Fuster Bressler COGNIT Activation Temporal Integration Working Memory TICS 2012

May 19, 2012 09:18 AM

recom by Stan Franklin today... see his email.

Joaquin Fuster:  UCLA

Steve Bressler:  Florida Atlantic Univ  Boca Raton.

TICS 2012;

Working  memory  is  critical  to  the  integration  of  infor-

mation  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  cy-

cle.  The  essence  of  the  mechanism  is  the  activation  of

‘cognits’,  which  consist  of  distributed,  overlapping  and

interactive  cortical  networks  that  in  the  aggregate  en-

code  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  work-

ing  memory  in  the  structuring  of  purposeful  cognitive

sequences,  its  mechanism  looms  essential  to  the  foun-

dation  of  behavior,  reasoning  and  language....

first page = page 207

Karl Lashley...  memory is broadly, diffusely distributed.

Hebb and Friedrich Hayek... cortical networks... neural integation guids acquis of percepts and memories.

cognitive networks  VS  cognitive modularity in cortex.

In  our  view,  the  large-scale  cortical

network  represents  an  ‘epistemological  ﬂoor’  for  under-

standing  WM,  and  any  attempt  to  describe  it  at  levels

below  this  ﬂoor  will  inevitably  fail.  ....

COGNITS are made of dispersed neuronal assemblies assoc synaptically by life experience.

Each cognit repres an item in memory or knowledge.

The cognit is the critical conceptual linchpin for understanding the human connectome.

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