Working memory is a critical brain function for maintaining and
manipulating information over delay periods of seconds. It is debated
whether delay-period neural activity in sensory regions is important for the
active maintenance of information during the delay period. Here, we tackle
this question by examining the anterior piriform cortex (APC), an olfactory
sensory cortex, in head-fixed mice performing several olfactory working
memory tasks. Active information maintenance is necessary in these tasks,
especially in a dual-task paradigm in which mice are required to perform
another distracting task while actively maintaining information during the
delay period. Optogenetic suppression of neuronal activity in APC during the
delay period impaired performance in all the tasks. Furthermore,
electrophysiological recordings revealed that APC neuronal populations
encoded odor information in the delay period even with an intervening
distracting task. Thus, delay activity in APC is important for active
information maintenance in olfactory working memory.
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