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Probing the Working Memory System in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study Using the n-Back Task

From the Unitat de Psicologia Mèdica, Institut de Neurociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain (X.C.); the Division of Psychological Medicine and Psychiatry (X.C., D.M.-C., K.A.M., T.C.), the Department of Psychology (D.M.-C., E.L.G.), and the Centre for Neuroimaging Sciences (V.G., M.B., F.Z.), King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK.

View larger version (41K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure. 1. Differences in activation between patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and control subjects in the 1-back, 2-back, and 3-back conditions. Blue clusters indicate greater activation in patients, whereas red clusters indicate greater activation in control subjects. During the 1-back condition (A), patients with CFS showed greater activation than control subjects in the medial prefrontal cortex (Brodmann's area [BA] 10/24/32, peak activation at x = 29, y = 56, z = 7; 144 voxels). During the 2-back (B) condition, patients with CFS showed decreased activation in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (BA 10/45/46, peak activation at x = –33, y = 56, z = 3; 112 voxels) and left parietal cortex (BA 7/19, peak activation at x = –18, y = –78, z = 33; 112 voxels). During the 3-back condition, patients with CFS showed reduced activation in bilateral parietal cortex (BA 7, peak activation at x = 18, y = –70, z = 43; 151 voxels) and increased activation in inferior temporal gyrus (BA 20, peak activation at x = 54, y = –37, z = –17; 79 voxels). Each box plot shows the median (horizontal line), quartiles (box), extreme values (whiskers), and outliers (circles). This figure is for display purposes only and indicates the most representative slices. L = left; R = right.

View larger version (44K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure. 2. L = left; R = right. The plot at the bottom right corner of each image represents the percent blood oxygen level dependent signal change in that region across the three n-back load levels for control subjects and patients. These figures are for display purposes only and indicate the most representative slice. (A) Significant between-group differences on the task load slopes in the bilateral parietal cortex (Brodmann's areas [BA] 7/19; peak activation in x = 0, y = –63, z = 50; 67 voxels). (B) Significant between-group differences on the task load slopes in the ventromedial/ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (BA 47/11) extending toward the anterior cingulate cortex (BA 32; peak activation x = 40, y = 41, z = –7; 39 voxels). (C) Significant between-group differences on the task load slopes in lateral BA 10 (peak activation at x = 33, y = 56, z = 17; 34 voxels).