Department of Neurobiology & Anatomy, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Compr Physiol. 2021 Sep 23;11(4):2547-2587. doi: 10.1002/cphy.c210005.
Working memory (WM) is the ability to maintain and manipulate information in the conscious mind over a timescale of seconds. This ability is thought to be maintained through the persistent discharges of neurons in a network of brain areas centered on the prefrontal cortex, as evidenced by neurophysiological recordings in nonhuman primates, though both the localization and the neural basis of WM has been a matter of debate in recent years. Neural correlates of WM are evident in species other than primates, including rodents and corvids. A specialized network of excitatory and inhibitory neurons, aided by neuromodulatory influences of dopamine, is critical for the maintenance of neuronal activity. Limitations in WM capacity and duration, as well as its enhancement during development, can be attributed to properties of neural activity and circuits. Changes in these factors can be observed through training-induced improvements and in pathological impairments. WM thus provides a prototypical cognitive function whose properties can be tied to the spiking activity of brain neurons. © 2021 American Physiological Society. Compr Physiol 11:1-41, 2021.
工作记忆（WM）是在几秒钟的时间内在意识中维持和操作信息的能力。这种能力被认为是通过位于前额叶皮层为中心的大脑区域网络中神经元的持续放电来维持的，这一点在非人类灵长类动物的神经生理学记录中得到了证明，尽管 WM 的定位和神经基础近年来一直是争论的焦点。WM 的神经相关物在灵长类动物以外的物种中也很明显，包括啮齿动物和鸦科动物。一个由兴奋性和抑制性神经元组成的专门网络，加上多巴胺的神经调质影响，对于维持神经元活动至关重要。WM 能力和持续时间的限制，以及其在发育过程中的增强，可以归因于神经活动和回路的特性。通过训练诱导的改善和病理性损伤，可以观察到这些因素的变化。因此，WM 提供了一种典型的认知功能，其特性可以与脑神经元的尖峰活动联系起来。
