Skip to main content
bioRxiv
  • Home
  • About
  • Submit
  • ALERTS / RSS
Advanced Search
New Results

Naturalistic coding of working memory in primate prefrontal cortex

Megan Roussy, Rogelio Luna, Lyndon Duong, Benjamin Corrigan, Roberto A. Gulli, Ramon Nogueira, Ruben Moreno-Bote, Adam J. Sachs, Lena Palaniyappan, Julio C. Martinez-Trujillo
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.19.162446
Megan Roussy
1Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, the University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
2Robarts Research Institute, the University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
9Department of Psychiatry, the University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
11Brain and Mind Institute, the University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: mroussy2@uwo.ca
Rogelio Luna
1Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, the University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
2Robarts Research Institute, the University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Lyndon Duong
5Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Benjamin Corrigan
1Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, the University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
2Robarts Research Institute, the University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Roberto A. Gulli
3Zuckerman Mind Brain Behaviour Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Ramon Nogueira
3Zuckerman Mind Brain Behaviour Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
4Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Ruben Moreno-Bote
6Center for Brain and Cognition, and Department of Information and Communication Technologies, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
7Serra Húnter Fellow Programme, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Adam J. Sachs
8The Ottawa Hospital, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Lena Palaniyappan
2Robarts Research Institute, the University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
9Department of Psychiatry, the University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
10Lawson Health Research Institute, London, ON, Canada
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Julio C. Martinez-Trujillo
1Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, the University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
2Robarts Research Institute, the University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
9Department of Psychiatry, the University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
11Brain and Mind Institute, the University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: mroussy2@uwo.ca
  • Abstract
  • Full Text
  • Info/History
  • Metrics
  • Preview PDF
Loading

Summary

The primate lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) is considered fundamental for temporarily maintaining and manipulating mental representations that serve behavior, a cognitive function known as working memory1. Studies in non-human primates have shown that LPFC lesions impair working memory2 and that LPFC neuronal activity encodes working memory representations3. However, such studies have used simple displays and constrained gaze while subjects held information in working memory3, which put into question their ethological validity4,5. Currently, it remains unclear whether LPFC microcircuits can support working memory function during natural behavior. We tested macaque monkeys in a working memory navigation task in a life-like virtual environment while their gaze was unconstrained. We show that LPFC neuronal populations robustly encode working memory representations in these conditions. Furthermore, low doses of the NMDA receptor antagonist, ketamine, impaired working memory performance while sparing perceptual and motor skills. Ketamine decreased the firing of narrow spiking inhibitory interneurons and increased the firing of broad spiking cells reducing population decoding accuracy for remembered locations. Our results show that primate LPFC generates robust neural codes for working memory in naturalistic settings and that such codes rely upon a fine balance between the activation of excitatory and inhibitory neurons.

Competing Interest Statement

L.P. reports personal fees from Otsuka Canada, SPMM Course Limited, UK, Canadian Psychiatric Association; book royalties from Oxford University Press; investigator-initiated educational grants from Janssen Canada, Sunovion and Otsuka Canada outside the submitted work.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.
Back to top
PreviousNext
Posted July 08, 2020.
Download PDF
Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv.

NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Naturalistic coding of working memory in primate prefrontal cortex
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from bioRxiv
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the bioRxiv website.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
Naturalistic coding of working memory in primate prefrontal cortex
Megan Roussy, Rogelio Luna, Lyndon Duong, Benjamin Corrigan, Roberto A. Gulli, Ramon Nogueira, Ruben Moreno-Bote, Adam J. Sachs, Lena Palaniyappan, Julio C. Martinez-Trujillo
bioRxiv 2020.06.19.162446; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.19.162446
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo LinkedIn logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
Naturalistic coding of working memory in primate prefrontal cortex
Megan Roussy, Rogelio Luna, Lyndon Duong, Benjamin Corrigan, Roberto A. Gulli, Ramon Nogueira, Ruben Moreno-Bote, Adam J. Sachs, Lena Palaniyappan, Julio C. Martinez-Trujillo
bioRxiv 2020.06.19.162446; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.19.162446

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Subject Area

  • Neuroscience
Subject Areas
All Articles
  • Animal Behavior and Cognition (4095)
  • Biochemistry (8786)
  • Bioengineering (6493)
  • Bioinformatics (23386)
  • Biophysics (11766)
  • Cancer Biology (9167)
  • Cell Biology (13290)
  • Clinical Trials (138)
  • Developmental Biology (7422)
  • Ecology (11386)
  • Epidemiology (2066)
  • Evolutionary Biology (15119)
  • Genetics (10413)
  • Genomics (14024)
  • Immunology (9145)
  • Microbiology (22108)
  • Molecular Biology (8793)
  • Neuroscience (47445)
  • Paleontology (350)
  • Pathology (1423)
  • Pharmacology and Toxicology (2483)
  • Physiology (3711)
  • Plant Biology (8063)
  • Scientific Communication and Education (1433)
  • Synthetic Biology (2215)
  • Systems Biology (6021)
  • Zoology (1251)