Frontotemporal Coordination Predicts Working Memory Performance and its Local Neural Signatures

Abstract

Neurons in some sensory areas reflect the content of working memory (WM) in their spiking activity.However, this spiking activity is seldom related to behavioral performance. We studied the responses of inferotemporal (IT) neurons, which exhibit object-selective activity, along with Frontal Eye Field (FEF) neurons, which exhibit spatially-selective activity, during the delay period of an object WM task. Unlike the spiking activity and local field potentials (LFPs) within these areas, which were poor predictors of behavioral performance, the phase-locking of IT spikes and LFPs with the beta band of FEF LFPs robustly predicted successful WM maintenance. In addition, IT neurons exhibited greater object-selective persistent activity when their spikes were locked to the phase of FEF LFPs. These results demonstrate a key role of coordination between prefrontal and temporal cortex in the successful maintenance of visual information during WM.

High-Performance Computing Framework Based on Distributed Systems for Large-Scale Neurophysiological Data

“…In this study, we worked on an electrophysiological recording dataset that have been recorded from the inferior temporal cortex of nonhuman 18 . BNDF could be extended to support other recording techniques like EEG, MEG, fMRI, and imaging methods.…”