Prefrontal Control of Familiarity and Recollection in Working Memory

■ Left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) is a critical neural substrate for the resolution of proactive interference (PI) in working memory. We hypothesized that left IFG achieves this by controlling the influence of familiarity- versus recollection-based information about memory probes. Consistent with this idea, we observed evidence for an early (200 msec)-peaking signal corresponding to memory probe familiarity and a late (500 msec)-resolving signal corresponding to full accrual of trial-related contextual (“recollectionbased”) information. Next, we applied brief trains of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) time locked to these mnemonicsignals,toleftIFGandtoacontrolregion.OnlyearlyrTMS of left IFG produced a modulation of the false alarm rate for high-PI probes. Additionally, the magnitude of this effect was predicted by individual differences in susceptibility to PI. These results suggest that left IFG-based control may bias the influence of familiarityand recoll...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2010
• Where: JOCN
• Authors: Eva Feredoes, Bradley R. Postle
• Keywords: Critical Neural Substrate, Inferior Frontal Gyrus, JOCN 2010, Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation