An EEG Study of Auditory Working Memory Load and Cognitive Performance

Working memory and cognitive performance have received considerable attention in neuroscience research. Most of the studies have demonstrated their interaction over the prefrontal regions while manipulating visual or verbal working memory load. However, less attention has been directed to the impact of musical or auditory input in cognitive performance. In this study, electroencephalography (EEG) of six subjects were measured when they were performing a paradigm of auditory n-back working memory task. EEGLAB and the standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA) were utilized to parse the scalp EEG signals into source activity. The results revealed that when subjects were engaged in high versus low memory load, there were significantly stronger delta (1–4 Hz) activity in superior frontal gyrus, theta (4–7 Hz) activity in posterior cingulate cortex, alpha 1 (8–10 Hz) and beta 1 (12–16 Hz) activity in insula, but weaker alpha 2 (10–12 Hz) activity in anterior cingulate cortex. These results demonstrated that auditory working memory accompanied distinct brain network modulation to the visual or verbal task.