Latching dynamics as a basis for short-term recall

• Published in: PLoS computational biology Vol. 17; no. 9; p. e1008809
• Main Authors: Ryom, Kwang Il, Boboeva, Vezha, Soldatkina, Oleksandra, Treves, Alessandro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 01.09.2021; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Biology and Life Sciences; Brain research; Cerebral cortex; Computational Biology - methods; Computer and Information Sciences; Errors; Humans; Memory tasks; Memory, Short-Term; Mental Recall; Models, Neurological; Neural circuitry; Neural networks; Physiological aspects; Psychological aspects; Recall; Research and Analysis Methods; Short term; Short term memory; Spatial analysis; Spatial memory; Storage; United Kingdom
• ISSN: 1553-7358; 1553-734X; 1553-7358
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008809

We discuss simple models for the transient storage in short-term memory of cortical patterns of activity, all based on the notion that their recall exploits the natural tendency of the cortex to hop from state to state—latching dynamics. We show that in one such model, and in simple spatial memory tasks we have given to human subjects, short-term memory can be limited to similar low capacity by interference effects, in tasks terminated by errors, and can exhibit similar sublinear scaling, when errors are overlooked. The same mechanism can drive serial recall if combined with weak order-encoding plasticity. Finally, even when storing randomly correlated patterns of activity the network demonstrates correlation-driven latching waves, which are reflected at the outer extremes of pattern space.