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Neurons in the crow nidopallium caudolaterale encode varying durations of visual working memory periods

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Abstract

Adaptive sequential behaviors rely on the bridging and integration of temporally separate information for the realization of prospective goals. Corvids’ remarkable behavioral flexibility is thought to depend on the workings of the nidopallium caudolaterale (NCL), a high-level avian associative forebrain area. We trained carrion crows to remember visual items for three alternating delay durations in a delayed match-to-sample task and recorded single-unit activity from the NCL. Sample-selective delay activity, a correlate of visual working memory, was maintained throughout different working memory durations. Delay responses remained selective for the same preferred sample item across blocks with different delay durations. However, selectivity strength decreased with increasing delay durations, mirroring worsened behavioral performance with longer memory delays. Behavioral relevance of delay activity was further evidenced by reduced encoding of the preferred sample item during error trials. In addition, NCL neurons adapted their time-dependent discharges to blocks of different memory durations, so that delay duration could be successfully classified based on population activity a few trials after the delay duration switched. Therefore, NCL neurons not only maintain information from individual trials, but also keep track of the duration for which this information is needed in the context of the task. These results strengthen the role of corvid NCL in maintaining working memory for flexible control of temporally extended goal-directed behavior.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a Ph.D. fellowship from the German National Academic Foundation to L.V. and by a DFG Grant NI 618/6-1 to A.N.

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Author notes

  1. Konstantin Hartmann and Lena Veit have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Animal Physiology, Institute of Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 28, 72076, Tübingen, Germany

    Konstantin Hartmann, Lena Veit & Andreas Nieder

Authors
  1. Konstantin Hartmann
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  2. Lena Veit
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  3. Andreas Nieder
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Contributions

KH and AN designed experiments, KH performed experiments, KH and LV analyzed data, and LV, KH, and AN wrote the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andreas Nieder.

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Hartmann, K., Veit, L. & Nieder, A. Neurons in the crow nidopallium caudolaterale encode varying durations of visual working memory periods. Exp Brain Res 236, 215–226 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-017-5120-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-017-5120-3

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