Fig. 1: Task, recording sites and behaviour.

a, An example trial. Each trial consisted of either one (load 1) and three (load 3) consecutively presented pictures, each presented for 2 s (separated by a variable blank screen of up to 200 ms as indicated by a small dot). After a variable maintenance period with an average duration of 2.7 s, a probe picture was presented. The task was to decide whether the probe picture has been part of the pictures shown during encoding in this trial (the correct answer was ‘No’ in the example shown). For copyright reasons, the pictures shown are similar but not identical to those used in the study. b, The recording locations. Each coloured dot represents the location of a microwire bundle across all 44 sessions shown on a standardized MNI152 brain template (left) and in a 3D model using the Brainnetome Atlas (right). The slices (https://osf.io/r2hvk/) were obtained under a Creative Commons licence CC BY 4.0. c, The proportions of neurons recorded in each brain area. d, The behaviour of the participants. Patients made fewer errors (P = 0.0001) and responded faster (P = 0.0001) in load 1 compared with load 3 trials. Statistical analysis was performed using two-sided permutation-based t-tests with 10,000 permutations. Each line connects the two dots belonging to the same session. n = 44 sessions. The RT was measured relative to the probe stimulus onset. Data are mean ± s.e.m. ***P < 0.001.