Neuronal Correlates of Tactile Working Memory in Prefrontal and Vibrissal Somatosensory Cortex

Tactile working memory engages a broad network of cortical regions in primates. To assess whether the conclusions drawn from primates apply to rodents, we examined the vibrissal primary somatosensory cortex (vS1) and the prelimbic cortex (PL) in a delayed comparison task. Rats compared the speeds of two vibrissal vibrations, stimulus1 and stimulus2, separated by a delay of 2 s. Neuronal firing rates in vS1 and PL encode both stimuli in real time. Across the delay, the stimulus1 representation declines more precipitously in vS1 than in PL. Theta-band local field potential (LFP) coherence between vS1 and PL peaks at trial onset and remains elevated during the interstimulus interval; simultaneously, vS1 spikes become phase locked to PL LFP. Phase locking is stronger on correct (versus error) trials. Tactile working memory in rats appears to be mediated by a posterior (vS1) to anterior (PL) flow of information, with performance facilitated through coherent LFP oscillation.