REVERSIBLE DISRUPTION OF MEMORY

在前一支持期间的工作导致发现电气 延迟期对猕猴内侧颞叶的刺激 延迟的样本匹配任务的时间段极具破坏性 如果只有几个图像被重复使用，性能会更好。完全相同的 如果使用新鲜的图像进行刺激，刺激只会产生轻微的干扰 每一次审判。在人类受试者的记忆任务中，重复使用 图像导致了在延迟期内主动排练的策略。 在猴子中，重复图像的使用是诱导SO- 称为延迟活动。这是神经元的高放电率。 通常持续整个延迟期，有不同的神经元 对不同的刺激有选择性地激活。因此，跨区域的活动 神经元群体编码了对未来的记忆- 记起来了。延迟活动看起来就像神经元版本的 连续排练，是神经科的最佳候选者 体现了在这些条件下延迟期间的内存。这个 这种延迟活动的魅力在于，它可能是我们最好的模式 对于日常人类工作记忆来说，这是 想着。延迟活动是记忆的持有者的证据 然而，这是间接的。当前提案的目的是测试 这是直接的假设。这将通过使用电子设备 已知会扰乱延迟活动刺激(见 初步研究)。如果神经元的延迟活动是 然后，延迟活动的内存中断应该会扰乱 行为记忆。这个项目的贡献是直接针对 在记忆的一个突出的候选神经元机制。其临床应用 相关性不是立竿见影的，但可能是深远的，因为 充分了解助记电路应该会有很大的影响 随着人口老龄化，健康越来越重要 与记忆有关的问题。

Work in the previous support period led to a finding that electrical stimulation of the medial temporal lobe of monkeys during the delay period of a delayed matching-to-sample task was highly disruptive of performance if only a few images were repeatedly reused. The identical stimulation was only mildly disruptive if fresh images were used for each trial. In memory tasks with human subject, the use of repeated images leads to a strategy of active rehearsal during the delay period. In monkeys, the use of repeated images is a key to inducing the so- called delay activity. This is an elevated discharge rate in neurons usually lasting throughout the delay period, with different neurons selectively active for different stimuli. Thus, the activity across the population of neurons encodes a memory of that which is to-be- remembered. The delay activity appears like a neuronal version of continuous rehearsal, and is an excellent candidate for the neural embodiment of memory during the delay under these conditions. The fascination with this delay activity is that it may be our best model for the everyday human working memory which is the substrate for thought. The evidence that delay activity is the holder of the memory is, however, indirect. The purpose of the current proposal is to test that hypothesis directly. This will be done by using electrical stimulation which is known to disrupt that delay activity (see Preliminary Studies). If delay activity of neurons is the carrier of the memory then disruption of the delay activity should disrupt the behavioral memory. The contribution of this project is aimed directly at a prominent candidate neuronal mechanism of memory. Its clinical relevance is not immediate but could nonetheless be profound since a full understanding of the mnemonic circuitry should have a major impact on the important - and with the aging population - growing health problems involving memory.