ArticleScientific reports2022
Reduced variability of bursting activity during working memory.
Article in Scientific reports, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 10 citations in OpenAlex.
- Alpha phase coding supports feature binding during working memory maintenance.Communications biology · 2026Article
- Unraveling the roles of spatial working memory sustained and selective neurons in prefrontal cortex.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Top-down selection of visual working memory contents is supported by alpha-band phase-synchronized oscillatory networks.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025Article
- Age-related differences in transient gamma band activity during working memory maintenance through adolescence.NeuroImage · 2023Article
- A neuroscientist's guide to neural burst detection.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Working memories have long been thought to be maintained by persistent spiking. However, mounting evidence from multiple-electrode recording (and single-trial analyses) shows that the underlying spiking is better characterized by intermittent bursts of activity. A counterargument suggested this intermittent activity is at odds with observations that spike-time variability reduces during task performance. However, this counterargument rests on assumptions, such as randomness in the timing of the bursts, which may not be correct. Thus, we analyzed spiking and LFPs from monkeys' prefrontal cortex (PFC) to determine if task-related reductions in variability can co-exist with intermittent spiking. We found that it does because both spiking and associated gamma bursts were task-modulated, not random. In fact, the task-related reduction in spike variability could largely be explained by a related reduction in gamma burst variability. Our results provide further support for the intermittent activity models of working memory as well as novel mechanistic insights into how spike variability is reduced during cognitive tasks.
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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.