The Role of Prefrontal Cortex in Working Memory: A Mini Review.
The Role of Prefrontal Cortex in Working Memory: A Mini Review.
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DOI：
10.3389/fnsys.2015.00173
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发表时间：
2015
影响因子：
3
通讯作者：
Wallis JD
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Lara AH;Wallis JD
关于前额叶皮层（PFC）功能的一个重要解释是，PFC内的单个神经元在工作记忆中维持任务相关刺激的表征。这一观点的证据来自于一项研究，在这项研究中，受试者在长达几秒钟的延迟中保持刺激。在执行这些任务的动物模型和人类中，都观察到PFC持续升高的活动。这种持续的活动被解释为工作记忆中刺激本身编码的证据。然而，最近的研究结果对这一观点提出了挑战。最近的一些研究已经检查了来自PFC和后感觉区的神经数据，无论是在灵长类动物的单个神经元水平上，还是在人类的更大范围内，都没有发现在具有大量工作记忆成分的任务中PFC中刺激信息的编码。然而，强刺激相关的信息在后感觉区可见。这些结果表明，PFC的延迟期活动可能不是记忆存储本身的特征，而是一个自上而下的信号，影响了维持实际工作记忆表征的后感觉区域。
A prominent account of prefrontal cortex (PFC) function is that single neurons within the PFC maintain representations of task-relevant stimuli in working memory. Evidence for this view comes from studies in which subjects hold a stimulus across a delay lasting up to several seconds. Persistent elevated activity in the PFC has been observed in animal models as well as in humans performing these tasks. This persistent activity has been interpreted as evidence for the encoding of the stimulus itself in working memory. However, recent findings have posed a challenge to this notion. A number of recent studies have examined neural data from the PFC and posterior sensory areas, both at the single neuron level in primates, and at a larger scale in humans, and have failed to find encoding of stimulus information in the PFC during tasks with a substantial working memory component. Strong stimulus related information, however, was seen in posterior sensory areas. These results suggest that delay period activity in the PFC might be better understood not as a signature of memory storage per se, but as a top down signal that influences posterior sensory areas where the actual working memory representations are maintained.