Abstract

Working memory (WM), the ability to actively hold information in memory over a delay period of seconds, is a fundamental constituent of cognition. Delay-period activity in sensory cortices has been observed in WM tasks, but whether and when the activity plays a functional role for memory maintenance remains unclear. Here, we investigated the causal role of auditory cortex (AC) for memory maintenance in mice performing an auditory WM task. Electrophysiological recordings revealed that AC neurons were active not only during the presentation of the auditory stimulus but also early in the delay period. Furthermore, optogenetic suppression of neural activity in AC during the stimulus epoch and early delay period impaired WM performance, whereas suppression later in the delay period did not. Thus, AC is essential for information encoding and maintenance in auditory WM task, especially during the early delay period.

Highlights

  • Working memory (WM) refers to the ability to actively hold information in memory over a time scale of seconds

  • Previous studies have found that the prefrontal cortex is crucial for WM, because sustained neural activity was observed in PFC during the delay period of WM task (Fuster and Alexander, 1971; Meyers et al, 2012; Miller et al, 1996; Romo et al, 1999) and lesions to PFC produced profound WM deficits (Petrides, 2000)

  • WM behavior, we explored the causal role of auditory cortex (AC) in WM

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Summary

Introduction

Working memory (WM) refers to the ability to actively hold information in memory over a time scale of seconds It is a fundamental component of various cognitive functions (Baddeley, 1992). Traditional methods for perturbing neural activity such as surgical lesion, pharmacological inactivation, and tissue cooling techniques do not provide the temporal resolution required for delineating the functional role of AC in memory maintenance in WM task, because they disrupt both the encoding of the sensory stimuli and their retention in WM. Optogenetic suppression of AC activity during the stimulus epoch and early delay period caused a reduction in WM performance, whereas suppression later in the delay period did not These findings reveal a causal role of AC in encoding and maintaining the auditory information in the auditory WM task, especially early in the delay period

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