scholarly journals Can attractor network models account for the statistics of firing during persistent activity in prefrontal cortex?

2008 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Barbieri
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Network Models ◽  
Persistent Activity ◽  
Attractor Network

scholarly journals A geometric attractor mechanism for self-organization of entorhinal grid modules

eLife ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis Kang ◽  
Vijay Balasubramanian
Keyword(s):  
Entorhinal Cortex ◽  
Network Models ◽  
Recurrent Inhibition ◽  
Modular Structure ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
Periodic Lattice ◽  
Grid Cells ◽  
Medial Entorhinal Cortex ◽  
Attractor Network ◽  
Discrete Values

Grid cells in the medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) respond when an animal occupies a periodic lattice of ‘grid fields’ in the environment. The grids are organized in modules with spatial periods, or scales, clustered around discrete values separated on average by ratios in the range 1.4–1.7. We propose a mechanism that produces this modular structure through dynamical self-organization in the MEC. In attractor network models of grid formation, the grid scale of a single module is set by the distance of recurrent inhibition between neurons. We show that the MEC forms a hierarchy of discrete modules if a smooth increase in inhibition distance along its dorso-ventral axis is accompanied by excitatory interactions along this axis. Moreover, constant scale ratios between successive modules arise through geometric relationships between triangular grids and have values that fall within the observed range. We discuss how interactions required by our model might be tested experimentally.

scholarly journals Prefrontal and Parietal Attractor Networks Mediate Working Memory Judgments

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sihai Li ◽  
Christos Constantinidis ◽  
Xue-Lian Qi
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Delayed Response ◽  
Persistent Activity ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Brain Areas ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal

ABSTRACTThe dorsolateral prefrontal cortex plays a critical role in spatial working memory and its activity predicts behavioral responses in delayed response tasks. Here we addressed whether this predictive ability extends to categorical judgments based on information retained in working memory, and is present in other brain areas. We trained monkeys in a novel, Match-Stay, Nonmatch-Go task, which required them to observe two stimuli presented in sequence with an intervening delay period between them. If the two stimuli were different, the monkeys had to saccade to the location of the second stimulus; if they were the same, they held fixation. Neurophysiological recordings were performed in areas 8a and 46 of the dlPFC and 7a and lateral intraparietal cortex (LIP) of the PPC. We hypothesized that random drifts causing the peak activity of the network to move away from the first stimulus location and towards the location of the second stimulus would result in categorical errors. Indeed, for both areas, when the first stimulus appeared in a neuron’s preferred location, the neuron showed significantly higher firing rates in correct than in error trials. When the first stimulus appeared at a nonpreferred location and the second stimulus at a preferred, activity in error trials was higher than in correct. The results indicate that the activity of both dlPFC and PPC neurons is predictive of categorical judgments of information maintained in working memory, and the magnitude of neuronal firing rate deviations is revealing of the contents of working memory as it determines performance.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTThe neural basis of working memory and the areas mediating this function is a topic of controversy. Persistent activity in the prefrontal cortex has traditionally been thought to be the neural correlate of working memory, however recent studies have proposed alternative mechanisms and brain areas. Here we show that persistent activity in both the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and posterior parietal cortex predicts behavior in a working memory task that requires a categorical judgement. Our results offer support to the idea that a network of neurons in both areas act as an attractor network that maintains information in working memory, which informs behavior.

scholarly journals Neural signatures of promotion versus prevention goal priming: fMRI evidence for distinct cognitive-motivational systems

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison M. Detloff ◽  
Ahmad R. Hariri ◽  
Timothy J. Strauman
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Regulatory Focus ◽  
Goal Attainment ◽  
Network Models ◽  
Goal Pursuit ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Association Cortex ◽  
Motivational Systems ◽  
Two Systems ◽  
Goal Priming

Abstract Regulatory focus theory (RFT) postulates two cognitive-motivational systems for personal goal pursuit: the promotion system, which is associated with ideal goals (an individual’s hopes, dreams, and aspirations), and the prevention system, which is associated with ought goals (an individual’s duties, responsibilities, and obligations). The two systems have been studied extensively in behavioral research with reference to differences between promotion and prevention goal pursuit as well as the consequences of perceived attainment versus nonattainment within each system. However, no study has examined the neural correlates of each combination of goal domain and goal attainment status. We used a rapid masked idiographic goal priming paradigm and functional magnetic resonance imaging to present individually selected promotion and prevention goals, which participants had reported previously that they were close to attaining (“match”) or far from attaining (“mismatch”). Across the four priming conditions, significant activations were observed in bilateral insula (Brodmann area (BA) 13) and visual association cortex (BA 18/19). Promotion priming discriminantly engaged left prefrontal cortex (BA 9), whereas prevention priming discriminantly engaged right prefrontal cortex (BA 8/9). Activation in response to promotion goal priming was also correlated with an individual difference measure of perceived success in promotion goal attainment. Our findings extend the construct validity of RFT by showing that the two systems postulated by RFT, under conditions of both attainment and nonattainment, have shared and distinct neural correlates that interface logically with established network models of self-regulatory cognition.

