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Working memory: a key word for explaining functions of the prefrontal association cortex. Shintaro FUNAHASHI 1 1Laboratory of Neurobiology, Faculty of Integrated Human Studies, Kyoto University pp.44-55
Published Date 1993/2/10
DOI https://doi.org/10.11477/mf.1431900308
  • Abstract
  • Look Inside

The prefrontal cortex has been known to participate in memory functions, especially short-term or transient memory. This was supported by many lesion studies as well as neurophysiological experiments. Recently, a term “working memory” is used widely in memory studies. The working memory is classified as a type of short-term memory. However, the working memory is different from ordinary “short-term memory” in that, in the working memory, the information necessary for a particular behavior or task is actively stored until the behavior or task is done. The key features of working memory are an active storage mechanism of particular information during necessary period and a reset mechanism after the information becomes unnecessary. Interestingly, many tests or tasks that only patients with dorsolateral frontal damage and monkeys with dorsolateral prefrontal lesions fail to perform correctly require working memory mechanisms. The active storage of cue information and effective resetting or switching of that information are necessary in all these tests, such as, delayed-response task, delayed matching-to-sample task, and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. This suggests that the variety of deficits observed in frontal patients and frontal monkeys could be explained uniformly by using “working memory” as a key function of the prefrontal cortex. The importance of working memory as a function of the prefrontal cortex is supported by our recent neurophysiological experiments used an oculomotor version of the delayed-response task. Our results showed neuronal mechanisms in the prefrontal cortex for active storage of spatial information and for reset mechanisms of such information. Working memory has been known to be important basic processes for thinking, inferring, and comprehending. Destroying the prefrontal cortex causes destruction of working memory processes, hence causes disintegrated thought and inference. This may cause loss of planning quality, volition, positiveness, etc., that are listed as typical symptoms of prefrontal patients.


Copyright © 1993, Igaku-Shoin Ltd. All rights reserved.

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電子版ISSN 1882-1243 印刷版ISSN 0001-8724 医学書院

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