Miller E K, Desimone R
Laboratory of Neuropsychology, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD 20892.
Science. 1994 Jan 28;263(5146):520-2. doi: 10.1126/science.8290960.
Although objects that have just been seen may persist in memory automatically for a time and interact passively with incoming stimulation, some tasks require that the memory be actively maintained and used. To test for the existence of separate automatic and volitional mechanisms of short-term memory, recordings were made from neurons in the inferior temporal cortex of monkeys while the monkeys held a sample picture "in mind" and signaled when it was repeated in a sequence of pictures, ignoring other stimulus repetitions. Some neurons were suppressed by any picture repetition, regardless of relevance, whereas others were enhanced, but only when a picture matched the sample. Short-term memory appears to reflect the parallel operation of these two mechanisms--one being automatic and the other active.
尽管刚看到的物体可能会在记忆中自动留存一段时间，并与传入的刺激进行被动交互，但有些任务要求记忆被积极地维持和运用。为了测试短期记忆中独立的自动机制和意志机制是否存在，研究人员在猴子的颞下皮质神经元上进行了记录，同时让猴子“记住”一张样本图片，并在图片序列中重复出现该样本图片时发出信号，忽略其他刺激的重复。一些神经元会被任何图片重复抑制，无论是否相关，而另一些神经元则会增强，但只有当图片与样本匹配时才会如此。短期记忆似乎反映了这两种机制的并行运作——一种是自动的，另一种是主动的。
