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Cerebral Cortex, Vol. 12, No. 11, 1115-1123, November 2002
© 2002 Oxford University Press

Separable Neuronal Circuitries for Manipulable and Non-manipulable Objects in Working Memory

Axel Mecklinger1, Christin Gruenewald1,2, Mireille Besson3, Marie-Noelle Magnié4 and D. Yves Von Cramon2

1 Department of Psychology, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, , 2 Max Planck Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Leipzig, Germany, , 3 Center for Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, CNRS, Marseille and , 4 Laboratoire de Physiologie, Faculté de Médecine, Université de Nice-Sophia Antipolis, France

Address correspondence to Axel Mecklinger, Department of Psychology, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany. Email: mecklinger{at}mx.uni-saarland.de.

Previous work using single-cell recordings in monkeys and neuro-imaging studies in humans has shown that perceiving an object or imaging the action associated with the object recruits the same brain regions in the ventral premotor cortex as performing an action with the object. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) for examining whether similar brain regions are also activated while maintaining information about manipulable objects in working memory. Holding information about manipulable objects in working memory activated the left ventral premotor cortex and the left inferior frontal gyrus (Broca’s area). Conversely, non-manipulable objects to be held in working memory co-activated Broca’s area and the left angular gyrus. When contrasted directly, manipulable relative to non-manipulable objects activated the left ventral premotor cortex and the anterior intraparietal sulcus, a circuitry that is assumed to mediate the transformation of movement-relevant object properties into hand actions. These results indicate that visual working memory for manipulable objects is based on motor programmes associated with their use. Similar to speech motor programmes in verbal memory tasks, hand motor programmes may allow the maintenance of objects in working memory over short intervals.


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