ReviewTrends in neurosciences2021
50 years of mnemonic persistent activity: quo vadis?
Review in Trends in neurosciences, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 50 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
50 citing papers in PubMed.
- A Brain-wide Neuronal Spiking and Behavioral Dataset for Working Memory-specific Activation and Reactivation in Mice.Neuroscience bulletin · 2026Article
- A unified model of short- and long-term plasticity: Effects on network connectivity and information capacity.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- Protocol for analyzing slow cortical dynamics in mouse neuronal recordings.STAR protocols · 2026Article
- Article
- Neural dynamics for working memory and evidence integration during olfactory navigation in Drosophila.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Inhibitory-stabilization is sufficient for history-dependent computation in a randomly connected attractor network.Journal of computational neuroscience · 2026Article
- Targeting insulo-frontal pathway to reduce stress-evoked cognitive rigidity.Nature communications · 2026Article
- A novel framework for expanding RNNs with biophysical detail to solve cognitive tasks.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Cell-type-specific sustained value representations in the claustrum.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- TARGETING INSULO-FRONTAL PATHWAY TO REDUCE STRESS-EVOKED COGNITIVE RIGIDITY.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Robust maintenance of both stimulus location and amplitude in a working memory model based on dendritic bistability.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- From comparative connectomics to large-scale working memory modeling in macaque and marmoset.Cell reports · 2026Article
- Asynchronous firing and off states in working memory maintenance.Cell reports · 2026Article
- Dynamics of working memory drift and information flow across the cortical hierarchy.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Hierarchical Replay of Multi-regional Sequential Spiking Associated with Working Memory.Neuroscience bulletin · 2025Article
- Asynchronous firing and off-states in working memory maintenance.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Neural dynamics for working memory and evidence integration during olfactory navigation inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Robustness of Working Memory to Prefrontal Cortex Microstimulation.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025Article
- Bifurcation in space: Emergence of functional modularity in the neocortex.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- From comparative connectomics to large-scale working memory modeling in macaque and marmoset.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
Abstract
Half a century ago persistent spiking activity in the neocortex was discovered to be a neural substrate of working memory. Since then scientists have sought to understand this core cognitive function across biological and computational levels. Studies are reviewed here that cumulatively lend support to a synaptic theory of recurrent circuits for mnemonic persistent activity that depends on various cellular and network substrates and is mathematically described by a multiple-attractor network model. Crucially, a mnemonic attractor state of the brain is consistent with temporal variations and heterogeneity across neurons in a subspace of population activity. Persistent activity should be broadly understood as a contrast to decaying transients. Mechanisms in the absence of neural firing ('activity-silent state') are suitable for passive short-term memory but not for working memory - which is characterized by executive control for filtering out distractors, limited capacity, and internal manipulation of information.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.