• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.173-182
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• 2012

It was well known that working memory highly related with academic achievement. The aim of this study was to investigate the differences of brain activation which visually evoked working memory(encoding and retrieval) through functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging(fMRI) in Higher Academic Achievement Group(HAAG) and Lower Academic Achievement Group(LAAG) of college students. 20 assigned college students participated in fMRI studies. They underwent totally 210 seconds repeated paradigm. Stimulation paradigm composed with resting time and encoding and retrieval seeing the figures from the mirror with head coil. The brain activation maps and their quantification were analyzed by the statistical parametric mapping(SPM99) program from level of significance 95%. HAAG was more significantly higher than LAAG in bilateral prefrontal lobe(brodmann 46) associated with working memory, inferior parietal lobe associated with attention, and visual association area in encoding figures test. Right dosoprefrontal lobe(BA 44), right fusiform gyrus associated with decision of figure and, lingual gyrus were more activated in retrieval test with HAAG. On the other hand, LAAG was more significantly higher than HAAG in cingulate gyrus during encoding test. Thalamus, basal ganglia, cerebellum were more activated in retrieval test. Consequently, We could guess from these results HAAG more effectively executed than LAAG in visual working memory test.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.27-51
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• 2015

The present study tested the effect of a top-down influence on recalling the colors of Stroop words. Participants remembered the colors of 1, 2, 3 or 6 Stroop words. After 1 second of a memory delay, they were asked to recall the color of a cued Stroop word by selecting out its corresponding color on a color-wheel stimulus. The correct recall was defined when the participants chose a color that was within ${\pm}45^{\circ}$ from the exact location of Stroop word's color on the color-wheel. Otherwise, the recall was defined as incorrect. The analyses of the frequency distribution of the participants' responses in the error trials showed that the probability of choosing the color-name of the target Stroop word was higher than the probability of other five color-names on the color-wheel. Further analyses showed that increasing the number of Stroop words to manipulate memory load did not affect the probability of the Stroop interference. These results indicate that the top-down interference by Stroop manipulation may induce systematic distortion of the stored representation in visual working memory.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.1-14
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• 2004

This research examined the effects of individual differences on visual discrimination skill teaming and its transfer to novel stimuli. Individual participants were categorized as having an analytic or holistic cognitive style, high or low working memory capacity, and high or low levels of rationality, experientiality, and adaptive decision-making styles. Participants received easy or difficult training for the serially presented discrimination task, and then transferred to novel discriminations. Training content interacted with cognitive style and working memory capacity to affect transfer accuracy performance, but individual differences in decision-making styles did not affect transfer performance. Results suggest individual differences should be taken into account when designing an interface for visual discrimination.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.238-249
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• 1998

Purpose: To localize and compare the neural basis of verbal and visual human working memory, we performed functional activation study using $H_2^{15}O$ PET. Materials and Methods: Repeated $H_2^{15}O$ PET scans with one control and three different activation tasks were performed on six right-handed normal volunteers. Each activation task was composed of 13 match-ing trials. On each trial, four targets, a fixation dot and a probe were presented sequentially and subject's task was to press a response button to indicate whether or not the probe was one of the previous targets. Short meaningful Korean words, simple drawings and monochromic pictures of human faces were used as matching objects for verbal or visual memory. All the images were spatially normalized and the differences between control and activation states were statistically analyzed using SPM96. Results: Statistical analysis of verbal memory activation with short words showed activation in the left Broca's area, promoter cortex, cerebellum and right cingulate gyrus. In verbal memory with simple drawings, activation was shown in the larger regions including where activated with short words and left superior temporal cortex, basal ganglia, thalamus, prefrontal cortex, anterior portion of right superior temporal gyrus and right infero-lateral frontal cortex. On the other hand, the visual memory task activated predominantly right-sided structures, especially inferior frontal cortex, supplementary motor cortex and superior parietal cortex. Conclusion: The results are consistent with the hypothesis of the laterality and dissociation of the verbal and visual working memory from the invasive electrophysiological studies and emphasize the pivotal role of frontal cortex and cingulate gyrus in working memory system.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.107-117
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• 2016

Objective: This study examined the construct validity of K-WPPSI-IV. Factor structures of the structures of the K-WPPSI-IV full scale as well as primary index scales for two age ranges (2 years, 6 months to 3 years, 11 months; 4 years to 7 years, 7 months) were examined. Methods: Data were collected from 1,700 children aged 2 years, 6 months to 7 years, 7 months during the K-WPPSI-IV standardization. Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted using the K-WPPSI-IV subtest performances with maximum likelihood estimation using Amos 18. Results: First, the three-factor model (verbal comprehension, visual spatial, and working memory) fitted best for the younger age range. However, the five-factor model (verbal comprehension, visual spatial, fluid reasoning, working memory, and processing speed) fitted best for the older age range. Residuals suggest the presence of two nested subfactors within the verbal comprehension factor (broad/expressive and focused/simple). Second, the confirmatory factor analysis on primary index subtests identified factors that account for the intercorrelations among the reduced sets of primary index subtests. Conclusion: The findings showed that the theoretical structures of WPPSI-IV subtests were confirmed within K-WPPSI-IV.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.453-481
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• 2015

