You are currently browsing the thoughts on thoughts weblog archives for the day 04/02/2009.
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Jan | Mar » | |||||
| 1 | ||||||
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | |
- 09/09/2010: Lamme model - less emphasis on introspection
- 06/09/2010: Worms and us
- 03/09/2010: Cognitive science and Neurobiology
- 02/09/2010: Going under and coming to
- 01/09/2010: Memristors
- 28/08/2010: Synchrony in social interaction
- 25/08/2010: Connectome
- 22/08/2010: The sounds we hear
- 19/08/2010: Reverse engineering the brain
- 16/08/2010: Communication
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
Archive for 04/02/2009
Towards understanding working memory
04/02/2009 by admin.
A paper has recently been published that has everyone buzzing. A
There are types of memory - working memory, long-term memory and one or more intermediate memories. Until recently, it was thought that the working memory was in the form of circular networks of cells that could sustain activity in their circuits for short periods of time. This theory was problematic. The new research has shown that certain cells can maintain activity for a minute or more after a short stimulation. This is the sort of time frame that is needed for working memory. It has been compared to the
In short-term memory tasks, individual prefrontal cortical (PFC) neurons can maintain persistent action potential output during delay periods between informative cues and behavioral responses. … Here we used patch-clamp recording of layer 5 PFC pyramidal neurons to identify a postsynaptic depolarization that was evoked by action potential bursts and mediated by metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGluR5). This depolarization occurred in the absence of recurrent synaptic activity… We propose that burst-evoked intrinsic depolarization is a form of short-term cellular memory.
Working memory appears to be involved in the production of consciousness. The identification of these memory cells may soon clarify some aspects of awareness.
Posted in memory | 1 Comment »