Parallel visuospatial and audiospatial working memory processes in the monkey dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.

The dorsolateral area of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in primates is involved in visuospatial working memory, but the cellular basis of spatial working memory for auditory information is poorly understood. Here we examined dorsolateral PFC neurons using visual and auditory oculomotor delayed-response tasks. We found that the dorsolateral PFC contains two groups of neurons, each showing directional delay-period activity depending on the location of the visual or auditory cue, suggesting that parallel neuronal processes for visual and auditory spatial working memory occur in the dorsolateral PFC.