Developmental neural networks in children performing a Categorical N-Back Task.

The prefrontal and temporal networks subserving object working memory tasks in adults have been reported as immature in young children; yet children are adequately capable of performing such tasks. We investigated the basis of this apparent contradiction using a complex object working memory task, a Categorical n-back (CN-BT). We examined whether the neural networks engaged by the CN-BT in children consist of the same brain regions as those in adults, but with a different magnitude of activation, or whether the networks are qualitatively different.

Increased MEG activation in OCD reflects a compensatory mechanism specific to the phase of a visual working memory task.

We examined spatio-temporal patterns of evoked magnetoencephalographic signals (MEG) in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) during the Encoding, Retention, and Retrieval phases of a Delayed Matching-to-Sample working memory task (DMST). The question was whether the mechanisms of abnormally increased cortical excitability, frequently reported in OCD, relate to a global cortical disinhibition and unselective over-processing of stimuli or, alternatively, to a compensatory mechanism of effortful enhanced inhibitory control. The DMST-related network of activation in OCD was found similar to that of Controls, and to that reported in other neuroimaging studies.