The purpose of this article is to identify what parts of the brain are involved in the articulatory loop component of working memory. This article was published in 1993 by E. Paulesu, C.D. Frith, and R.S.J. Frackowiak. Working memory is temporary memory that is used to interact and carry out immediate tasks. Working memory consists of the central executive, visuo-spatial buffer, and the phonological buffer systems. The articulatory loop is the part of the phonological buffer responsible for storing verbal information through repetition. The articulatory loop analyzed in the paper corresponds to our class discussion of the phonological loop. These synonymous processes contain two sub processes; the phonological store and the subvocal rehearsal…show more content… To discover the areas of the brain that are activated when using the articulatory loop the experimenters designed two tasks. The first task was designed to engage both the phonological store and the subvocal rehearsal system. This phonological task involved giving the participants a sequence of non-similar consonants, asking the participants to rehearse silently and then recall the letters. The second task was designed to use the subvocal rehearsal system. This task involved giving the participant sequences of consonants and then asking the participants to decide if the letter rhymed with another given letter. Finally, there was a control task that was the same as the phonological task except that they used Korean letters which had no phonological relevance for the participants (Paulesu et. al, 1993). For both tasks the experimenters measured and mapped the participant’s regional cerebral blood flow through the…show more content… As discussed in class, the PET subtraction method involves taking a task that involves both processes and thus getting activation in all relevant brain areas. Then the second task only involves one of the processes and thus get activation in only some of the previous brain areas. By taking the overall brain activation areas in the first task minus the brain activation areas in the second task we can see what specific brain areas are used in each task. In the experiment the phonological task (task that activated both the phonological store and the subvocal rehearsal system) significant activation was seen in Brodmann’s area (BA) 44, superior temporal gyri (BA 22/42), supramarginal gyri (BA 40), and insule. For the rhyming task activation critical differences were seen in activation of Broca’s area and no activation in the left BA 40. This suggests that the left BA 40 is the main location of the phonological store and that Broca’s area is the main location for the subvocal rehearsal system. These results appear to be consistent with modern results. In class we discussed the relevance of Broca’s area to the phonological component of working memory and that the phonological working memory lies in the left hemisphere of the brain. There were also several other interesting finding in the experiment. The
