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Poster A in Poster Session A: Tuesday, August 4, 9:30 – 11:15 am, Kimmel Center, Shorin & Rosenthal Rooms

Inhibitory signals support working memory in sensory cortex

Robert Kim¹, Nuttida Rungratsameetaweemana², Jonathan Daume¹, Chrystal M. Reed¹, Adam N. Mamelak¹, Ueli Rutishauser¹; ¹Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, ²Columbia University

Presenter: Robert Kim

Working memory is traditionally attributed to sustained activity in higher-order cortical areas such as prefrontal cortex. In contrast, sensory cortical regions like the ventral temporal cortex (VTC) are typically viewed as passive encoders of visual information. However, emerging evidence suggests that top-down feedback may enable sensory areas to participate in higher cognitive functions. Here, we show that biologically plausible recurrent neural networks (RNNs) trained on a working memory task naturally develop a circuit mechanism in which sensory-like neurons encode stimuli during input, yet exhibit stimulus-specific suppression at probe through inhibitory signaling from persistently active "memory" units. We further demonstrate that human VTC single neurons exhibit qualitatively similar response profiles during a Sternberg working memory task, including reduced responses to repeated stimuli at probe. Together, these findings suggest that persistent top-down inhibition may provide a mechanism by which sensory cortex supports working memory, linking feedback-driven modulation with stimulus-specific response suppression within a unified circuit framework.

Topic Area: Memory, Learning & Knowledge Structures