Human intracranial correlates of dynamic coding in auditory working memory

Working memory (WM), the human brains system for maintaining and manipulating information over short timescales, is critical for goal-directed behavior. Classic neurophysiological models, which emphasize persistent delay activity, are being challenged by an idea that WM is maintained through dynamic and activity-silent mechanisms, where the memory trace is preserved by transient changes in the connections between neurons. To date, human evidence for this alternative model has been limited to non-invasive studies. Here, leveraging high-resolution intracranial stereo-EEG with advanced machine learning decoding techniques, we investigate neuronal mechanisms of human auditory WM. Neuronal activity is quantified as broadband high frequency activity (70-190 Hz), a correlate of neuronal firing activity. Our multivariate pattern analyses, validated via robust non-parametric permutation testing, show that WM content is represented in multiple brain regions, exhibiting dynamic rather than persistent delay activity. Crucially, by using task-irrelevant sounds to probe latent mnemonic states, we provide the first human intracranial evidence of activity silent WM maintenance in a local sensory network.