We propose a cortical neural network model and investigate the neuronal relevance of cortical interactions to recalling long-term memory. The model consists of the left and right hemispheres, each of which has IT (inferotemporal cortex) and PC (prefrontal cortex) networks. The information about vistual features and their categories were encoded into point attractors of the IT and PC networks, respectively. In a category-association task, the IT network of the right hemisphere was stimulated with a cue feature. After a delay period, the IT network of the left hemisphere was simultaneously stimulated with the choice feature and an irrelevant feature. The cue and choice features belong to the same category, while the irrelevant feature belongs to other category. We demonstrate that the top-down pathway (PC-to-IT) triggers the retrieval of long-term memory of the choice feature from the IT, and the bottom-up pathway (IT-to-PC) contributes to the maintenance of the retrieved memory during the delay period.
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