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Poster Session B: Wednesday, August 13, 1:00 – 4:00 pm, de Brug & E‑Hall

Neural heterogeneity shapes the temporal structure of human working memory

Daria Kussovska¹, Nuttida Rungratsameetaweemana¹; ¹Columbia University

Presenter: Daria Kussovska

The circuit computations that support memory maintenance in humans remain poorly understood. Persistent activity has long been thought to underlie the maintenance of information in working memory (WM). However, most supporting evidence has relied on trial-averaged neural responses, often overlooking the potential role of cellular heterogeneity. To address this, we analyzed single-trial spiking activity from intracranial recordings of neurosurgical patients performing a WM task. We developed a method for putative cell-type classification and examined the temporal dynamics of interneurons and pyramidal cells across encoding and maintenance task phases. Our findings reveal distinct cell-type-specific activity profiles during working memory maintenance and suggest that stimulus-specific information can be retained with minimal persistent firing, highlighting flexible and potentially energy-efficient circuit computations that support information storage in the human brain.

Topic Area: Memory, Spatial Cognition & Skill Learning

Extended Abstract: Full Text PDF