ABSTRACT
To go beyond reex-like coupling between sensory stimulation and motor responses, the brain uses mechanisms that allow the maintenance of sensory signals for short time periods. This opens the possibility to integrate sensory signals with representations of learned information, and allows time to formulate action plans that take into account relevant nonsensory factors such as predicted outcomes or rewards. In this chapter, we provide a brief account of the history and current thinking about the maintenance of short-term memory, with a focus on the visual system.
