Task analysis complements neuroimaging: an example from working memory research.

When functional neuroimaging researchers draw conclusions about the sensory, cognitive, or motor processes that are associated with changes in brain activity, they are making assumptions about the component processes involved in performing a complex behavioral task. We demonstrate the danger in making such assumptions using, as an example, the n-back task, which has been widely used in neuroimaging studies of working memory. Neuroimaging researchers have assumed that the letter n-back task only engages processes involved in the short-term maintenance and manipulation of verbal information.