An Oscillatory Mechanism for Multi-level Storage in Short-term Memory

Oscillatory activity is commonly observed during the maintenance of information in short-term memory, but its role remains unclear. Non-oscillatory models of short-term memory storage are able to encode stimulus identity through their spatial patterns of activity, but are typically limited to either an all-or-none representation of stimulus amplitude or exhibit a biologically implausible exact-tuning condition. Here, we demonstrate a simple phase-locking mechanism by which oscillatory input enables a circuit to generate persistent or sequential activity patterns that encode information not only in their location but also in a discrete set of amplitudes.

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Information-Transmission Method for Expressing Short-Term Memory Span as Channel Capacity

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.1976.42.2.491 ◽

1976 ◽

Vol 42 (2) ◽

pp. 491-496 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Stefan Slak

Keyword(s):

Information Transmission ◽

Channel Capacity ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Memory Span ◽

Absolute Judgment ◽

Memory Storage ◽

Short Term ◽

Transmission Method ◽

Term Memory ◽

Computational Aspects

A general method, including procedural and computational aspects, for expressing short-term memory span as channel capacity is described. The method is then illustrated on an experiment performed to determine the channel capacity for short-term memory storage of decimal digits of two subjects. Curves representing transmitted information as a function of input information are similar in shape to those obtained in information-transmission experiments on absolute judgment.

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Short-term memory storage and retention: an event-related brain potential study

Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology ◽

10.1016/0013-4694(90)90096-3 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 76 (5) ◽

pp. 419-439 ◽

Cited By ~ 141

Author(s):

Daniel S. Ruchkin ◽

Ray Johnson ◽

Howard Canoune ◽

Walter Ritter

Keyword(s):

Short Term Memory ◽

Memory Storage ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory ◽

Brain Potential ◽

Potential Study

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Use of Long-Term Memory in Impression Formation

Psychological Reports ◽

10.2466/pr0.1974.34.3.939 ◽

1974 ◽

Vol 34 (3) ◽

pp. 939-945 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Thomas Rywick ◽

Paul Schave

Keyword(s):

Impression Formation ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Stimulus Presentation ◽

Memory Storage ◽

Dual Process ◽

Dual Process Theory ◽

Long Term Memory ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory

Based on a dual-process theory of memory, it was hypothesized that the primacy effects often observed in impression-formation studies are due to a reliance on information in long-term, as opposed to short-term, memory storage. Variables which have been shown to affect either long-term or short-term memory were therefore manipulated in two impression-formation experiments. It was found that a delay following stimulus presentation (which reduces short-term memory) had no effect on impressions while inclusion of an irrelevant task during stimulus presentation (which reduces long-term memory) significantly reduced the degree of impression primacy.

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The retrieval of positive and negative information from short-term memory storage for use in a concept-identification task

Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society ◽

10.3758/bf03333480 ◽

1974 ◽

Vol 3 (4) ◽

pp. 309-310 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Richard H. Winnick ◽

E. James Archer

Keyword(s):

Short Term Memory ◽

Negative Information ◽

Concept Identification ◽

Memory Storage ◽

Identification Task ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory

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Theta bandwidth determines human visual working memory capacity Human visual short term memory (VSTM) is capacity limited1. The neurophysiological basis for this limitation is, however, currently unknown. Here we apply the principle of efficient information transfer, derived from communications theory, to provide a mechanistic account of VSTM capacity. Shannon's information theory states that to increase the capacity of information encoded along a frequency axis, it is more efficient to expand the bandwidth than to increase the transmitted power for a given level of noise2. By applying Shannon's principles to human magnetoencephalography (MEG) recordings of oscillatory activity in the theta band during a VSTM task, we demonstrate that increasing memory load to capacity induces a parametric shift in theta frequency band during the delay period, from 4 to 8 Hz, in a right fronto-parietal network. Critically, we show that an individual's VSTM capacity is proportional to that parametric shift. Thus, the adherence of cortical neuronal oscillations to a fundamental principle of efficient information transfer appears to underlie the limited nature of visual representation in short-term memory.

NeuroImage ◽

10.1016/s1053-8119(09)71450-8 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 47 ◽

pp. S144 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

R.J. Moran ◽

B.A. Strange ◽

P. Campo ◽

R.J. Dolan

Keyword(s):

Information Transfer ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Memory Load ◽

Working Memory Capacity ◽

Fundamental Principle ◽

Oscillatory Activity ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory ◽

Communications Theory ◽

Efficient Information

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A shared representation of order between encoding and recognition in visual short-term memory

10.1101/080317 ◽

2016 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Kristjan Kalm ◽

Dennis Norris

Keyword(s):

Short Term Memory ◽

Activity Patterns ◽

Positional Information ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Order Information ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory ◽

Visual Short Term Memory ◽

Recognition Phase ◽

The Individual

AbstractMost complex tasks require people to bind individual stimuli into a sequence in short term memory (STM). For this purpose information about the order of the individual stimuli in the sequence needs to be in active and accessible form in STM over a period of few seconds. Here we investigated how the temporal order information is shared between the presentation and response phases of an STM task. We trained a classification algorithm on the fMRI activity patterns from the presentation phase of the STM task to predict the order of the items during the subsequent recognition phase. While voxels in a number of brain regions represented positional information during either presentation and recognition phases, only voxels in the lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the anterior temporal lobe (ATL) represented position consistently across task phases. A shared positional code in the ATL might reflect verbal recoding of visual sequences to facilitate the maintenance of order information over several seconds.

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