When MIT neuroscientist Earl Miller was in graduate school at Princeton, he was inspired by the lectures of George A. Miller, an influential psychologist who helped to spark the young student’s interest in working memory. Now, as the newly named 2019 recipient of the George A. Miller Prize in Cognitive Neuroscience, Earl Miller is set to deliver a lecture honoring his teacher at the annual meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society in San Francisco in March.
Read more here.
Congrats to Miller Lab postdoc Andre Bastos for being awarded a prestigious K99 Award from the National Institutes of Health.
Our dual Perspectives “debate” paper re: Does persistent spiking hold memories “in mind” (i.e., working memory):
Paper and link to opposing paper: Working Memory: Delay Activity, Yes! Persistent Activity? Maybe Not
Press release: To understand working memory, scientists must resolve this debate
Our two cents:
Surprised this became a debate. All we are saying is that if you look at delay activity more closely (on single trials) it’s bursty. Something else (synaptic weight changes) could be helping. Adding synaptic mechanisms saves energy and confers functional advantages.
Lundqvist, M., Rose, J., Herman, P., Brincat, S. L., Buschman, T. J., & Miller, E. K. (2016). Gamma and beta bursts underlie working memory. Neuron, 90(1), 152-164.
And it leaves room for network rhythms that may underlie executive control of working memory.
Bastos, A. M., Loonis, R., Kornblith, S., Lundqvist, M., & Miller, E. K. (2018). Laminar recordings in frontal cortex suggest distinct layers for maintenance and control of working memory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 201710323.
Lundqvist, M., Herman, P., Warden, M. R., Brincat, S. L., & Miller, E. K. (2018). Gamma and beta bursts during working memory readout suggest roles in its volitional control. Nature Communications, 9(1), 394.
Yuri Buzsaki pointed out that his lab reported that in PFC working memories are maintained by internally generated cell assembly sequences. The few persistently firing neurons were interneurons.
Fujisawa S, Amarasingham A, Harrison MT, Buzsáki G.
Nat Neurosci. 2008.
Also, the idea that synaptic weight changes help maintain working memories is not altogether new. Goldman-Rakic suggested such a mechanism. Her lab found that sparse firing in the PFC produces temporary changes in synaptic weights. Importantly, if neurons firing too fast, inhibitory mechanisms kick in and you don’t get the weight changes. See:
Wang, Y., Markram, H., Goodman, P.H., Berger, T.K., Ma, J., and Goldman-Rakic, P.S. (2006). Heterogeneity in the pyramidal network of the medial prefrontal cortex. Nat. Neurosci. 9, 534–542.
But, hey, don’t take our word for it: Look at memory delay activity on single trials and tell us what *you* see.
Earl Miller offers advice on how to avoid multitasking in the May 2018 issue of Redbook.
Andre Bastos was selected at a Rising Star by the Association for Psychological Science. Indeed, he is. Congrats, Andre!
http://www.psychologicalscience.org/rising-stars/stars.cfm
Check out Andre’s latest paper:
Bastos, A.M., Loonis, R., Kornblith, S., Lundqvist, M., and Miller, E.K. (2018) Laminar recordings in frontal cortex suggest distinct layers for maintenance and control of working memory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. doi:10.1073/pnas.1710323115 View PDF
Press release for our new paper in Neuron: Brain waves reflect different types of learning
American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Induction Ceremony October 7, 2017.
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is of the nation’s most prestigious honorary societies, the academy is also a leading center for independent policy research. Members contribute to academy publications, as well as studies of science and technology policy, energy and global security, social policy and American institutions, the humanities and culture, and education.
Come see Pavlov’s Dogz at Songbyrd DC on Sunday Nov 12 of the SFN meeting.
9:30pm Songbyrd DC 11/12/17
http://www.songbyrddc.com/shows/2017-11-12-pavlolvs-dogz
Pavlov’s Dogz are a roaming band of neuroscientist-musicians who get together at conference locations around the world to play shows.
Band members:
Tim Bussey
Brad Postle
Earl Miller
Paula Croxson
Charan Ranganath
Joel Voss
Daniela Schiller
Jess Grahn
Mick Rugg
Andy Lee
Miller, Earl. “Earl K. Miller.” Neuron 95 (2017): 1237.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2017.08.035
Earl Miller studies the neural basis of high-level cognitive functions. In an interview with Neuron, he discusses the need for a holistic approach to figure out the brain, how ideas don’t happen in a vacuum, and the challenge of convincing the public that science produces facts; he also shares an open invitation to see Pavlov’s Dogz. View PDF
A wonderful tribute to Howard Eichenbaum by Mike Hasselmo and Chantal Stern. You will be missed, Howard.
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/357/6354/875