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The sensory nature of mnemonic representation in the primate prefrontal cortex

Nature Neuroscience volume 4, pages 311–316 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

A long-standing issue concerning the function of the primate dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is whether the activity of prefrontal neurons reflects the perceived sensory attributes of a remembered stimulus, or the decision to execute a motor response. To distinguish between these possibilities, we recorded neuronal activity from monkeys trained to make a saccade toward the brighter of two memoranda, under conditions of varied luminance. Our results indicated that during the delay period when sensory information was no longer available, neuronal discharge was modulated by the luminance of the stimulus appearing in the receptive field, and was directly correlated with psychophysical performance in the task. The findings suggest that although prefrontal cortex codes for a diversity of representations, including the decision for an impending response, a population of neurons maintains the dimensional attributes of remembered stimuli throughout the delay period, which allows for flexibility in the outcome of a mnemonic process.

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Figure 1: Macaque brain and behavioral task.
Figure 2: Single neuron responses were modulated by stimulus contrast.
Figure 3: Distractors evoked delay-period responses for most neurons tested.
Figure 4: Population responses were modulated by the luminance of the stimulus in the receptive field.
Figure 5: Probability of discrimination between a target and distractor was graded as a function of their contrast ratio.
Figure 6: Individual neuronal responses were dependent on contrast in a variable delay experiment.
Figure 7: Population responses for each contrast level in variable delay period experiment.
Figure 8: Model.

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Acknowledgements

We thank V. Bernardo for technical assistance and D.T. Blake for his comments on a previous version of the manuscript. This work was supported by NIMH grant MH38546 to P.S.G.-R., fellowship MH11812 to M.N.F. and McDonnel-Pew Program in Cognitive Neuroscience Award to C.C.

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  1. Section of Neurobiology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, 06510, Connecticut, USA

    Christos Constantinidis, Matthew N. Franowicz & Patricia S. Goldman-Rakic

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  1. Christos Constantinidis
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  3. Patricia S. Goldman-Rakic
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Correspondence to Patricia S. Goldman-Rakic.

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Constantinidis, C., Franowicz, M. & Goldman-Rakic, P. The sensory nature of mnemonic representation in the primate prefrontal cortex. Nat Neurosci 4, 311–316 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/85179

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