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

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 ar...复杂认知活动依赖于灵活的工作记忆（working memory），但该系统的容量存在显著上限。上述容量限制背后的神经元计算机制已在人类与猕猴（Macaca mulatta）中得到广泛研究，并催生了多种相互竞争的理论模型。我们借助专为猕猴开发的变化检测任务，探究了小嘴乌鸦（Corvus corone）的工作记忆容量，并同时对其类前额叶脑区尾侧端脑盖（nidopallium caudolaterale）进行细胞外电生理记录。研究发现，神经元对信息的编码与维持过程会受到项目负载的影响，其模式与猕猴前额叶皮层（prefrontal cortex）的相关研究结果几乎完全一致。当前的工作记忆神经生理学模型将除法归一化（divisive normalization）视为可能导致容量限制的重要机制。由于此类模型通常仅在哺乳动物的研究语境中被构建与验证，目前仍不清楚它们是否完整捕捉了工作记忆的通用概念，抑或是仅适用于……