Frontotemporal coordination predicts working memory performance and its local neural signatures.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 33597516.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-021-21151-1 and PMC identifier 7889930.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Neurons in some sensory areas reflect the content of working memory (WM) in their spiking activity. However, this spiking activity is seldom related to behavioral performance. We studied the responses of inferotemporal (IT) neurons, which exhibit object-selective activity, along with Frontal Eye Field (FEF) neurons, which exhibit spatially selective activity, during the delay period of an object WM task. Unlike the spiking activity and local field potentials (LFPs) within these areas, which were poor predictors of behavioral performance, the phase-locking of IT spikes and LFPs with the beta band of FEF LFPs robustly predicted successful WM maintenance. In addition, IT neurons exhibited greater object-selective persistent activity when their spikes were locked to the phase of FEF LFPs. These results reveal that the coordination between prefrontal and temporal cortex predicts the successful maintenance of visual information during WM.
Medical subject headings
- Macaca mulatta
- Memory, Short-Term
- Neurons
- Prefrontal Cortex
- Temporal Lobe