Distributed and associative working memory

This study explores the cortical cell dynamics of unimodal and cross-modal working memory (WM). Neuronal activity was recorded from parietal areas of monkeys performing delayed match-to-sample tasks with tactile or visual samples. Tactile memoranda (haptic samples) consisted of rods with differing surface features (texture or orientation of ridges) perceived by active touch. Visual memoranda (icons) consisted of striped patterns of differing orientation. In a haptic-haptic task, the animal had to retain through a period of delay the surface feature of the sample rod to select a rod that matched it. In a visual-haptic task, the animal had to retain the icon for the haptic choice of a rod with ridges of the same orientation as the icon's stripes. Units in all areas responded with firing change to one or more task events. Also in all areas, cells responded differently to different sample memoranda. Differential sample coherent firing was present in most areas during the memory period (delay). It is concluded that neurons in somatosensory and association areas of parietal cortex participate in broad networks that represent various task events and stimuli (auditory, motor, proprioceptive, tactile, and visual). Neurons in the same networks take part in retaining in WM the memorandum for each trial, whether it is encoded haptically or visually. The VH association by parietal cells in WM is analogous to the auditory-visual association previously observed in prefrontal cortex. Both illustrate the capacity of cortical neurons to associate sensory information across time and across modalities in accord with the rules of a behavioral task.