Homologous mechanisms of visuospatial working memory maintenance in macaque and human: Properties and sources

Abstract

Although prefrontal and frontal cortex are thought to be critical for maintaining information in visuospatial working memory, the event-related potential index of maintenance is found over posterior cortex in humans. In the present study, we reconcile these seemingly contradictory findings. Here we show that macaque monkeys and humans exhibit the same posterior event-related potential signature of working memory maintenance that predicts the precision of the memory-based behavioral responses. Next, we concurrently recorded intracranial local field potentials from prefrontal and frontal cortical areas to determine their contribution to the event-related potential index of maintenance. The local fields in prefrontal and frontal areas, but not the cortex immediately posterior, exhibited amplitude modulations, timing, and relationships to behavior indicating that they contribute to the surface potentials. These findings show that a distributed neural network, including prefrontal and frontal areas, underlies the event-related potential index of visuospatial working memory maintenance.

Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2012