Summary: FROST: A Distributed Neurocomputational Model
of Working Memory Maintenance
F. Gregory Ashby1
, Shawn W. Ell2
, Vivian V. Valentin1
,
and Michael B. Casale1
Abstract
& Many studies suggest that the sustained activation under-
lying working memory (WM) maintenance is mediated by
a distributed network that includes the prefrontal cortex
and other structures (e.g., posterior parietal cortex, thalamus,
globus pallidus, and the caudate nucleus). A computational
model of WM, called FROST (short for FROntal­Striatal­
Thalamic), is proposed in which the representation of items
and spatial positions is encoded in the lateral prefrontal cor-
tex. During delay intervals, activation in these prefrontal cells
is sustained via parallel, prefrontal cortical­thalamic loops.
Activation reverberates in these loops because prefrontal
cortical excitation of the head of the caudate nucleus leads

Source: Ashby, F. Gregory - Department of Psychology, University of California at Santa Barbara

Collections: Biology and Medicine; Computer Technologies and Information Sciences