In the review, Xiao-Jing Wang deconstructs the cellular and circuit mechanisms involved in sustained “working memory” activity. Among other things, Wang shows that these circuits do not merely latch onto a sensory input, the same circuits are involved in decision-making computations.
http://wang.medicine.yale.edu/pdf_pub/wang.pfc-book-chapter2012.pdf
Related Miller Lab work cited by Wang:
Miller, E.K. and Cohen, J.D. (2001) An integrative theory of prefrontal cortex function. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 24:167-202. Designated a Current Classic by Thomson Scientific as among the most cited papers in Neuroscience and Behavior. View PDF »
Fusi, S., Asaad, W.F., Miller, E.K., and Wang, X.J. (2007) A neural circuit model of flexible sensori-motor mapping: Learning and forgetting on multiple timescales. Neuron. 54: 319-333. View PDF »
Asaad, W.F., Rainer, G. and Miller, E.K. (1998) Neural activity in the primate prefrontal cortex during associative learning. Neuron, 21:1399-1407. View PDF »
Wallis, J.D., Anderson, K.C., and Miller, E.K. (2001) Single neurons in the prefrontal cortex encode abstract rules. Nature, 411:953-956. View PDF »
Miller, E.K., Erickson, C.A., and Desimone, R. (1996) Neural mechanisms of visual working memory in prefrontal cortex of the macaque. Journal of Neuroscience. 16:5154-5167. View PDF »
About the Author
Miller Lab
The Miller Lab uses experimental and theoretical approaches to study the neural basis of the high-level cognitive functions that underlie complex goal-directed behavior. ekmillerlab.mit.edu