Dissociable neuronal substrates of feature attention and working memory

Attention and working memory (WM) are distinct cognitive functions, yet given their close interactions, it is often assumed that they share the same neuronal mechanisms. We show that in macaques performing a WM-guided feature attention task, the activity of most neurons in areas middle temporal (MT), medial superior temporal (MST), lateral intraparietal (LIP), and posterior lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC-p) displays attentional modulation or WM coding, not both. One area thought to play a role in both functions is LPFC-p. To test this, we optogenetically inactivated LPFC-p bilaterally during different task periods. Attention period inactivation reduced attentional modulation in LPFC-p, MST, and LIP neurons, and impaired task performance. In contrast, WM period inactivation did not affect attentional modulation or performance and minimally affected WM coding. Our results suggest that feature attention and WM have dissociable neuronal substrates and that LPFC-p plays a critical role in f..., , , **README**

The files in this repository include processed data and analysis code related to the study titled “Dissociable neuronal substrates of feature attention and working memory”, by Mendoza-Halliday and colleagues, published in Neuron.

**Data File:**

The file population_structure contains neuronal firing rate data. Data is divided into brain areas. Brain areas are numbered:

LPFC-left = 1; LPFC-right = 2; MST = 3; LIP = 4; MT = 5; LPFC (left and right) = 7.

For example, population_structure.brain_areas(3) contains data from MST. Neurons within each area are numbered. For example, population_structure.brain_areas(3).neurons(124) contains data from MST neuron 124. For a given neuron number N in brain area B, the trials array of mean firing rates (spikes/s) in a given condition C and task period P is here:

pop_struct.brain_areas(B).neurons(N).conditions(C).task_periods(P).trials_matrices.firing_rate_task_period_MEAN

Information for all task periods is here: pop_struct.task_perio...