phenomenon · claim-type · cross-domain-transfer · mechanism · claim-relation · replication-status · limitation — grounded in the full text| phenomenon | delay-period activity in primate prefrontal cortex during visual working memory— “The primate prefrontal cortex (PFC) is a critical node of the network that mediates working memory, one component of which is the ability to retain and mentally manipulate a stimulus over the time scale of seconds1,2.” | |
| claim-type | existence— “Our results indicated that during the delay period when sensory information was no longer available, neuronal discharge was modulated by the luminance of the stimulus appearing in the receptive field, and was directly correlated with psychophysical performance in the task.” | |
| method — evidence | — “To explore the relationship between neuronal activity and behavioral performance, we recorded from the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of monkeys trained to perform a delayed discrimination task.” | |
| mechanism | Dorsolateral PFC runs two superimposed processes - a slowly decaying sensory representation plus a response-preparation signal that ramps toward the saccade - whose sum produces the observed delay activity— “Based on these considerations, we propose that dorsolateral PFC encompasses neurons engaged in at least two separate processes: a sensory representation that remains fairly constant or slowly decays during the delay period, and a response preparation that increases toward the onset of the saccade (Fig. 8).” | mechanisms[0] |
| mechanism | The motor plan emerges from a network of neurons that keep holding sensory information, rather than from a discrete sensory-to-motor transformation stage in single neurons— “Our present findings favor the view that a motor plan is an emergent property of a network composed in part by neurons sustaining sensory information, rather than involving a discrete decision stage in which sensory parameters are transformed into motor variables by single neurons” | mechanisms[1] |
| contradicts | previous studies of delay-period activity in a discrimination task concluding that responses reflect the outcome of a perceptual decision (the paper's refs 18,19)— “In contrast to these results, previous studies analyzing activity in the delay period of a discrimination task concluded that neuronal responses best correlate with the outcome of a perceptual decision18,19.” | claim_relations[0] |
| builds-on | previous dorsolateral prefrontal experiments using the anti-saccade paradigm, spatial match-to-sample and conditional response tasks (the paper's refs 10,28,29)— “The present findings are in agreement with previous experiments in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex suggesting that neuronal activity in a mnemonic task represents the remembered visual stimulus, as demonstrated by the anti-saccade paradigm, spatial match-to-sample and conditional response tasks10,28,29.” | claim_relations[1] |
| sense | delay period activity - MODULATED OR NOT DEPENDING ON WHERE THE STIMULI WERE: not significantly modulated by a distractor outside the receptive field while the target was inside, and significantly dependent on contrast ratio when the distractor was inside it; the same measure yields a null and a positive result, and only the spatial condition separates them— “Delay period activity was not significantly modulated by the presence of a distractor outside the receptive field, when the target appeared inside (Fig. 4a; regression analysis, p > 0.3). However, delay period activity was significantly dependent on contrast ratio when the distractor appeared in the receptive field” | senses[0] |
| sense | delay activity as memory - AN INFERENCE THE PAPER REPORTS AS DISPUTED: neurons discharge while a stimulus is held in memory, and it has been argued that temporal correlation does not necessarily imply involvement of that activity in perceptual memory, so the field's central inference is named as contested inside a paper that relies on it— “Although neurons in the primate prefrontal cortex discharge while a stimulus is maintained in memory, it has been argued that temporal correlation does not necessarily imply involvement of this activity in perceptual memory” | senses[1] |
| sense | the analysed sample - THE WHOLE RECORDING, BY DECISION: rather than dropping neurons whose responses were mainly to the cue or the saccade, the authors state they used the entire sample so as not to ignore those neurons' contribution to delay period activity— “We based the analysis of our results on the entire sample, rather than ignore the contribution of primarily cue and saccade neurons to the delay period activity” | senses[2] |
| control | eye-movement parameters as the cause of the contrast-ratio effect — held — rules out the reading that the contrast dependence is an artefact of where the animal looked | controls[0] |
| effect direction | distractor —causes→ delay period activity — no-change Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | concept_edges[0] |
| holds when | distractor —causes→ delay period activity — when the distractor is outside the receptive field and the target inside it Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | concept_edges[0] |
| holds when | contrast ratio —causes→ delay period activity — when the distractor appeared in the receptive field Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | concept_edges[1] |
| outcome (stated by the tagger, no quotation) | control — held | controls[0] |
| for which use | limitation — any claim that the animals held LUMINANCE in memory: OUR TASK DID NOT EXPLICITLY REQUIRE THE ANIMALS TO REMEMBER THE LUMINANCE OF THE STIMULI; THE SUBJECT NEEDED ONLY TO DISCRIMINATE BETWEEN THEIR RELATIVE DIFFERENCE Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | limitations[0] |
| for which use | limitation — the sensory account of the population: WE DID OBSERVE SOME NEURONS, PARTICULARLY THOSE WITH STRONG PRE-SACCADIC RESPONSES, THAT ONLY REFLECTED THE ANIMAL'S MOTOR RESPONSE Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | limitations[1] |
| for which use | limitation — any summary of what modulates delay period activity here: it was not significantly modulated by a distractor outside the receptive field when the target was inside, and was significantly dependent on contrast ratio when the distractor appeared inside the receptive field Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | limitations[2] |
| for which use | limitation — the claim that this delay activity is memory: the authors report the argument Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | limitations[3] |
| for which use | limitation — any population statistic reported here: the authors based the analysis on the entire sample rather than ignoring the contribution of primarily cue and saccade neurons to delay period activity Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | limitations[4] |
