Spatial working memory in frontal cortex

猕猴的辅助视野（SEF）通常被认为是一个动眼区。这一观点似乎得到了这样一个事实的支持：当猴子准备进行眼球运动时，SEF神经元会被激活，在一个有限的反应场中，每个神经元都会在眼球运动之前优先激活目标。然而，计划眼球运动需要记住目标的位置，并将注意力集中到这些位置。因此，SEF中的神经元活动可能与伴随眼球运动的高阶功能有关，而不是与眼球运动本身的编程有关。解决这一问题是提出的实验的目的。猴子将被训练去执行记忆引导的扫视任务（在这个任务中，他们必须将眼球运动计划到一个记住的位置）和空间工作记忆任务（在这个任务中，他们必须记住一个位置，但要抑制任何看它的倾向）。在每一种任务的背景下，他们将被训练来处理与视网膜和参考对象相关的位置。在执行任务时，将在SEE中监测神经元活动，分析数据以验证SEF中的神经元代表工作记忆中保存的位置的假设，而不管这些位置是否是预期眼球运动的目标。该研究结果将阐明空间工作记忆的神经机制，并将有助于解释母亲去世后和前额叶受损伤的神经精神障碍的行为障碍的本质。

The supplementary eye field (SEF) of the macaque monkey is commonly thought to be an oculomotor area. This view is seemingly supported by the fact that SEF neurons fire when monkeys prepare to make eye movements, with each neuron firing preferentially before eye movements to targets within a restricted response field. However, planning eye movements involves remembering the locations of targets and deploying attention to those locations. Thus neuronal activity in the SEF may be related to high-order functions accompanying eye movements rather than to the programming of eye movements in itself. To resolve this issue is the aim of the proposed experiments. Monkeys will be trained to perform both a memory guided saccade task (in which they mast plan eye movements to a remembered location) and a spatial working memory task (in which they must remember a location but suppress any tendency to look at it). In the context of each kind of task, they will be trained to process locations as defined with respect to the retina and with respect to reference objects. During task performance, neuronal activity will be monitored in the SEE The data will be analyzed to test the hypothesis that neurons in the SEF represent locations being held in working memory regardless of whether or not those locations are the targets of intended eye movements. The results will clarify the neural mechanisms underlying spatial working memory and will help to explain the nature of behavioral impairments occurring after mum and in cases of neuropsychiatric disorder with frontal lobe involvement.