The presnt study reviewed two contrasting models, fixed-resolution slot versus flexible-resource hypotheses, for the representational characteristics of visual working memory (VWM), and emphasized the necessary efforts for resolving their conflicting arguments. To accomplish this goal, the review explored the background hypotheses of the object-based versus parallel independent storage models, and introduced theoretical bases for their contrasting claims. The review then evaluated validity of empirical evidence provided in the studies to support each model, and attempted an understanding of their neurophysiological background. The study further emphasized the necessity of theoretical and methodological reconsiderations to resolve their conflict as well as the necessity of obtaining converging pieces of evidence to accomplish the resolution.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Emotion and Sensibility Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.94-100
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• 2003

Patients with schizophrenia have thinking disorders such as delusion or hallucination, because they have a deficit in the ability which to systematize and integrate information. Therefore, they cannot integrate or systemize visual, auditory and tactile stimuli. In this study we suggest a virtual reality system for the assessment of cognitive ability of schizophrenia patients, based on the brain multimodal integration model. The virtual reality system provides multimodal stimuli, such as visual and auditory stimuli, to the patient, and can evaluate the patient's multimodal integration and working memory integration abilities by making the patient interpret and react to multimodal stimuli, which must be remembered for a given period of time. The clinical study showed that the virtual reality program developed is comparable to those of the WCST and the SPM.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.65-73
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• 2014

Objectives This study aimed to identify the differences and the profiles of cognitive deficits in remitted patients with schizophrenia and first-degree relatives of schizophrenic probands. Methods A total of 26 remitted states of schizophrenia patients were included in the study and the same number of unaffected first-degree relatives of schizophrenic probands and healthy controls were matched for age, sex, years of education. Cognitive function of all participants was measured by using the Digit span test, the Continuous performance test, the Rey auditory & visual learning test, the Complex figure test, the Verbal fluency test, the Wisconsin card sorting test and the Finger tapping test. The effects of subsyndromal symptomatology and general intelligence score were controlled. Results Schizophrenia patients' group showed more significant impairment than other groups in verbal memory (learning, immediate recall, delayed recall), visual memory (copy, immediate recall, delayed recall) and cognitive flexibility domains. The family group and the patient group commonly performed significantly worse than healthy controls in working memory and verbal fluency (category) tests. There were no differences in sustained attention, psychomotor performance. Conclusions Our research shows that the deficit in working memory and verbal fluency could be strong candidates of endophenotypic marker in schizophrenia.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.365-384
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• 2011

A recent study of visual working memory(VWM) under a change detection paradigm proposed an idea that the comparison process of VWM representations against incoming perceptual inputs can be performed more rapidly than the process of forming durable memory representations into VWM. To test this hypothesis, we compared the size of interference effect caused by pattern-backward masks following after either the sample(sample-mask condition) or test items (test-mask condition). In Experiment 1, subjects performed a color change detection task for four colored-boxes, and pattern masks with mask-onset asynchronies(MSOA) of either 64ms or 150ms followed each item location either after the sample or after the test items. The change detection accuracy was both comparable in the sample-mask condition regardless of the MSOAs, whereas the accuracy in the trials with a MSOA of 150ms was substantially higher than the MSOA of 65ms in the test-masking condition. In Experiment 2, we manipulated setsizes to 1, 2, 3, 4 items and also MSOAs to 117ms, 234ms, 350ms, 484ms and compared the pattern of interference across a variety of setsize and MSOA conditions. The sample-mask condition yielded a pattern of masking interference which became more evident as the setsize increases and as the MSOA was shorter. However, this pattern of interference was less apparent in the test-mask condition. These results indicate that the comparison process between remembered items in VWM and perceptual inputs is less vulnerable to interference from pattern-backward masking than VWM consolidation is, and thus support for the recent idea that the comparison process in VWM can be performed very fast and accurately.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.32-41
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• 2005

Objective:Impaired processing of working memory is one of the cognitive deficits seen in patients with schizophrenia. This aimed at corroborating the differences in the brain activities involved in the process of working memory between patients with schizophrenia and the control subjects. Method:Fourteen patients with schizophrenia and 12 healthy volunteers were recruited in this study. Functional magnetic resonance imaging(fMRI) was used to assess cortical activities during the performance of a 2-back visual working memory paradigm using the Korean alphabet as mnemonic content. Results:Group analysis revealed that left lateral prefrontal cortex and right parietal lobule showed decreased cortical activities in the patient group. On the other hand, an increased activation in left superior and middle frontal gyrus, left middle temporal gyrus, right cuneus, both occipital lobes, right fusiform gyrus and right cingulate gyrus. The activation in left anterior lobe and both declive of cerebellum was also increased. Conclusions:This study showed a decreased activation in left lateral prefrontal and right parietal neural networks from the patient group and confirmed the earlier findings on the impaired working memory of patients with schizophrenia using fMRI investigation. The regions implicated in our study suggest an abnormal functioning of the fronto-parietal cortical areas that are critical to the information processing stream, which might be correspondent to common pathophysiology rather than a common etiology in schizophrenia.