Local organization of spatial and shape information during working memory in the primate prefrontal cortex

Abstract

The current understanding of sensory and motor cortical areas has been defined by the existence of topographical maps across the brain surface, however, higher cortical areas, such as the prefrontal cortex, seem to lack an equivalent organization, and only limited evidence of functional clustering of neurons with similar stimulus properties is evident in them. We thus sought to examine whether neurons that represent similar spatial and object information are clustered in the monkey prefrontal cortex and whether such an organization only emerges as a result of training. To this end, we analyzed neurophysiological recordings from male macaque monkeys before and after training in spatial and shape working memory tasks. Neurons with similar spatial or shape selectivity were more likely than chance to be encountered at short distances from each other. Some aspects of organization were present even in naive animals, however other changes appeared after cognitive training. Our results reveal that prefrontal microstructure automatically supports orderly representations of spatial and object information.