TY - JOUR T1 - Nucleus Basalis Stimulation Enhances Working Memory and Stabilizes Attractor Networks in Prefrontal Cortex JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/674465 SP - 674465 AU - Xue-Lian Qi AU - Ruifeng Liu AU - Almira I. Vazdarjanova AU - David T. Blake AU - Christos Constantinidis Y1 - 2019/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/08/13/674465.abstract N2 - The action of acetylcholine in the neocortex is critical for executive function. Cholinergic drugs can improve cognitive function in patient populations and normal adults. How endogenous cholinergic action affects neuronal activity in higher cortical areas is unknown. Here we tested the effects of electrical stimulation of the cortical source of acetylcholine in primates, the Nucleus Basalis of Meynert, on neural activity while monkeys performed working memory tasks. Stimulation delivered in an intermittent fashion improved behavioral performance and increased prefrontal activity during the delay period of the task, but did not strengthen the phasic responses of visual stimuli. Tuning of neuronal responses broadened, which rendered the bump of activity in an attractor network more stable, and filtered distracting stimuli more effectively. These results show that effects of acetylcholine on neural activity and selectivity in the prefrontal cortex contrast those of dopamine and stabilize aggregate neural ensembles based on neuromodulatory tone. ER -