Abstract
The present study examined the impact of white noise on word recall performance and brain activity in 40 healthy adolescents, split in two groups (normal and low) depending on their auditory working memory capacity (AWMC). Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, participants performed a backward recall task under four different signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conditions: 15, 10, 5, and 0-dB SNR. Behaviorally, normal AWMC individuals scored significantly higher than low AWMC individuals across noise levels. Whole-brain analyses showed brain activation not to be statistically different between groups across noise levels. In the normal group, a significant positive relationship was found between performance and number of activated voxels in the right superior frontal gyrus. In the low group, significant positive correlations were found between performance and number of activated voxels in left superior frontal gyrus, left inferior frontal gyrus, and left anterior cingulate cortex. These findings suggest that the strategic structure involved in the enhancement of AWM performance may differ in normal and low AWMC individuals.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to express their gratitude to Dr. Nashrah Maamor, Head of Audiology Program, Faculty of Health Science, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, for providing the hearing test services. We are grateful to Mohamad Nor Affendi Awang and Nooradila Zolkiflee, the radiographers of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre for their assistance in MRI scans. We are also thankful to Muhammad Riddha Abdul Rahman for assisting us with the figures formatting.
Funding
This study was funded by the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Incentive Research Grant (GGP-2017-010).
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Communicated by John C. Rothwell.
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Othman, E., Yusoff, A.N., Mohamad, M. et al. Effects of white noise on word recall performance and brain activity in healthy adolescents with normal and low auditory working memory. Exp Brain Res 238, 945–956 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-020-05765-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-020-05765-3