Abstract #4115

Contralateral Cerebro-Cerebellar White Matter Pathways for Verbal Working Memory: A Combined Diffusion Spectrum Imaging and fMRI Study

Monika Sobczak-Edmans¹, Yu-Chun Lo², Yung-Chin Hsu², Yu-Jen Chen², Fu Yu Kwok¹, Kai-Hsiang Chuang^3,4, Wen-Yih Isaac Tseng^2,5,6,7, and SH Annabel Chen^1,8

¹Psychology, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore, ²Institute of Medical Device and Imaging, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, ³The Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, ⁴The Centre for Advanced Imaging, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, ⁵Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, ⁶Department of Radiology, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, ⁷Molecular Imaging Center, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, ⁸Centre for Research And Development in Learning, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

Diffusion spectrum imaging was employed to establish structural connectivity between cerebro-cerebellar regions co-activated during verbal working memory. IFG, IPL, pons, thalamus, superior cerebellum and inferior cerebellum were used as seed points to reconstruct the white matter cerebro-cerebellar circuitry. The reconstructed pathways were examined further to establish the relationship between structural and effective connectivity as well as the relationship between structural connectivity and verbal working memory performance. It was found that structural connectivity is indirectly related to effective connectivity but does not predict it. Additionally, it was demonstrated that the integrity of the ponto-cerebellar tract is an important factor in explaining individual differences in verbal working memory. The findings of the study furthered our understanding of the relationship between structural and functional connectivity and provided insight to the variability in verbal working memory performance.

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