The "working" of working memory.
This review examines the evidence for a neurobiological explanation of executive functions of working memory. We suggest that executive control stems from information about task rules acquired by mixed selective, adaptive coding, multifunctional neurons in the prefrontal cortex. The output of these neurons dynamically links the cortex-wide networks needed to complete the task. The linking may occur via synchronizing of neural rhythms, which may explain why we have a limited capacity for simultaneous thought.
Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
Earl K
EK
Miller
D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*
basal ganglia; cognition; executive function; oscillation; prefrontal cortex; synchrony; working memory