Summary
Abstract Short-term memory function is commonly supported through persistent activity, the sustained response of populations of neurons following the offset of a memorized stimulus. This form of activity underlies diverse tasks including navigation, motor control, and decision-making. Classic mechanistic theories have idealized such activity through models that assume strongly homogeneous populations of neurons that encode only a single variable and generate perfectly stable patterns of activity. This contrasts with recent work showing that neurons in real biological memory networks exhibit mu