Fig. 3.
Compartment-specific activation during 0-back and 2-back working memory task blocks. Mean BOLD activation is shown for striosome-like (red) and matrix-like (blue) voxels across four stimulus categories (body part, face, place, tool). (A) In the 0-back condition, matrix-like voxels exhibited significantly greater activation than striosome-like voxels for face stimuli, while no differences were observed for the other categories. (B) In the 2-back condition, matrix-like voxels showed consistently stronger activation than striosome-like voxels across all stimulus categories, with significant effects for body part, face, place, and tool stimuli. This load-dependent divergence suggests that matrix-like voxels are preferentially engaged during the sustained demands of working memory, while striosome-like voxels remain less responsive during active task execution. Error bars illustrate the standard error of the mean. *, p < 0.031; **, p < 1 × 10–5; ***, p < 1 × 10–10; τ, trend toward significance.