Phase-coding memories in mind

Abstract

Temporarily holding information in mind is an important part of many cognitive processes, such as reasoning and language. The amount of information that can be actively held “in mind” at any time is greatly limited—research suggests that we can only actively hold three or four pieces of information at once. A central question in cognitive neuroscience is how a system comprised of billions of neurons can actively maintain such a limited amount of information. A new study published in this issue of PLOS Biology by Bahramisharif and colleagues provides significant insights into this question.