the intraparietal cortex support processing of order information in verbal STM, number and alphabetical domains, and suggest the existence of domain general, potentially ordinal, comparison processes supported by the left intraparietal sulcus.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Behavior / physiology
  • Brain / physiology*
  • Brain Mapping*
  • Cognition / physiology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Male
  • Memory, Short-Term / physiology*
  • Visual Perception / physiology
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research (grant F.R.S.-FNRS 1.5.056.10), by a Belgian Inter-University Attraction Pole (P7/11) and by the University of Liège. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.