The medial temporal lobe supports the quality of visual short-term memory representation

• Published in: Nature human behaviour Vol. 7; no. 4; pp. 627 - 641
• Main Authors: Xie, Weizhen, Chapeton, Julio I., Bhasin, Srijan, Zawora, Christopher, Wittig, John H., Inati, Sara K., Zhang, Weiwei, Zaghloul, Kareem A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.04.2023; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/378/1595/1637; 631/378/2649; 631/477/2811; 9/30; Behavioral Sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Brain; Cognitive functioning; Electrical stimulation; Experimental Psychology; Fidelity; Humans; Life Sciences; Long term memory; Medial temporal lobe; Memory; Memory, Long-Term; Memory, Short-Term - physiology; Mental Recall - physiology; Microeconomics; Neurosciences; Personality and Social Psychology; Recall; Short term; Short term memory; Temporal Lobe - physiology
• ISSN: 2397-3374; 2397-3374
• DOI: 10.1038/s41562-023-01529-5

The quality of short-term memory (STM) underlies our ability to recall the exact details of a recent event, yet how the human brain enables this core cognitive function remains poorly understood. Here we use multiple experimental approaches to test the hypothesis that the quality of STM, such as its precision or fidelity, relies on the medial temporal lobe (MTL), a region commonly associated with the ability to distinguish similar information remembered in long-term memory. First, with intracranial recordings, we find that delay-period MTL activity retains item-specific STM content that is predictive of subsequent recall precision. Second, STM recall precision is associated with an increase in the strength of intrinsic MTL-to-neocortical functional connections during a brief retention interval. Finally, perturbing the MTL through electrical stimulation or surgical removal can selectively reduce STM precision. Collectively, these findings provide converging evidence that the MTL is critically involved in the quality of STM representation. Xie et al. combine intracranial recording, brain stimulation and lesion case study to show that the human medial temporal lobe is involved in the quality of short-term memory representation.