Maintaining verbal short-term memory representations in non-perceptual parietal regions

Cortex ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiuhai Yue ◽  
Randi C. Martin
Keyword(s):  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Memory Representations

scholarly journals Orienting Attention to Short-Term Memory Representations via Sensory Modality and Semantic Category Retro-Cues

eNeuro ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. ENEURO.0018-20.2020
Author(s):  
Kristina C. Backer ◽  
Bradley R. Buchsbaum ◽  
Claude Alain
Keyword(s):  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Sensory Modality ◽  
Semantic Category ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Memory Representations

Task- and performance-related modulation of domain-specific auditory short-term memory representations in the gamma-band

NeuroImage ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 1127-1136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jochen Kaiser ◽  
Werner Lutzenberger ◽  
Christin Decker ◽  
Michael Wibral ◽  
Benjamin Rahm
Keyword(s):  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Gamma Band ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Memory Representations ◽  
And Performance

Memory Representations in Natural Tasks

1995 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dana H. Ballard ◽  
Mary M. Hayhoe ◽  
Jeff B. Pelz
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Memory Representations ◽  
Series Of Experiments ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Natural Tasks

The very limited capacity of short-term or working memory is one of the most prominent features of human cognition. Most studies have stressed delimiting the upper bounds of this memory in memorization tasks rather than the performance of everyday tasks. We designed a series of experiments to test the use of short-term memory in the course of a natural hand-eye task where subjects have the freedom to choose their own task parameters. In this case subjects choose not to operate at the maximum capacity of short-term memory but instead seek to minimize its use. In particular, reducing the instantaneous memory required to perform the task can be done by serializing the task with eye movements. These eye movements allow subjects to postpone the gathering of task-relevant information until just before it is required. The reluctance to use short-term memory can be explained if such memory is expensive to use with respect to the cost of the serializing strategy.

scholarly journals Visual working memory is independent of the cortical spacing between memoranda

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Harrison ◽  
Paul M. Bays
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Visual Features ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Neural Architecture ◽  
Memory Representations ◽  
Stimulus Features ◽  
Cortical Representations

AbstractThe sensory recruitment hypothesis states that visual short term memory is maintained in the same visual cortical areas that initially encode a stimulus’ features. Although it is well established that the distance between features in visual cortex determines their visibility, a limitation known as crowding, it is unknown whether short term memory is similarly constrained by the cortical spacing of memory items. Here we investigated whether the cortical spacing between sequentially presented memoranda affects the fidelity of memory in humans (of both sexes). In a first experiment, we varied cortical spacing by taking advantage of the log-scaling of visual cortex with eccentricity, sequentially presenting memoranda in peripheral vision along either the radial or tangential visual axis with respect to the fovea. In a second experiment, we sequentially presented memoranda either within or beyond the critical spacing of visual crowding, a distance within which visual features cannot be perceptually distinguished due to their nearby cortical representations. In both experiments and across multiple measures, we found strong evidence that the ability to maintain visual features in memory is unaffected by cortical spacing. These results indicate that the neural architecture underpinning working memory has properties inconsistent with the known behaviour of sensory neurons in visual cortex. Instead, the dissociation between perceptual and memory representations supports a role of higher cortical areas, such as posterior parietal or prefrontal regions, or may involve an as yet unspecified mechanism in visual cortex in which stimulus features are bound to their temporal order.Significance StatementAlthough much is known about the resolution with which we can remember visual objects, the cortical representation of items held in short term memory remains contentious. A popular hypothesis suggests that memory of visual features is maintained via the recruitment of the same neural architecture in sensory cortex that encodes stimuli. We investigated this claim by manipulating the spacing in visual cortex between sequentially presented memoranda such that some items shared cortical representations more than others, while preventing perceptual interference between stimuli. We found clear evidence that short term memory is independent of the intra-cortical spacing of memoranda, revealing a dissociation between perceptual and memory representations. Our data indicate that working memory relies on different neural mechanisms from sensory perception.

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