A probabilistic palimpsest model of visual short-term memory.

ABSTRACT: Working memory plays a key role in cognition, and yet its mechanisms remain much debated. Human performance on memory tasks is severely limited; however, the two major classes of theory explaining the limits leave open questions about key issues such as how multiple simultaneously-represented items can be distinguished. We propose a palimpsest model, with the occurrent activity of a single population of neurons coding for several multi-featured items. Using a probabilistic approach to storage and recall, we show how this model can account for many qualitative aspects of existing experimental data. In our account, the underlying nature of a memory item depends entirely on the characteristics of the population representation, and we provide analytical and numerical insights into critical iss

SUBMITTER: Matthey L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4303260 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature