article published yes Cristina Savin author 3933349E-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 Jochen Triesch author GaTk department A wealth of experimental evidence suggests that working memory circuits preferentially represent information that is behaviorally relevant. Still, we are missing a mechanistic account of how these representations come about. Here we provide a simple explanation for a range of experimental findings, in light of prefrontal circuits adapting to task constraints by reward-dependent learning. In particular, we model a neural network shaped by reward-modulated spike-timing dependent plasticity (r-STDP) and homeostatic plasticity (intrinsic excitability and synaptic scaling). We show that the experimentally-observed neural representations naturally emerge in an initially unstructured circuit as it learns to solve several working memory tasks. These results point to a critical, and previously unappreciated, role for reward-dependent learning in shaping prefrontal cortex activity. Frontiers Research Foundation2014 eng 00033671540000110.3389/fncom.2014.00057 8MAY Savin C, Triesch J. Emergence of task-dependent representations in working memory circuits. <i>Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience</i>. 2014;8(MAY). doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fncom.2014.00057">10.3389/fncom.2014.00057</a> Savin, C., &#38; Triesch, J. (2014). Emergence of task-dependent representations in working memory circuits. <i>Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience</i>. Frontiers Research Foundation. <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fncom.2014.00057">https://doi.org/10.3389/fncom.2014.00057</a> C. Savin and J. Triesch, “Emergence of task-dependent representations in working memory circuits,” <i>Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience</i>, vol. 8, no. MAY. Frontiers Research Foundation, 2014. Savin C, Triesch J. 2014. Emergence of task-dependent representations in working memory circuits. Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience. 8(MAY), 57. Savin, Cristina, and Jochen Triesch. “Emergence of Task-Dependent Representations in Working Memory Circuits.” <i>Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience</i>. Frontiers Research Foundation, 2014. <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fncom.2014.00057">https://doi.org/10.3389/fncom.2014.00057</a>. C. Savin, J. Triesch, Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience 8 (2014). Savin, Cristina, and Jochen Triesch. “Emergence of Task-Dependent Representations in Working Memory Circuits.” <i>Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience</i>, vol. 8, no. MAY, 57, Frontiers Research Foundation, 2014, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fncom.2014.00057">10.3389/fncom.2014.00057</a>. 19312018-12-11T11:54:46Z2025-09-29T12:11:13Z