Cognit activation: a mechanism enabling temporal integration in working memory

• Published in: Trends in cognitive sciences Vol. 16; no. 4; pp. 207 - 218
• Main Authors: Fuster, Joaquín M., Bressler, Steven L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier Ltd 01.04.2012; Elsevier
• Subjects: Anatomical correlates of behavior; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Brain; Brain Mapping; Cerebral Cortex - cytology; Cerebral Cortex - physiology; Cognition - physiology; Cognitive ability; Cortex; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Human; Humans; Integration; Language; Learning. Memory; Long term memory; Memory; Memory, Short-Term - physiology; Models, Neurological; Neurology; Neurons - physiology; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Reviews; Short term memory; Synapses - physiology; Temporal perception; Human; Cerebral cortex; Information integration; Central nervous system; Oscillation; Cognition; Activation; Working memory; Time integration; Encephalon
• ISSN: 1364-6613; 1879-307X; 1879-307X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2012.03.005

Working memory is critical to the integration of information across time in goal-directed behavior, reasoning and language, yet its neural substrate is unknown. Based on recent research, we propose a mechanism by which the brain can retain working memory for prospective use, thereby bridging time in the perception/action cycle. The essence of the mechanism is the activation of ‘cognits’, which consist of distributed, overlapping and interactive cortical networks that in the aggregate encode the long-term memory of the subject. Working memory depends on the excitatory reentry between perceptual and executive cognits of posterior and frontal cortices, respectively. Given the pervasive role of working memory in the structuring of purposeful cognitive sequences, its mechanism looms essential to the foundation of behavior, reasoning and language.