Scientific article
Letter
OA Policy
English

Medial prefrontal cortex supports perceptual memory

Published inCurrent biology, vol. 28, no. 18, p. R1094-R1095
Publication date2018-09-24
Abstract

Our visual environment constantly changes, yet we experience the world as a stable, unified whole. How is this stability achieved? It has been proposed that the brain preserves an implicit perceptual memory in sensory cortices [1] which stabilizes perception towards previously experienced states [2,3]. The role of higher-order areas, especially prefrontal cortex (PFC), in perceptual memory is less explored. Because PFC exhibits long neural time constants, invariance properties, and large receptive fields which may stabilize perception against time-varying inputs, it seems particularly suited to implement perceptual memory [4]. Support for this idea comes from a neuroimaging study reporting that dorsomedial PFC (dmPFC) correlates with perceptual memory [5]. But dmPFC also participates in decision making [6], so its contribution to perceptual memory could arise on a post-perceptual, decisional level [7]. To determine which role, if any, PFC plays in perceptual memory, we obtained direct intracranial recordings in six epilepsy patients while they performed sequential orientation judgements on ambiguous stimuli known to elicit perceptual memory [8]. We found that dmPFC activity in the high gamma frequency band (HGB, 70-150 Hz) correlates with perceptual memory. This effect is anatomically specific to dmPFC and functionally specific for memories of preceding percepts. Further, dmPFC appears to play a causal role, as a patient with a lesion in this area showed impaired perceptual memory. Thus, dmPFC integrates current sensory information with prior percepts, stabilizing visual experience against the perpetual variability of our surroundings.

Keywords
  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Memory / physiology
  • Prefrontal Cortex / physiology
  • Prefrontal Cortex / physiopathology
  • Visual Perception / physiology
  • Young Adult
Affiliation entities Not a UNIGE publication
Citation (ISO format)
SCHWIEDRZIK, Caspar M et al. Medial prefrontal cortex supports perceptual memory. In: Current biology, 2018, vol. 28, n° 18, p. R1094–R1095. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.07.066
Main files (2)
Article (Published version)
accessLevelPublic
Article (Submitted version)
Identifiers
Journal ISSN0960-9822
37views
65downloads

Technical informations

Creation10/15/2024 7:25:15 AM
First validation10/16/2024 7:38:58 AM
Update time10/30/2024 11:02:56 AM
Status update10/30/2024 11:02:56 AM
Last indexation10/30/2024 11:05:07 AM
All rights reserved by Archive ouverte UNIGE and the University of GenevaunigeBlack