scholarly journals Representation of remembered stimuli and task information in the monkey dorsolateral prefrontal and posterior parietal cortex

2015 ◽  
Vol 113 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xue-Lian Qi ◽  
Anthony C. Elworthy ◽  
Bryce C. Lambert ◽  
Christos Constantinidis
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Parietal Cortex ◽  
Posterior Parietal Cortex ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Persistent Activity ◽  
Relative Preference ◽  
Task Effects ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽  
Posterior Parietal ◽  
And Task

Both dorsolateral prefrontal and posterior parietal cortex have been implicated in spatial working memory and representation of task information. Prior experiments training animals to recall the first of a sequence of stimuli and examining the effect of subsequent distractors have identified increased ability of the prefrontal cortex to represent remembered stimuli and filter distractors. It is unclear, however, if this prefrontal functional specialization extends to stimuli appearing earlier in a sequence, when subjects are cued to remember subsequent ones. It is also not known how task information interacts with persistent activity representing remembered stimuli and distractors in the two areas. To address these questions, we trained monkeys to remember either the first or second of two stimuli presented in sequence and recorded neuronal activity from the posterior parietal and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex was better able to represent the actively remembered stimulus, whereas the posterior parietal cortex was more modulated by distractors; however, task effects interfered with this representation. As a result, large proportions of neurons with persistent activity and task effects exhibited a preference for a stimulus when it appeared as a distractor in both areas. Additionally, prefrontal neurons were modulated to a greater extent by task factors during the delay period of the task. The results indicate that the prefrontal cortex is better able than the posterior parietal cortex to differentiate between distractors and actively remembered stimuli and is more modulated by the task; however, this relative preference is highly context dependent and depends on the specific requirements of the task.

Temporally Irregular Mnemonic Persistent Activity in Prefrontal Neurons of Monkeys During a Delayed Response Task

2003 ◽  
Vol 90 (5) ◽  
pp. 3441-3454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert Compte, ◽  
Christos Constantinidis ◽  
Jesper Tegnér ◽  
Sridhar Raghavachari ◽  
Matthew V. Chafee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Power Spectrum ◽  
Spike Train ◽  
Temporal Structure ◽  
Spike Trains ◽  
Delay Period ◽  
Delayed Response ◽  
Persistent Activity ◽  
Response Task ◽  
Delayed Response Task

An important question in neuroscience is whether and how temporal patterns and fluctuations in neuronal spike trains contribute to information processing in the cortex. We have addressed this issue in the memory-related circuits of the prefrontal cortex by analyzing spike trains from a database of 229 neurons recorded in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of 4 macaque monkeys during the performance of an oculomotor delayed-response task. For each task epoch, we have estimated their power spectrum together with interspike interval histograms and autocorrelograms. We find that 1) the properties of most (about 60%) neurons approximated the characteristics of a Poisson process. For about 25% of cells, with characteristics typical of interneurons, the power spectrum showed a trough at low frequencies (<20 Hz) and the autocorrelogram a dip near zero time lag. About 15% of neurons had a peak at <20 Hz in the power spectrum, associated with the burstiness of the spike train; 2) a small but significant task dependency of spike-train temporal structure: delay responses to preferred locations were characterized not only by elevated firing, but also by suppressed power at low (<20 Hz) frequencies; and 3) the variability of interspike intervals is typically higher during the mnemonic delay period than during the fixation period, regardless of the remembered cue. The high irregularity of neural persistent activity during the delay period is likely to be a characteristic signature of recurrent prefrontal network dynamics underlying working memory.

Are single-cell data sufficient for testing neural network models?

1995 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 626-627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ehud Ahissar
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Single Cell ◽  
Single Unit ◽  
Network Models ◽  
Persistent Activity ◽  
Neural Network Models ◽  
Cell Data

AbstractPersistent activity can be the product of mechanisms other than attractor reverberations. The single-unit data presented by Amit cannot discriminate between the different mechanisms. In fact, single-unit data do not appear to be adequate for testing neural network models.

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