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Updated: Nov 18, 2025

Examining the Characteristics of Episodic Memory using Event-related Potentials in Patients with Alzheimer's Disease
Published on: August 30, 2011
Is Activity Silent Working Memory Simply Episodic Memory?
Andre O Beukers1, Timothy J Buschman2, Jonathan D Cohen2
1Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
Abstract:
Working memory (WM) maintains task-relevant information in a state ready for processing. While traditional theories assume that sustained neuronal activity is responsible for WM, the Activity Silent WM (ASWM) account proposes that maintenance can also be supported by short-term synaptic weight changes. Here, we argue that the evidence for ASWM can be explained more parsimoniously by the involvement of episodic memory (EM) in WM tasks. Like ASWM, EM relies on rapid synaptic modification that is also activity silent; however, while ASWM posits transient synaptic modifications, EM traces persist over longer time periods. We discuss how, despite this difference, well-established EM mechanisms can account for the key findings attributed to ASWM, and describe predictions of this account.
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