Working memory capacity of crows and monkeys arises from similar neuronal computations

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Abstract

Complex cognition relies on flexible working memory, which is severely limited in its capacity. The neuronal computations underlying these capacity limits have been extensively studied in humans and in monkeys, resulting in competing theoretical models. We probed the working memory capacity of crows (Corvus corone) in a change detection task, developed for monkeys (Macaca mulatta), while we performed extracellular recordings of the prefrontal-like area nidopallium caudolaterale. We found that neuronal encoding and maintenance of information were affected by item load, in a way that is virtually identical to results obtained from monkey prefrontal cortex. Contemporary neurophysiological models of working memory employ divisive normalization as an important mechanism that may result in the capacity limitation. As these models are usually conceptualized and tested in an exclusively mammalian context, it remains unclear if they fully capture a general concept of working memory or if they are restricted to the mammalian neocortex. Here we report that carrion crows and macaque monkeys share divisive normalization as a neuronal computation that is in line with mammalian models. This indicates that computational models of working memory developed in the mammalian cortex can also apply to non-cortical associative brain regions of birds.

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All details of statistics reported in the manuscript is provided as a supporting file. Source data files of all figures will be made publicly available via dryad.

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(2021) Working memory capacity of crows and monkeys arises from similar neuronal computations
Dryad Digital Repository, doi:10.5061/dryad.0k6djhb1q.

https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.0k6djhb1q

Article and author information

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Lukas Alexander Hahn

Neural Basis of Learning, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany

For correspondence
lukas.hahn@ruhr-uni-bochum.de

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-0491-7954
Dmitry Balakhonov

Neural Basis of Learning, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany

For correspondence
balakhonov.ds@gmail.com

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Erica Fongaro

Neural Basis of Learning, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Andreas Nieder

Animal Physiology, Institute of Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-6381-0375
Jonas Rose

Neural Basis of Learning, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-1745-727X

Funding

Volkswagen Foundation (Freigeist Fellowship 93299)

Jonas Rose

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Project B13 of the collaborative research center 874 (122679504))

Jonas Rose

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Ethics

Animal experimentation: All experimental procedures and housing conditions were carried out in accordance with the National Institutes of Health Guide for Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and were authorized by the national authority (LANUV protocol no. 84-02.04.2017.A001).

Copyright

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.