Verbal working memory (VWM) engages frontal and temporal/parietal circuits subserving the phonological loop, as well as, superior and inferior cerebellar regions which have projections from these neocortical areas. Different cerebro-cerebellar circuits may be engaged for integrating aurally- and visually-presented information for VWM. The present fMRI study investigated load (2, 4, or 6 letters) and modality (auditory and visual) dependent cerebro-cerebellar VWM activation using a Sternberg task. FMRI revealed modality-independent activations in left frontal (BA 6/9/44), insular, cingulate (BA 32), and bilateral inferior parietal/supramarginal (BA 40) regions, as well as in bilateral superior (HVI) and right inferior (HVIII) cerebellar regions. Visual presentation evoked prominent activations in right superior (HVI/CrusI) cerebellum, bilateral occipital (BA19) and left parietal (BA7/40) cortex while auditory presentation showed robust activations predominately in bilateral temporal regions (BA21/22). In the cerebellum, we noted a visual to auditory emphasis of function progressing from superior to inferior and from lateral to medial regions. These results extend our previous findings of fMRI activation in cerebro-cerebellar networks during VWM, and demonstrate both modality dependent commonalities and differences in activations with increasing memory load.

中文翻译：

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言语工作记忆中的模态特异性脑 - 小脑激活：一项 fMRI 研究。

语言工作记忆 (VWM) 涉及支持语音回路的额叶和颞叶/顶叶回路，以及从这些新皮层区域投射的小脑上部和下部区域。不同的脑-小脑回路可用于整合 VWM 的听觉和视觉呈现信息。本 fMRI 研究使用 Sternberg 任务调查了负荷（2、4 或 6 个字母）和形态（听觉和视觉）依赖的脑-小脑 VWM 激活。FMRI 显示左额叶 (BA 6/9/44)、岛叶、扣带回 (BA 32) 和双侧顶下/边缘上 (BA 40) 区域以及双侧上 (HVI) 和右下(HVIII) 小脑区。视觉呈现引起右上 (HVI/CrusI) 小脑的显着激活，双侧枕叶 (BA19) 和左顶叶 (BA7/40) 皮层，而听觉呈现主要在双侧颞区 (BA21/22) 中显示出强烈的激活。在小脑中，我们注意到从上到下和从外侧到内侧区域的功能从视觉到听觉的强调。这些结果扩展了我们之前在 VWM 期间脑 - 小脑网络中 fMRI 激活的发现，并证明了模态依赖的共性和随着记忆负荷增加而激活的差异。