Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37923920›Full record

ArticleCommunications biology2023

Working memory performance is tied to stimulus complexity.

Roland Pusch, Julian Packheiser, Amir Hossein Azizi, Celil Semih Sevincik, Jonas Rose, Sen Cheng, Maik C Stüttgen, Onur Güntürkün

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Communications biology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Conscious birds.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025
    Review
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Balanced anesthesia in pigeons (Frontiers in physiology · 2024
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Roland Pusch *Department of Biopsychology, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Universitätsstraße 150, D-44780, Bochum, Germany. roland.pusch@rub.de.ORCID 0000-0002-6851-4839
Julian Packheiser *Department of Biopsychology, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Universitätsstraße 150, D-44780, Bochum, Germany.
Amir Hossein AziziDepartment of Systems Biology, Agricultural Biotechnology Research Institute of Iran (ABRII), Karaj, Iran.
Celil Semih SevincikDepartment of Biopsychology, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Universitätsstraße 150, D-44780, Bochum, Germany.
Jonas RoseNeural Basis of Learning, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Universitätsstraße 150, D-44780, Bochum, Germany.
Sen ChengInstitute for Neural Computation, Faculty of Computer Science, Ruhr University Bochum, Universitätsstraße 150, D-44780, Bochum, Germany.
Maik C StüttgenInstitute of Pathophysiology, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University, Duesbergweg 6, D-55128, Mainz, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-7031-262X
Onur GüntürkünDepartment of Biopsychology, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Universitätsstraße 150, D-44780, Bochum, Germany.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Working memory is the cognitive capability to maintain and process information over short periods. Behavioral and computational studies have shown that visual information is associated with working memory performance. However, the underlying neural correlates remain unknown. To identify how visual information affects working memory performance, we conducted behavioral experiments in pigeons (Columba livia) and single unit recordings in the avian prefrontal analog, the nidopallium caudolaterale (NCL). Complex pictures featuring luminance, spatial and color information, were associated with higher working memory performance compared to uniform gray pictures in conjunction with distinct neural coding patterns. For complex pictures, we found a multiplexed neuronal code displaying visual and value-related features that switched to a representation of the upcoming choice during a delay period. When processing gray stimuli, NCL neurons did not multiplex and exclusively represented the choice already during stimulus presentation and throughout the delay period. The prolonged representation possibly resulted in a decay of the memory trace ultimately leading to a decrease in performance. In conclusion, we found that high stimulus complexity is associated with neuronal multiplexing of the working memory representation possibly allowing a facilitated read-out of the neural code resulting in enhancement of working memory performance.

Indexed as

ColumbidaeMemory, Short-TermAnimalsCognitionNeurons

Identifiers

PMID37923920
PMCPMC10624839

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.