Synaptic models of Working Memory

International audience ; According to a major theoretical framework, information is maintained in Working Memory by means of tonically enhanced spiking activity. Here, we review an alternative framework that proposes, instead, that information is maintained by means of activity-dependent synaptic modifications that can be rapidly expressed. At least in principle, in this framework, information can be maintained even in the absence of spiking activity, enhanced or otherwise. We discuss different implementations of this idea, their biological plausibility and their ability to account for the experimental observations.