Functional organization of working memory during delayed coping of verbal and visuo-spatial sequences in children aged 10–12 years. Analysis of ERPS in response to imperative signals

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Abstract

The functional organization of working memory (WM) was studied through the analysis of the event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by the imperative auditory signal during delayed motor reproduction of visuo-spatial (broken lines) and verbal (letter) sequences in children aged 10–12 years (n = 28, 14 girls). We analyzed how the sequence domain (verbal or visuo-spatial), the imperative signal delay (500 ms or 3000 ms) and the mode of sequences presentation (static or dynamic) influenced on the ERP parameters. The magnitude and topography of the ERP positive components (P200 and P300) were found to depend specifically on the domain, the mode of sequences presentation and the time of their retention in WM. In both domains, ERP amplitude increased with the delay of the imperative signal demonstrated additional activation of the anterior and posterior associative cortical areas. Thus, the findings of the present study, along with previous results from adult participants (Kurgansky et al., 2022), indicate the transformation of the neuronal basis of representations of sequentially organized information during its storage in the WM. The age specificity of the functional organization of the WM in children aged 10–12 years expressed in the predominant involvement of the cortical areas of the left hemisphere during retention of both visuo-spatial and verbal sequential information.

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About the authors

R. I. Machinskaya

Institute of Сhild Development, Health and Аdaptation; Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration

Email: regina_home@inbox.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow; Moscow

A. A. Korneev

Institute of Сhild Development, Health and Аdaptation; Lomonosov Moscow State University

Email: regina_home@inbox.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow; Moscow

A. V. Kurgansky

Institute of Сhild Development, Health and Аdaptation; Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration; Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: regina_home@inbox.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow; Moscow; Moscow

D. I. Lomakin

Institute of Сhild Development, Health and Аdaptation

Author for correspondence.
Email: regina_home@inbox.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow

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2. Fig. 1. Examples of verbal and non-verbal stimuli (а), modes of their presentation (б) and the sequence of events in one experimental probe (в).

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3. Fig. 2. Superposition of ERP to an imperative signal in 20 pseudo-leads during delayed copying of a broken line and reproducing of the order of letters: I, III – 500 ms delay; II, IV – 3000 ms delay; I, II – static mode; III, IV – dynamic mode

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4. Fig. 3. The task of maintaining and reproducing broken lines. Averaged values of three ERP components of the ERP to an imperative signal (in μV) and their amplitude maps. Error bars reflect two-sided SEM values. For each component I, III – 500 ms delay; II, IV – 3000 ms delay; I, II – static mode; III, IV – dynamic mode. Gray columns – left hemisphere, black columns – right hemisphere. Designations of the pseudoleads: Fp – Fp1/2; F – F3/4: Fi – F7/8; C – C3/4; P – P3/4; Ta – T3/4; Tp – T5/6, O – O1/O2. The color scale characterizes the amplitude of the corresponding component, normalized to the absolute value of the maximum deviation of this component from zero, blue – deviation towards negative values, red – towards positive values.

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5. Fig. 4. The task of retaining and subsequent reproduction of letter sequences. Averaged values of three components of the ERP to an imperative signal (in μV) and their amplitude maps. Error bars reflect two-sided SEM values. For each component I, III – delay 500 ms; II, IV – delay 3000 ms; I, II – static mode; III, IV – dynamic mode. Gray columns – left hemisphere, black columns – right hemisphere. Designations of the pseudoleads and color scale of amplitude maps are the same as in Fig. 3.

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6. Fig. 5. Topography of the significant ERP changes due to the retention time and mode of presentation of the broken lines and the letter sequences. Designations: I, II – the influence of DURATION; III, IV – the influence of MODE; I, III – retention of broken lines; II, IV – retention of letter sequences. Data on statistical significance of ERP differences in individual leads are given in the text of RESULTS section. Circle – P200, triangle – P300. Solid line – ERP value is higher with delay duration of 3000 ms, dotted line – with delay duration of 500 ms.

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