Shared mechanisms underlie the control of working memory and attention

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Neurobiology of Decision-Making
• Neural Basis of Working Memory and Attention

Background:

• Cognitive control directs behavior by regulating neural information representation.
• Attention and working memory involve selection mechanisms, potentially sharing neural underpinnings.
• Prefrontal cortex and parietal cortex are implicated in top-down control of sensory processing and working memory.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate shared neural mechanisms for selecting items from working memory and attending to sensory stimuli.
• To determine the role of prefrontal cortex in domain-general cognitive control.
• To elucidate how neural representations are transformed during selection and attention.

Main Methods:

• Rhesus monkeys were trained on tasks requiring selection from working memory or attention to visual stimuli.
• Neural recordings were conducted in prefrontal, parietal, and visual cortex during task performance.
• Analysis focused on neural representations of selected memory items and attended stimuli.

Main Results:

• Similar representations in prefrontal cortex encoded control for both working memory selection and attention, suggesting domain-general function.
• Parietal and visual cortex showed independent representations for attention and selection.
• Both processes enhanced and transformed neural representations to guide behavior, with prefrontal cortex mediating dynamic representational transformations.

Conclusions:

• The prefrontal cortex serves as a domain-general controller, utilizing shared neural mechanisms for working memory selection and attention.
• Cognitive control is achieved through dynamic transformation of neural representations within the prefrontal cortex.
• These findings reveal how the brain flexibly controls cognitive processes by transforming representations to guide behavior.