Working memory templates are maintained as feature-specific perceptual codes.

ABSTRACT: Working memory (WM) representations serve as templates that guide behavior, but the neural basis of these templates remains elusive. We tested the hypothesis that WM templates are maintained by biasing activity in sensoriperceptual neurons that code for features of items being held in memory. Neural activity was recorded using event-related potentials (ERPs) as participants viewed a series of faces and responded when a face matched a target face held in WM. Our prediction was that if activity in neurons coding for the features of the target is preferentially weighted during maintenance of the target, then ERP activity evoked by a nontarget probe face should be commensurate with the visual similarity between target and probe. Visual similarity was operationalized as the degree of overlap in

SUBMITTER: Sreenivasan KK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3129724 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature