Plasticity is a neural phenomenon in which experience induces long-lasting changes to neuronal circuits and is at the center of most neurobiological theories of learning and memory. However, too much plasticity is maladaptive and must be balanced with substrate stability. Area CA3 of the hippocampus provides such a balance via hemispheric…

Spatial working memory (SWM) is the ability to encode, maintain, and retrieve spatial information over a temporal gap, and relies on a network of structures including the medial septum (MS), which provides critical input to the hippocampus. Although the role of the MS in SWM is well-established, up until recently, we have been unable to use…

Perineuronal nets (PNNs) are specialized extracellular matrix structures that surround subsets of neurons throughout the central nervous system (CNS). They are made up of chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans (CSPGs), hyaluronan, tenascin-R, and many other link proteins that together make up their rigid and lattice-like structure. Modulation of PNNs…

The development of numerical and arithmetic abilities constitutes a crucial cornerstone in our modern and educated societies. Difficulties to acquire these central skills can lead to severe consequences for an individual's well-being and nation's economy. In the present review, we describe our current broad understanding of the functional and…

The trial-unique, delayed nonmatching-to-location (TUNL) task is a recently developed behavioral task that measures spatial working memory and a form of pattern separation in touchscreen-equipped operant conditioning chambers. Limited information exists regarding the neurotransmitters and neural substrates involved in the task. The present…

Purpose: Previous research into the working, declarative, and procedural memory systems in children with developmental language disorder (DLD) has yielded inconsistent results. The purpose of this research was to profile these memory systems in children with DLD and their typically developing peers. Method: One hundred four 5- to 8-year-old…

This study examined functional changes longitudinally over 2 years in neural correlates associated with working memory in youth with and without autism spectrum disorder, and the impact of increasing cognitive load. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging and a visuo-spatial 1-back task with four levels of difficulty. A total of 14 children…

Technology is ubiquitous and takes many forms. Digital media consumption (e.g., television, video games, etc.) has increased significantly in its prevalence in our lives as well as in social acceptability. However, it has also been consistently implicated in poorer health outcomes. The extent to which cognitive functions are adversely affected by…

Recognition memory deficits, even after short delays, are sometimes observed following hippocampal damage. One hypothesis links the hippocampus with processes in updating contextual memory representation. Here, we used fornix transection, which partially disconnects the hippocampal system, and compares the performance of fornix-transected monkeys…

Early life stress (ES) significantly increases predisposition to psychopathologies. Cannabinoids may cause cognitive deficits and exacerbate the effects of ES. Nevertheless, the endocannabinoid system has been suggested as a therapeutic target for the treatment of stress- and anxiety-related disorders. Here we examined whether cannabinoids…

"Kcnt1" encoded sodium-activated potassium channels (Slack channels) are highly expressed throughout the brain where they modulate the firing patterns and general excitability of many types of neurons. Increasing evidence suggests that Slack channels may be important for higher brain functions such as cognition and normal intellectual…

Adult functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) literature suggests that a left-right hemispheric dissociation may exist between verbal and spatial working memory (WM), respectively. However, investigation of this type has been obscured by incomparable verbal and spatial WM tasks and/or visual inspection at arbitrary thresholds as means to…

Attention and working memory are fundamental for selecting and maintaining behaviorally relevant information. Not only do both processes closely intertwine at the cognitive level, but they implicate similar functional brain circuitries, namely the frontoparietal and the frontostriatal networks, which are innervated by cholinergic and dopaminergic…

Sex-related differences have been reported for performance and neural substrates on some working memory measures that carry a high cognitive load, including the popular n-back neuroimaging paradigm. Despite some evidence of a sex effect on the task, the influence of sex on performance represents a potential confound in neuroimaging research. The…

Working memory is devoted to the temporary storage and on-line manipulation of information. Recently, an integrative system termed the episodic buffer has been proposed to integrate and hold information being entered or retrieved from episodic memory. Although the brain system supporting such an integrative buffer is still in debate, the medial…