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Cited by 91Visual perception and processing mechanismsNeural dynamics and brain functionNeural and Behavioral Psychology Studies

Neuronal population coding of perceived and memorized visual features in the lateral prefrontal cortex

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Mendoza-Halliday, Diego, Martinez-Trujillo, Julio C.·2017·Nature Communications
DOI 10.1038/ncomms15471PMC PMC5461493
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Abstract

The primate lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) encodes visual stimulus features while they are perceived and while they are maintained in working memory. However, it remains unclear whether perceived and memorized features are encoded by the same or different neurons and population activity patterns. Here we record LPFC neuronal activity while monkeys perceive the motion direction of a stimulus that remains visually available, or memorize the direction if the stimulus disappears. We find neurons with a wide variety of combinations of coding strength for perceived and memorized directions: some neurons encode both to similar degrees while others preferentially or exclusively encode either one. Reading out the combined activity of all neurons, a machine-learning algorithm reliably decode the motion direction and determine whether it is perceived or memorized. Our results indicate that a functionally diverse population of LPFC neurons provides a substrate for discriminating between perceptual and mnemonic representations of visual features.

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  • In nonhuman primates, neurons in the prefrontal cortex distinguish between normal visual perception and active maintenance of the same visual content in memory.

    “In nonhuman primates, neurons in the prefrontal cortex distinguish between normal visual perception and active maintenance of the same visual content in memory ( 64 ).”

    From What is consciousness, and could machines have it? (2017) · cites this paper as [64]

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Cited by

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Authors
Mendoza-Halliday, D., & Martinez-Trujillo, J. C.
Affiliations
McGovern Institute for Brain Research (US)
Corresponding author
Mendoza-Halliday, Diego
ORCID
Mendoza-Halliday, Diego
Venue
Nature Communications
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2017-06-01
Volume
8
Issue
1
Pages
15471-15471
ISSN
2041-1723 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1038/ncomms15471
PMC
PMC5461493
OpenAlex
W2620579415
Cited by
91
References
5
Citations by year
2026: 9 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 2
FWCI
3.67
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Nature Communications (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Canada Research Chairs
  • Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural dynamics and brain function
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
Keywords
lateral prefrontal cortex, population coding, working memory, visual perception, movement direction, single-unit activity, machine learning decoding, primate visual cortex
MeSH terms
Animals, Behavior, Animal, Macaca mulatta, Male, Memory, Motion, Neurons, Probability, ROC Curve, Task Performance and Analysis, Time Factors, Visual Perception, Prefrontal Cortex

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