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Wilma Koutstaal

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4 papers

1 author row

YNIMG Journal 2003 Journal Article

Neural mechanisms of visual object priming: evidence for perceptual and semantic distinctions in fusiform cortex

Jon S Simons
Wilma Koutstaal
Steve Prince
Anthony D Wagner
Daniel L Schacter

Previous functional imaging studies have shown that facilitated processing of a visual object on repeated, relative to initial, presentation (i. e. , repetition priming) is associated with reductions in neural activity in multiple regions, including fusiform/lateral occipital cortex. Moreover, activity reductions have been found, at diminished levels, when a different exemplar of an object is presented on repetition. In one previous study, the magnitude of diminished priming across exemplars was greater in the right relative to the left fusiform, suggesting greater exemplar specificity in the right. Another previous study, however, observed fusiform lateralization modulated by object viewpoint, but not object exemplar. The present fMRI study sought to determine whether the result of differential fusiform responses for perceptually different exemplars could be replicated. Furthermore, the role of the left fusiform cortex in object recognition was investigated via the inclusion of a lexical/semantic manipulation. Right fusiform cortex showed a significantly greater effect of exemplar change than left fusiform, replicating the previous result of exemplar-specific fusiform lateralization. Right fusiform and lateral occipital cortex were not differentially engaged by the lexical/semantic manipulation, suggesting that their role in visual object recognition is predominantly in the visual discrimination of specific objects. Activation in left fusiform cortex, but not left lateral occipital cortex, was modulated by both exemplar change and lexical/semantic manipulation, with further analysis suggesting a posterior-to-anterior progression between regions involved in processing visuoperceptual and lexical/semantic information about objects. The results are consistent with the view that the right fusiform plays a greater role in processing specific visual form information about objects, whereas the left fusiform is also involved in lexical/semantic processing.

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YNIMG Journal 1998 Journal Article

Functional–Anatomic Study of Episodic Retrieval

Randy L. Buckner
Wilma Koutstaal
Daniel L. Schacter
Anders M. Dale
Michael Rotte
Bruce R. Rosen

In a companion paper (R. L. Buckneret al. ,1998, NeuroImage 7, 151–162) we used fMRI to identify brain areas activated by episodic memory retrieval. Prefrontal areas were shown to differentiate component processes related to retrieval success and retrieval effort in block-designed paradigms. Importantly, a right anterior prefrontal area was most active during task blocks involving greatest retrieval success, consistent with an earlier PET study by M. D. Rugget al. (1996, Brain 119, 2073–2083). However, manipulation of these variables within the context of blocked trials confounds differences related to varying levels of retrieval success with potential shifts in subjects' strategies due to changes in the probability of target events across blocks. To test more rigorously the hypothesis that certain areas are directly related to retrieval success, we adopted recently developed procedures for event-related fMRI. Fourteen subjects studied words under deep encoding and were then tested in a mixed trial paradigm where old and new words were randomly presented. This recognition testing procedure activated similar areas to the blocked trial paradigm, with all areas showing similar levels of activation across old and new items. Of critical importance, significant activation was detected in right anterior prefrontal cortex for new items when subjects correctly indicated they were new (correct rejections). These findings go against the retrieval success hypothesis as formally proposed and provide an important constraint for interpretation of this region's role in episodic retrieval. Furthermore, anterior prefrontal activation was found to occur late, relative to other brain areas, suggesting that it may be involved in retrieval verification or monitoring processes or perhaps even in anticipation of subsequent trial events (although an alternative possibility, that the late onset is mediated by a late vascular response, cannot be ruled out). These findings and their relation to the results obtained in the companion blocked-trial paradigm are discussed.

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YNIMG Journal 1998 Journal Article

Functional–Anatomic Study of Episodic Retrieval Using fMRI

Randy L. Buckner
Wilma Koutstaal
Daniel L. Schacter
Anthony D. Wagner
Bruce R. Rosen

A number of recent functional imaging studies have identified brain areas activated during tasks involving episodic memory retrieval. The identification of such areas provides a foundation for targeted hypotheses regarding the more specific contributions that these areas make to episodic retrieval. As a beginning effort toward such an endeavor, whole-brain functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to examine 14 subjects during episodic word recognition in a block-designed fMRI experiment. Study conditions were manipulated by presenting either shallow or deep encoding tasks. This manipulation yielded two recognition conditions that differed with regard to retrieval effort and retrieval success: shallow encoding yielded low levels of recognition success with high levels of retrieval effort, and deep encoding yielded high levels of recognition success with low levels of effort. Many brain areas were activated in common by these two recognition conditions compared to a low-level fixation condition, including left and right prefrontal regions often detected during PET episodic retrieval paradigms (e. g. , R. L. Buckneret al. ,1996, J. Neurosci. 16, 6219–6235) thereby generalizing these findings to fMRI. Characterization of the activated regions in relation to the separate recognition conditions showed (1) bilateral anterior insular regions and a left dorsal prefrontal region were more active after shallow encoding, when retrieval demanded greatest effort, and (2) right anterior prefrontal cortex, which has been implicated in episodic retrieval, was most active during successful retrieval after deep encoding. We discuss these findings in relation to component processes involved in episodic retrieval and in the context of a companion study using event-related fMRI.

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YNIMG Journal 1997 Journal Article

Late Onset of Anterior Prefrontal Activity during True and False Recognition: An Event-Related fMRI Study

Daniel L. Schacter
Randy L. Buckner
Wilma Koutstaal
Anders M. Dale
Bruce R. Rosen

Previous studies using PET and fMRI to examine memory retrieval have been limited by the requirement to test different types of items in separate blocks and to average data across items and response types within blocks. We used recently developed procedures for analyzing event-related mixed trial data from fMRI experiments to compare brain activity during true recognition of previously studied words and false recognition of semantic associates. A previous PET study using blocked testing procedures reported similarities and differences in rCBF patterns associated with true and false recognition (Schacteret al. ,1996a). We examined brain activity during blocked testing of studied words and nonstudied semantic associates (similar to PET), and also during event-related mixed trials, where studied words and nonstudied semantic associates are intermixed. Six subjects initially heard lists of semantically related words and were later tested for old/new recognition with studied words and nonstudied semantic associates, either in separate blocks or intermixed randomly for the event-related analysis. Compared to a fixation control condition, a variety of regions previously reported in the PET study showed significant activation for both true and false recognition, including anterior prefrontal, frontal opercular, medial parietal, and visual cortex extending into hippocampal/parahippocampal regions. Differences across trial types were not clearly present. Event-related analyses of time course data show a relatively late onset and sustained duration for anterior prefrontal signal changes compared to signal changes in other activated regions. Further study is needed to resolve whether this late onset originates from variance in hemodynamic response properties or is attributable to delayed neural activity. The delayed onset is consistent with the idea that anterior prefrontal regions participate in postretrieval monitoring processes.

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