Jeongjun Park

Program: Neurosciences

Current advisor: Lawrence Hugh Snyder, MD, PhD

Undergraduate university: Sungkyunkwan University, 2017

Enrollment year: 2021

Research summary
Neural mechanisms of spatial working memory across different contexts

Working memory, the system for the temporary storage and manipulation of information, plays a crucial role in a variety of cognitive processes. In particular, the spatial working memory has been well demonstrated. Neurophysiological research has demonstrated that the prefrontal cortex (PFC) maintains spatial information via sustained neural activity tuned to specific locations. Despite the observation of neural representations of spatial working memory in numerous tasks it remains unclear whether spatial working memory is supported by a singular neural module across all tasks or by distinct modules tailored to individual tasks. Each scenario presents distinct benefits: a single shared module could efficiently manage neuronal resources through its reuse across different tasks, while multiple modules could allow for task-specific optimizations within each module. Notably, separate neural modules do not always mean distinct neuronal populations or circuits. Even though the same neuronal population is responsible for supporting working memory, how those neurons code the information could vary across tasks, which is the case of multiple modules with a single population. We will ask whether the same PFC neurons store spatial information in a similar manner across different tasks (Aim 1). We will also investigate whether the task-specific information, especially behavioral goals or task demands, is encoded independently of the working memory in the PFC (Aim 2). Finally, it recently has been proposed that PFC may code only the single item in working memory that is currently the focus of the attention. We will test this hypothesis by measuring and analyzing population level activity patterns (Aim 3).

Graduate publications