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.