Working memory in the primary visual cortex

The primary visual cortex is the first cortical area of the visual system that receives information from the external visual world. Neurons in the primary visual cortex have small receptive fields and respond to basic elements of the visual scene. Recent findings, however, show that the primary visual cortex is also involved in cognitive processes, such as visual perception and working memory. These neural correlates are expressed in the late part of the neural response to a visual stimulus: These new observations provide a neural link between the perception of a visual object and the subsequent storage of the visual information in working memory. The inability to store the information and poor perception contribute to the impairment of visual working memory.