The Distributed Nature of Working Memory

Publication date: Available online 4 January 2017
Source:Trends in Cognitive Sciences
Author(s): Thomas B. Christophel, P. Christiaan Klink, Bernhard Spitzer, Pieter R. Roelfsema, John-Dylan Haynes
Studies in humans and non-human primates have provided evidence for storage of working memory contents in multiple regions ranging from sensory to parietal and prefrontal cortex. We discuss potential explanations for these distributed representations: (i) features in sensory regions versus prefrontal cortex differ in the level of abstractness and generalizability; and (ii) features in prefrontal cortex reflect representations that are transformed for guidance of upcoming behavioral actions. We propose that the propensity to produce persistent activity is a general feature of cortical networks. Future studies may have to shift focus from asking where working memory can be observed in the brain to how a range of specialized brain areas together transform sensory information into a delayed behavioral response.



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