@misc{cogprints63,
volume = {9},
title = {A paradigmatic working memory (attractor) cell in it cortex},
author = {Daniel J. Amit and Stefano Fusi and Volodya Yakovlev},
year = {1997},
pages = {1101},
journal = {Neural Computation},
keywords = {IT cortex, delay activity, attractors, single-unit recording, delay-match-to-sample task, spike-rate correlations, neural network, modeling,},
url = {http://cogprints.org/63/},
abstract = {We discuss paradigmatic properties of activity of single cells comprising an attractor -- a developed stable delay activity distribution. To demonstrate these properties and a methodology for measuring their values, we present a detailed account of the spike activity recorded from one single cell in infero-temporal (IT) cortex of a monkey performing a delayed match-to-sample (DMS) task of visual images. In particular, we discuss and exemplify: 1. the relation between spontaneous activity and activity immediately preceding the first stimulus in each trial during a series of DMS trials; 2. the effect on the visual response (i.e. activity \{{$\backslash$}bf during\} stimulation) of stimulus degradation (moving in the space of IT afferents); 3. the behaviour of the delay activity (i.e. activity \{{$\backslash$}bf following\} visual stimulation) under stimulus degradation (attractor dynamics, and the basin of attraction); and, 4. the propagation of information between trials -- the vehicle for the formation of (contextual) correlations by learning a fixed stimulus sequence, as found in Miyashita 1988. In the process of the discussion and demonstration, we expose effective tools for the identification and characterisation of attractor dynamics.}
}