Working memory (WM) maintains information temporarily for subsequent goal-directed behaviors, such as remembering a telephone number to dial.WM serves as a supporting mental workspace for many cognitive functions such as mental calculation, reading, and learning new skills.The critical role of persistent activity in the prefrontal cortex in WM, originally proposed to bridge sensory information and motor responses [1], has been severely debated recently [2, 3].A new study by Zhu et al.[4] highlights that transient, rather than persistent, activities in the anterior agranular insular cortex (aAIC) serve as building blocks for the learning phase of WM.