Related Concept Videos
Working Memory
Organization of the Nervous System
The CNS, comprising the brain and spinal cord, houses billions of neurons. The brain is housed in the skull, while the spinal cord is linked to the brain through the foramen magnum of the occipital bone and is surrounded by the protective structure of the vertebral column. It is responsible for processing various...
Peripheral Nervous System: Ganglia and Nerves
Nerves
The nerve is a bundle of axons that serves as the communication highway in the PNS. Each nerve is ensheathed in a protective layer of connective tissue called the epineurium. This outermost layer safeguards the nerve and supports the...
Nervous System
Functional Divisions of the Nervous System
The sensory division transmits information from sensory receptors in the body to the CNS. It provides the CNS with knowledge about somatic senses (such as tactile, thermal, pain, and proprioceptive sensations)...
Role of Cerebellum and Prefrontal Cortex in Memory
You might also read
Related Articles
Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.
From dots to faces: individual differences in visual imagery capacity predict the content of Ganzflicker-induced hallucinations.
Windows to the goal: Pupillary working memory signatures prospectively adapt to task demands.
Flexible gaze reinstatement during working memory for natural scenes.
Beyond Routine Maintenance: Current Trends in Working Memory Research.
Lateral prefrontal cortex controls interplay between working memory and actions.
Layered social competition coordinates reproductive hierarchy formation in ants.
Combination epigenetic-targeted therapy increases the immunogenicity of poorly immunogenic sarcomas.
Loss of LanC-like proteins delays post-injury regeneration of aging skeletal muscles.
Integrative Transfer Network: Deep Transfer Learning Across Populations and Prediction Targets.
Confidence-supported label-free metabolic imaging with FPhaS phase autofluorescence microscopy.
Sequence-encoded autoinhibition couples mRNA decapping activity to phase separation.
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 16, 2026

An Appetitive Spatial Working Memory Task for Mice in a Semi-Automated 8-Arm Radial Maze, Reducing Fearful Memory Association in the Maze
Published on: July 29, 2025
Flexible Working Memory in the Peripheral Nervous System.
Working memory content is flexibly distributed to guide actions. Peripheral eye and hand movements reflect remembered information, shifting based on task demands for optimal behavioral guidance.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Neuroscience
- Human Motor Control
Background:
- Working memory (WM) representations are adaptable and can be distributed across brain regions to guide behavior.
- Neural signals in WM can shift based on task demands, potentially influencing peripheral effectors.
- Oculomotor signals, like saccade biases, have shown potential to track visuo-spatial WM features, but their functional significance is unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if working memory content is adaptively distributed across peripheral motor systems (eye and hand movements) based on behavioral demands.
- To determine if visual working memory features are expressed in eye and hand movements during the delay period.
- To examine if the distribution of peripheral motor activity shifts according to task context.
Main Methods:
- Human participants performed a delayed recall task involving remembering orientation.
- Response format was manipulated (drawing a line vs. adjusting a wheel) to alter behavioral demands.
- Eye-tracking and stylus-tracking were used to record gaze and hand movements during the WM delay.
Main Results:
- Remembered orientations were decodable from subtle inflections in both gaze and hand movements during the delay period.
- Decoding strength varied by response format: gaze patterns better reflected memory in the wheel condition, while hand movements were better in the draw condition.
- Individual differences showed a trade-off: greater gaze benefits in the wheel condition correlated with greater hand benefits in the draw condition.
Conclusions:
- Visually encoded working memory content is adaptively allocated to task-relevant peripheral effectors.
- Peripheral motor activity, including eye and hand movements, dynamically reflects and balances working memory representations based on behavioral needs.
- This adaptive distribution optimizes working memory function for prospective action guidance.

