Post-cue activity of prefrontal cortical neurons controlled by local inhibition

With a model of the prefrontal cortical circuit, proposed here, this paper investigates the post-cue (delay-period) activity of the prefrontal cortical neurons for a spatial working memory task. The computer simulations of the model circuit show that a slight change in the strength of the local inhibition dramatically alters the post-cue activity as well as the tuning properties of the model prefrontal cortical neurons. Appropriate regulation of the local inhibition is necessary to form and maintain spatial working memory. These results suggest the capability of the local inhibition to play an important role in the active control of working memory. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.