Grant: Operating Grant

Working memory is known as the ability to retain information for short time periods in the absence of visual inputs. It has been demonstrated that some neurons in parietal, frontal and temporal cortical areas of primates are able to sustain their firing rate during tasks that require maintaining the features or locations of visual stimuli in working memory. This has led to the suggestion that neuronal networks within these areas are directly responsible for visual working memory maintenance. More recently imaging studies have suggested that some areas of the visual cortex show BOLD signal activation during working memory tasks. This controversial result, however, has not been well replicated by electrophysiological studies in non-human primates. Our first goal is to determine in which areas of the visual dorsal pathway the coding of working memory by single neurons emerges. Furthermore we will conduct experimental manipulations to determine the exact mechanisms by which neuron maintain memory information through their firing rate in the absence of visual inputs. These results will considerably advance our knowledge of how working memory is encoded in the primate brain.