Persistent Spatial Information in the Frontal Eye Field during Object-Based Short-Term Memory

We previously reported the existence of a persistent spatial signal in the FEF during object-based STM. This persistent activity reflected the location at which the sample appeared, irrespective of the location of upcoming targets. We hypothesized that such a spatial signal could be used to maintain or enhance object-selective memory activity elsewhere in cortex, analogous to the role of a spatial signal during attention. Here, we inactivated a portion of the FEF with GABAa agonist muscimol to test whether the observed activity contributes to object memory performance. We found that, although RTs were slowed for saccades into the inactivated portion of retinotopic space, performance for samples appearing in that region was unimpaired. This contrasts with the devastating effects of the same FEF inactivation on purely spatial working memory, as assessed with the memory-guided saccade task. Thus, in a task in which a significant fraction of FEF neurons displayed persistent, sample location-based activity, disrupting this activity had no impact on task performance.

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Improvement of Visual Short-Term Memory Characteristics in Monkeys: Effect of an Antioxidant

Perception ◽

10.1068/v970114 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 26 (1_suppl) ◽

pp. 115-115

Author(s):

I V Chueva ◽

K N Dudkin

Keyword(s):

Reaction Time ◽

Spatial Information ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Information Storage ◽

Motor Reaction ◽

Short Term ◽

Systemic Injection ◽

Term Memory ◽

Motor Reaction Time ◽

Visual Short Term Memory

Visual short-term memory was tested in a delayed-discrimination task on rhesus monkeys before and after a systemic injection of the antioxidant oxymetacil (4 – 7 mg kg−1). Monkeys had to discriminate stimuli with different visual attributes (colour, orientation, spatial frequency, size, contrast, spatial relationships between visual objects) by a delayed (0 – 32 s) instrumental reflex. Oxymetacil had no influence upon visual discrimination without delay, but after injection of this drug the delayed discrimination (associated with mechanisms of short-term memory) of different stimuli was significantly improved. Oxymetacil increased the duration of short-term storage of spatial information by a factor of 2 – 4 and decreased motor reaction time. Application of oxymetacil in the same doses produced similar results for delayed discrimination of black-and-white gratings, or geometrical figures of different orientations and size. The duration of short-term information storage was doubled or trebled and the motor reaction time was decreased. If monkeys were required to discriminate colour figures, the duration of short-term information storage was also doubled, being longer than for any of the other tasks. The results are discussed in terms of effects on cortical interregional synchronisation mechanisms responsible for control processes such as attention.

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The processing of spatial information in short-term memory: Insights from eye tracking the path length effect

Acta Psychologica ◽

10.1016/j.actpsy.2009.01.003 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 132 (2) ◽

pp. 136-144 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

Katherine Guérard ◽

Sébastien Tremblay ◽

Jean Saint-Aubin

Keyword(s):

Eye Tracking ◽

Path Length ◽

Spatial Information ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Short Term ◽

Length Effect ◽

Term Memory

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Evidence against an object-based visual short-term memory for features from different parts of an object

Journal of Vision ◽

10.1167/4.8.390 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 4 (8) ◽

pp. 390-390

Author(s):

J.-F. Delvenne ◽

R. Bruyer

Keyword(s):

Short Term Memory ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory ◽

Visual Short Term Memory ◽

Object Based ◽

Different Parts

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Short-term memory for item, temporal, and spatial information in young and elderly

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e665402011-254 ◽

1991 ◽

Author(s):

Robert E. Till ◽

Alice F. Healy ◽

Thomas F. Cunningham ◽

Lyle E. Bourne

Keyword(s):

Spatial Information ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory ◽

Temporal And Spatial

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The role of visual short-term memory in object-based attentional selection

10.31274/etd-180810-1899 ◽

2009 ◽

Author(s):

Wah Pheow Tan

Keyword(s):

Short Term Memory ◽

Attentional Selection ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory ◽

Visual Short Term Memory ◽

Object Based

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Deficits in Verbal Long-Term Memory and Learning in Children with Poor Phonological Short-Term Memory Skills

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology ◽

10.1080/17470210701273443 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 61 (3) ◽

pp. 474-490 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Susan E. Gathercole ◽

Josie Briscoe ◽

Annabel Thorn ◽

Claire Tiffany ◽

Keyword(s):

Spatial Information ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Memory Function ◽

Verbal Material ◽

Long Term Memory ◽

Short Term ◽

Memory And Learning ◽

Term Memory ◽

Memory Group

Possible links between phonological short-term memory and both longer term memory and learning in 8-year-old children were investigated in this study. Performance on a range of tests of long-term memory and learning was compared for a group of 16 children with poor phonological short-term memory skills and a comparison group of children of the same age with matched nonverbal reasoning abilities but memory scores in the average range. The low-phonological-memory group were impaired on longer term memory and learning tasks that taxed memory for arbitrary verbal material such as names and nonwords. However, the two groups performed at comparable levels on tasks requiring the retention of visuo-spatial information and of meaningful material and at carrying out prospective memory tasks in which the children were asked to carry out actions at a future point in time. The results are consistent with the view that poor short-term memory function impairs the longer term retention and ease of learning of novel verbal material.

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Errors of Memory-Guided Saccades in Humans With Lesions of the Frontal Eye Field and the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.1999.82.2.1086 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 82 (2) ◽

pp. 1086-1090 ◽

Cited By ~ 49

Author(s):

Christoph J. Ploner ◽

Sophie Rivaud-Péchoux ◽

Bertrand M. Gaymard ◽

Yves Agid ◽

Charles Pierrot-Deseilligny

Keyword(s):

Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Systematic Errors ◽

Frontal Eye Field ◽

Short Term ◽

Behavioral Studies ◽

Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽

Eye Field ◽

Variable Errors

Behavioral studies in monkeys and humans suggest that systematic and variable errors of memory-guided saccades reflect distinct neuronal computations in primate spatial memory. We recorded memory-guided saccades with a 2-s delay in three patients with unilateral ischemic lesions of the frontal eye field and in three patients with unilateral ischemic lesions of the frontal eye field and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Results suggest that systematic errors of memory-guided saccades originate in the frontal eye field and variable errors in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. These data are the first human lesion data to support the hypothesis that these regions provide functionally distinct contributions to spatial short-term memory.

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