---
_id: '8014'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: 'Working memory, the ability to keep recently accessed information available
    for immediate manipulation, has been proposed to rely on two mechanisms that appear
    difficult to reconcile: self-sustained neural firing, or the opposite—activity-silent
    synaptic traces. Here we review and contrast models of these two mechanisms, and
    then show that both phenomena can co-exist within a unified system in which neurons
    hold information in both activity and synapses. Rapid plasticity in flexibly-coding
    neurons allows features to be bound together into objects, with an important emergent
    property being the focus of attention. One memory item is held by persistent activity
    in an attended or “focused” state, and is thus remembered better than other items.
    Other, previously attended items can remain in memory but in the background, encoded
    in activity-silent synaptic traces. This dual functional architecture provides
    a unified common mechanism accounting for a diversity of perplexing attention
    and memory effects that have been hitherto difficult to explain in a single theoretical
    framework.'
article_processing_charge: No
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Sanjay G.
  full_name: Manohar, Sanjay G.
  last_name: Manohar
- first_name: Nahid
  full_name: Zokaei, Nahid
  last_name: Zokaei
- first_name: Sean J.
  full_name: Fallon, Sean J.
  last_name: Fallon
- first_name: Tim P
  full_name: Vogels, Tim P
  id: CB6FF8D2-008F-11EA-8E08-2637E6697425
  last_name: Vogels
  orcid: 0000-0003-3295-6181
- first_name: Masud
  full_name: Husain, Masud
  last_name: Husain
citation:
  ama: Manohar SG, Zokaei N, Fallon SJ, Vogels TP, Husain M. Neural mechanisms of
    attending to items in working memory. <i>Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews</i>.
    2019;101:1-12. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.03.017">10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.03.017</a>
  apa: Manohar, S. G., Zokaei, N., Fallon, S. J., Vogels, T. P., &#38; Husain, M.
    (2019). Neural mechanisms of attending to items in working memory. <i>Neuroscience
    and Biobehavioral Reviews</i>. Elsevier . <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.03.017">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.03.017</a>
  chicago: Manohar, Sanjay G., Nahid Zokaei, Sean J. Fallon, Tim P Vogels, and Masud
    Husain. “Neural Mechanisms of Attending to Items in Working Memory.” <i>Neuroscience
    and Biobehavioral Reviews</i>. Elsevier , 2019. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.03.017">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.03.017</a>.
  ieee: S. G. Manohar, N. Zokaei, S. J. Fallon, T. P. Vogels, and M. Husain, “Neural
    mechanisms of attending to items in working memory,” <i>Neuroscience and Biobehavioral
    Reviews</i>, vol. 101. Elsevier , pp. 1–12, 2019.
  ista: Manohar SG, Zokaei N, Fallon SJ, Vogels TP, Husain M. 2019. Neural mechanisms
    of attending to items in working memory. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews.
    101, 1–12.
  mla: Manohar, Sanjay G., et al. “Neural Mechanisms of Attending to Items in Working
    Memory.” <i>Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews</i>, vol. 101, Elsevier , 2019,
    pp. 1–12, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.03.017">10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.03.017</a>.
  short: S.G. Manohar, N. Zokaei, S.J. Fallon, T.P. Vogels, M. Husain, Neuroscience
    and Biobehavioral Reviews 101 (2019) 1–12.
date_created: 2020-06-25T12:52:13Z
date_published: 2019-06-01T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2021-01-12T08:16:31Z
day: '01'
ddc:
- '570'
doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.03.017
extern: '1'
external_id:
  pmid:
  - '30922977'
file:
- access_level: open_access
  checksum: 7b972e3d6f7bb3122c8c5648f44e60ca
  content_type: application/pdf
  creator: cziletti
  date_created: 2020-07-02T13:17:52Z
  date_updated: 2020-07-14T12:48:08Z
  file_id: '8080'
  file_name: 2019_NeurosBiobehavRev_Manohar.pdf
  file_size: 1754418
  relation: main_file
file_date_updated: 2020-07-14T12:48:08Z
has_accepted_license: '1'
intvolume: '       101'
language:
- iso: eng
main_file_link:
- open_access: '1'
  url: 'https://doi.org/10.1101/233007 '
month: '06'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
page: 1-12
pmid: 1
publication: Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
publication_identifier:
  issn:
  - 0149-7634
publication_status: published
publisher: 'Elsevier '
quality_controlled: '1'
status: public
title: Neural mechanisms of attending to items in working memory
tmp:
  image: /images/cc_by.png
  legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
  name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)
  short: CC BY (4.0)
type: journal_article
user_id: D865714E-FA4E-11E9-B85B-F5C5E5697425
volume: 101
year: '2019'
...