# Exact neural mass model for synaptic-based working memory

1 MATHNEURO - Mathématiques pour les Neurosciences
CRISAM - Inria Sophia Antipolis - Méditerranée
Abstract : A synaptic theory of Working Memory (WM) has been developed in the last decade as a possible alternative to the persistent spiking paradigm. In this context, we have developed a neural mass model able to reproduce exactly the dynamics of heterogeneous spiking neural networks encompassing realistic cellular mechanisms for short-term synaptic plasticity. This population model reproduces the macroscopic dynamics of the network in terms of the firing rate and the mean membrane potential. The latter quantity allows us to get insight on Local Field Potential and electroencephalographic signals measured during WM tasks to characterize the brain activity. More specifically synaptic facilitation and depression integrate each other to efficiently mimic WM operations via either synaptic reactivation or persistent activity. Memory access and loading are associated to stimulus-locked transient oscillations followed by a steady-state activity in the $\beta-\gamma$ band, thus resembling what observed in the cortex during vibrotactile stimuli in humans and object recognition in monkeys. Memory juggling and competition emerge already by loading only two items. However more items can be stored in WM by considering neural architectures composed of multiple excitatory populations and a common inhibitory pool. Memory capacity depends strongly on the presentation rate of the items and it maximizes for an optimal frequency range. In particular we provide an analytic expression for the maximal memory capacity. Furthermore, the mean membrane potential turns out to be a suitable proxy to measure the memory load, analogously to event driven potentials in experiments on humans. Finally we show that the $\gamma$ power increases with the number of loaded items, as reported in many experiments, while $\theta$ and $\beta$ power reveal non monotonic behaviours. In particular, $\beta$ and $\gamma$ rhythms are crucially sustained by the inhibitory activity, while the $\theta$ rhythm is controlled by excitatory synapses.
Keywords :
Document type :
Journal articles
Domain :

https://hal.inria.fr/hal-02972545
Contributor : Simona Olmi Connect in order to contact the contributor
Submitted on : Wednesday, December 30, 2020 - 3:42:51 PM
Last modification on : Thursday, January 20, 2022 - 5:28:22 PM

### File

journal.pcbi.1008533.pdf
Publication funded by an institution

### Citation

Halgurd Taher, Alessandro Torcini, Simona Olmi. Exact neural mass model for synaptic-based working memory. PLoS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, 2020, 16 (12), pp.e1008533. ⟨10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008533⟩. ⟨hal-02972545v2⟩

### Metrics

Les métriques sont temporairement indisponibles