Cycles of goal silencing and reactivation underlie complex problem-solving in primate frontal and parietal cortex.

ABSTRACT: While classic views proposed that working memory (WM) is mediated by sustained firing, recent evidence suggests a contribution of activity-silent states. Within WM, human neuroimaging studies suggest a switch between attentional foreground and background, with only the foregrounded item represented in active neural firing. To address this process at the cellular level, we recorded prefrontal (PFC) and posterior parietal (PPC) neurons in a complex problem-solving task, with monkeys searching for one or two target locations in a first cycle of trials, and retaining them for memory-guided revisits on subsequent cycles. When target locations were discovered, neither frontal nor parietal neurons showed sustained goal-location codes continuing into subsequent trials and cycles. Instead there wer

SUBMITTER: Watanabe K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10439911 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature