Feedback scales the spatial tuning of cortical responses during visual memory.

We demonstrate that visual information that is seen, maintained in working memory, and retrieved from long-term memory evokes responses that differ in spatial extent within visual cortex. These differences depend on the origins of the visual inputs. Feedforward visual inputs during perception evoke tuned responses in early visual areas that increase in size up the visual hierarchy. Feedback inputs associated with memory originate from later visual areas with larger receptive fields resulting in uniformly wide spatial tuning even in primary visual cortex. That trial-to-trial difficulty is reflected in the accuracy and precision of these representations suggests that visual cortex is flexibly used for processing visuospatial information, regardless of where that information originates.