| evidential status | mechanism — the paper's own words: we propose that Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | mechanisms[0] |
| replication | contested | |
| limitation | The task never required luminance itself to be remembered, only the relative comparison Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | limitations[0] |
| limitation | Not all recorded neurons fitted the sensory account; some reflected only the motor response Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | limitations[1] |
| limitation | The two results on the same measure hold under opposite spatial conditions. Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | limitations[2] |
| limitation | The inference the whole result rests on is reported by the authors as contested. Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | limitations[3] |
| limitation | The analysis population was chosen by an explicit decision not to exclude two neuron types. Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | limitations[4] |
finding · quantity · variable · definition · key-term — grounded in the full text| finding | Delay-period activity depended significantly on contrast ratio when the distractor appeared in the receptive field. Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | content_tags.findings[0] |
| finding | Mnemonic prefrontal activity was directly correlated with the monkeys' psychophysical performance. Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | content_tags.findings[2] |
| finding | Neuronal discriminability between target and distractor tracked contrast ratio across the entire delay, not only early in it. Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | content_tags.findings[3] |
| finding | Contrary to that account's prediction, responses stayed graded by luminance throughout the delay. Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | content_tags.findings[4] |
| finding | The effect was significant for 42% of the neurons (45% and 25% in the two animals). Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | content_tags.findings[5] |
| finding | The contrast effect was significant across the population when the distractor was in the receptive field but not when the target was, as with the fixed delay. Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | content_tags.findings[6] |
| finding | Reward expectation cannot explain the pattern, because firing was strongest in the condition of minimum expected reward. Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | content_tags.findings[7] |
| quantity | 52 — isolated prefrontal neurons analysed in the fixed-delay experiment, from two rhesus monkeys Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | content_tags.quantities[0] |
| quantity | 75% — behavioural accuracy threshold, reached at a distractor/target contrast ratio of 1-4% Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | content_tags.quantities[1] |
| quantity | 42% — proportion of neurons with significantly elevated delay activity for a distractor in the receptive field Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | content_tags.quantities[2] |
| quantity | 24 — additional neurons recorded in the variable-delay control experiment Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | content_tags.quantities[3] |
| quantity | –0.037, p < 10–5 — regression slope of normalized delay firing on log contrast ratio when the distractor was in the receptive field Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | content_tags.quantities[4] |
| quantity | R2 = 0.99, 0.97 — fit of psychophysical performance to the logarithm of contrast ratio for the two monkeys Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | content_tags.quantities[5] |
| evidence status note | quantity — THE QUOTE STOPS WHERE THE PAGE ENDS: the sentence breaks mid-word after 'respec' (for 'respectively') into the page footer and a figure, and it resumes only after them, so the bracket it opened is not closed inside the quote. | content_tags.quantities[5] |
| quantity | F66,4284 = 0.57, p > 0.9 — non-significant time-by-contrast interaction in the ANOVA on ROC discrimination probability Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | content_tags.quantities[6] |
| variable | contrast ratio (independent) Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | content_tags.variables[0] |
| variable | firing rate (dependent) Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | content_tags.variables[3] |
| variable | percentage of correct saccades (dependent) Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | content_tags.variables[4] |
| variable | saccade metrics (covariate) Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | content_tags.variables[5] |
| definition | area under the ROC curve Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | content_tags.definitions[0] |
| definition | short-term memory trace Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | content_tags.definitions[1] |
| definition | working memory Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | content_tags.definitions[2] |
| concept | delay period activity Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | concepts[0] |
| concept | distractor Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | concepts[1] |
| concept | contrast ratio Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | concepts[2] |
| concept | receptive field Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | concepts[3] |
| concept | perceptual memory Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | concepts[4] |
| t-test p | as written: paired t-test Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | content_tags.statistics[0] |
| regression | as written: regression analysis Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | content_tags.statistics[1] |
| linear regression | Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | content_tags.statistics[2] |
| ANOVA F | as written: two-way ANOVA Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | content_tags.statistics[3] |
| ROC analysis | as written: receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analysis Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | content_tags.statistics[4] |
| coefficient of determination R2 | as written: R2 Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | content_tags.statistics[5] |
| evidence status note | coefficient of determination — THE QUOTE STOPS WHERE THE PAGE ENDS: the sentence breaks mid-word after 'respec' (for 'respectively') into the page footer and a figure, and it resumes only after them, so the bracket it opened is not closed inside the quote. | content_tags.statistics[5] |
| p-value p | as written: p < 10–5 Quotation withheld — this paper is not ours to reproduce, and the page has already quoted as much of it as the rights layer allows. The tag, its field and its confidence stand; the sentence is at the publisher. | content_tags.statistics[6] |
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