Working memory, that handy ability to consciously hold and manipulate new information in mind, takes work. In particular, participating neurons in the prefrontal cortex have to work together in synchrony to focus our thoughts, whether we’re remembering a set of directions or tonight’s menu specials. A new study by researchers based at The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT shows how that focus emerges.
The key measure in the study in Scientific Reports is the variability of the neurons’ activity. Scientists widely agree that less variability activity means more focused attunement to the task. Measures of that variability have indeed shown that it decreases when humans and animals focus during working memory games in the lab.
In several studies between 2016 and 2018 lead author Mikael Lundqvist and co-senior author Earl K. Miller showed through direct measurements of…
