Neural Mechanisms of Working Memory Limits Neural Mechanisms of Working Memory Limits
2013 Computational Neuroscience Meeting: Paris, France
Co-organizers: Albert Compte, Institut d'investigacions Biomediques August Pi i Sunyer
Zachary Kilpatrick, University of Houston
Workshops: July 17-18, 2013

Working memory can store multiple pieces of transitory information during a delay period. Each item of information can then be used in later neural computations. Electrode recording and fMRI studies have identified several brain areas that encode working memory with persistent activity or based on transient neural dynamics. Importantly, the process appears to have some fundamental limits. First, memory of a single cue degrades in accuracy as a function of the delay time. Second, memory accuracy of multiple objects is limited by the number of objects present. Several conceptual frameworks have been proposed to explain the nature of these limitations (slots vs. resource models). Only recently have the neural mechanisms responsible for working memory limits been explored computationally and neurophysiologically. This session will bring together experimentalists and theorists to discuss how the neural activity that serves working memory affects its accuracy and capacity.

Wednesday, July 17: Time
9:00-9:45amChristian Machens: TBA
9:45-10:30am Sophie Deneve: What are the real limits of working memory in balanced spiking networks?
10:30-11:00am Coffee Break
11:00-11:45am Zachary Kilpatrick: Optimizing working memory with heterogeneity of recurrent cortical excitation
11:45am-12:30pm Albert Compte: Bump attractor dynamics in prefrontal cortex underlie behavioral precision in spatial working memory
12:30-2:00pm Lunch break
2:00-2:45pm Yoram Burak: Fundamental limits on persistent activity in stochastic attractor networks
2:45-3:00pm Coffee Break
3:00-3:45pm Yuri Dabaghian : A topological model of the hippocampal spatial map and spatial learning capacity
3:45-4:30pm Discussion

Thursday, July 18: Capacity
9:00-9:45am Jonathan Wallis: Prefrontal mechanisms contributing to working memory
9:45-10:30am Ronald van den Berg: Descriptive and normative models of working memory limitations
10:30-11:00am Coffee Break
11:00-11:45am Rita Almeida: A computational and experimental study of the relations between precision and capacity of visuo-spatial working-memory for several items
11:45am-12:30pm Vladimir Itskov: Associative memory encoding in bump attractor networks: switching between dual functions on the same network
12:30-2:00pm Lunch break
2:00-2:45pm Paul Bays: Working memory capacity and allocation reflect noise in neural populations
2:45-3:00pm Coffee Break
3:00-3:45pm Masud Husain: Forgetting over seconds: attention and the role of the hippocampus
3:45-4:30pm Tim Buschman: Neural Dynamics of Working Memory Capacity Limits in Prefrontal and Parietal Cortex