Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

Program Name/Specialization

Cognitive Neuroscience

Faculty/School

Faculty of Science

First Advisor

William E. Hockley

Advisor Role

Co-advisor

Second Advisor

Philip Servos

Advisor Role

Co-advisor

Abstract

The location of the brain’s working and short-term memory (WM/STM) “system” is unclear. The existence of a dedicated WM/STM system is itself under debate. Recently, it has been proposed that WM/STM storage relies not on a dedicated system in prefrontal cortex, but rather that it is an emergent function of interaction between attentional and representational systems (e.g., sensory cortex) in the brain. However, mnemonic representations of very simple stimuli have repeatedly been shown to exist in frontal cortex. In this manuscript, I use computational and behavioural methods to demonstrate similarities between the representations of different types of very simple stimuli in memory, and argue that this is evidence that present theory must be extended to deal with current experimental results.

Convocation Year

2016

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