Brain imaging of the central executive component of working memory
Open accessAbstract
This review presents neuroimaging studies which have explored the cerebral substrates of the central executive component of the working memory model proposed by Baddeley and Hitch [Working memory (1986); Recent advances in learning and motivation (1974)]. These studies have demonstrated that different executive functions (manipulating and updating of information, dual-task coordination, inhibition and shifting processes) not only recruit various frontal areas, but also depend upon posterior (mainly parietal) regions. Such results are in agreement with the hypothesis that executive functions rely on a distributed cerebral network not restricted to anterior cerebral areas. Moreover, the intervention of similar prefrontal regions in a large number of executive tasks suggests that the central executive functioning must be understood in terms of different interactions between a network of regions rather than in terms of a specific association between one region and one higher-level cognitive process.
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- Authors
- Collette, F., & Van der Linden, M.
- Affiliations
- University of Liège (BE)
- Corresponding author
- Collette, Fabienne
- ORCID
- Collette, Fabienne
- Venue
- Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2002-03
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 105-125
- ISSN
- 0149-7634 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2123788727
- Semantic Scholar
- 0593bdd61fc1a60ede7e0a497da2bd8a875ef6c2
- Cited by
- 617
- References
- 13
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 27 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 22 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 25 · 2016: 25 · 2015: 23 · 2014: 25 · 2013: 28 · 2012: 31
- FWCI
- 2.72
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- orbi.uliege.be
- Licence
- Locations
- Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- ORBi (University of Liège) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
- Keywords
- central executive, working memory, executive function, prefrontal cortex, parietal cortex, distributed neural networks, inhibition, cognitive shifting, Baddeley-Hitch model, brain substrates
- MeSH terms
- Brain, Frontal Lobe, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Memory, Short-Term, Neural Pathways, Parietal Lobe, Tomography, Emission-Computed
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