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PFC Activity Pattern During Verbal WM Task in Healthy Male and Female Subjects: A NIRS Study

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Oxygen Transport to Tissue XXXVIII

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 923))

Abstract

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), as a non-invasive optical imaging method, has been widely used in psychology research. Working memory (WM) is an extensively researched psychological concept related to the temporary storage and processing of information. Many neuropsychological studies demonstrate that several brain areas of prefrontal cortex (PFC) are engaged during verbal WM tasks. The gender-based differences in WM remains under dispute. To better understand the active module and gender differences in PFC activity patterns during verbal WM tasks, we investigated the blood oxygenation changes of the PFC in 15 healthy subjects using a homemade multichannel continuous-wave NIRS instrument, while performing a verbal n-back task. We employed traditional activation and novel connectivity analyses simultaneously. Males had a higher level of oxygenation activity and connectivity in PFC than females. Only the results of females revealed a leftward lateralization in the 2-back task.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Science Fund for Creative Research Group (Grant No. 61421064).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China

    Chenyang Gao, Lei Zhang, Dewu Luo, Dan Liu & Hui Gong

  2. Key Laboratory of Biomedical Photonics of Ministry of Education, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China

    Chenyang Gao, Lei Zhang, Dewu Luo, Dan Liu & Hui Gong

Authors
  1. Chenyang Gao
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  2. Lei Zhang
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  3. Dewu Luo
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  4. Dan Liu
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  5. Hui Gong
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hui Gong .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

    Qingming Luo

  2. Molecular Imaging Laboratory, Department of Radiology, Britton Chance Laboratory of Redox Imaging, Johnson Research Foundation, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

    Lin Z. Li

  3. Microvascular Measurements, St. Lorenzen, Italy

    David K. Harrison

  4. Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

    Hua Shi

  5. ISOTT Historian, Ellicott City, Maryland, USA

    Duane F. Bruley

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Gao, C., Zhang, L., Luo, D., Liu, D., Gong, H. (2016). PFC Activity Pattern During Verbal WM Task in Healthy Male and Female Subjects: A NIRS Study. In: Luo, Q., Li, L., Harrison, D., Shi, H., Bruley, D. (eds) Oxygen Transport to Tissue XXXVIII. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 923. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-38810-6_25

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