Stronger Synaptic Connectivity as a Mechanism behind Development of Working Memory-related Brain Activity during Childhood
نویسندگان
چکیده
The cellular maturational processes behind cognitive development during childhood, including the development of working memory capacity, are still unknown. By using the most standard computational model of visuospatial working memory, we investigated the consequences of cellular maturational processes, including myelination, synaptic strengthening, and synaptic pruning, on working memory-related brain activity and performance. We implemented five structural developmental changes occurring as a result of the cellular maturational processes in the biophysically based computational network model. The developmental changes in memory activity predicted from the simulations of the model were then compared to brain activity measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging in children and adults. We found that networks with stronger fronto-parietal synaptic connectivity between cells coding for similar stimuli, but not those with faster conduction, stronger connectivity within a region, or increased coding specificity, predict measured developmental increases in both working memory-related brain activity and in correlations of activity between regions. Stronger fronto-parietal synaptic connectivity between cells coding for similar stimuli was thus the only developmental process that accounted for the observed changes in brain activity associated with development of working memory during childhood.
منابع مشابه
P27: Brain Network as a Pivotal Part in Intelligence Function
Neuroimaging findings have proposed that some brain regions including the precuneus, posterior cingulate, and medial prefrontal cortex play an essential role of a structural core in the brain. Network organization endures rapid alterations in development with changes in axonal synaptic connectivity, white matter volume, and the thickness of corresponding cortical regions. Structural maturation ...
متن کاملDevelopment of Brain EEG Connectivity across Early Childhood: Does Sleep Play a Role?
Sleep has beneficial effects on brain function and learning, which are reflected in plastic changes in the cortex. Early childhood is a time of rapid maturation in fundamental skills-e.g., language, cognitive control, working memory-that are predictive of future functioning. Little is currently known about the interactions between sleep and brain maturation during this developmental period. We ...
متن کاملP28: The Effects of Omega-3 and 6 Fatty Acids on Hippocampus and Learning
One of the most nervous system evolution are memory and learning in humans. Learning is a skill that enhances synaptic activity in the hippocampus of prefrontal cortex. In fact, basic passive learning is communication between the conditioned and Unconditioned stimulation. Passive learning involves three steps: habit, education and remember. According to the results of investigations, the hippoc...
متن کاملP20: The Role of Protein Kinases in Memory
When an experience is encrypted into a long-lasting memory, it is believed that specific sets of neurons in the brain of the animal undergo changes including the strengthening of preexisting synapses and the growth and maintenance of new synaptic connections. These activity-dependent synaptic changes appear to require the coordination of a variety of cellular processes in spatially separated ce...
متن کاملA Spiking Working Memory Model Based on Hebbian Short-Term Potentiation
A dominant theory of working memory (WM), referred to as the persistent activity hypothesis, holds that recurrently connected neural networks, presumably located in the prefrontal cortex, encode and maintain WM memory items through sustained elevated activity. Reexamination of experimental data has shown that prefrontal cortex activity in single units during delay periods is much more variable ...
متن کاملذخیره در منابع من
با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید
عنوان ژورنال:
- Journal of cognitive neuroscience
دوره 19 5 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2007