scholarly journals Auditory selective attention under working memory load

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rena Bayramova ◽  
Enrico Toffalini ◽  
Mario Bonato ◽  
Massimo Grassi
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Working Memory Load ◽  
Attention Task ◽  
Auditory Selective Attention ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Four Levels

Abstract Can cognitive load enhance concentration on task-relevant information and help filter out distractors? Most of the prior research in the area of selective attention has focused on visual attention or cross-modal distraction and has yielded controversial results. Here, we studied whether working memory load can facilitate selective attention when both target and distractor stimuli are auditory. We used a letter n-back task with four levels of working memory load and two levels of distraction: congruent and incongruent distractors. This combination of updating and inhibition tasks allowed us to manipulate working memory load within the selective attention task. Participants sat in front of three loudspeakers and were asked to attend to the letter presented from the central loudspeaker while ignoring that presented from the flanking ones (spoken by a different person), which could be the same letter as the central one (congruent) or a different (incongruent) letter. Their task was to respond whether or not the central letter matched the letter presented n (0, 1, 2, or 3) trials back. Distraction was measured in terms of the difference in reaction time and accuracy on trials with incongruent versus congruent flankers. We found reduced interference from incongruent flankers in 2- and 3-back conditions compared to 0- and 1-back conditions, whereby higher working memory load almost negated the effect of incongruent flankers. These results suggest that high load on verbal working memory can facilitate inhibition of distractors in the auditory domain rather than make it more difficult as sometimes claimed.

scholarly journals Early Auditory Evoked Potential Is Modulated by Selective Attention and Related to Individual Differences in Visual Working Memory Capacity

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (12) ◽  
pp. 2682-2690 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan J. Giuliano ◽  
Christina M. Karns ◽  
Helen J. Neville ◽  
Steven A. Hillyard
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Auditory Evoked Potential ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Auditory Selective Attention ◽  
Visual Change Detection ◽  
Listening Task

A growing body of research suggests that the predictive power of working memory (WM) capacity for measures of intellectual aptitude is due to the ability to control attention and select relevant information. Crucially, attentional mechanisms implicated in controlling access to WM are assumed to be domain-general, yet reports of enhanced attentional abilities in individuals with larger WM capacities are primarily within the visual domain. Here, we directly test the link between WM capacity and early attentional gating across sensory domains, hypothesizing that measures of visual WM capacity should predict an individual's capacity to allocate auditory selective attention. To address this question, auditory ERPs were recorded in a linguistic dichotic listening task, and individual differences in ERP modulations by attention were correlated with estimates of WM capacity obtained in a separate visual change detection task. Auditory selective attention enhanced ERP amplitudes at an early latency (ca. 70–90 msec), with larger P1 components elicited by linguistic probes embedded in an attended narrative. Moreover, this effect was associated with greater individual estimates of visual WM capacity. These findings support the view that domain-general attentional control mechanisms underlie the wide variation of WM capacity across individuals.

Verbal Working Memory Load Affects Regional Brain Activation as Measured by PET

1997 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 462-475 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Jonides ◽  
Eric H. Schumacher ◽  
Edward E. Smith ◽  
Erick J. Lauber ◽  
Edward Awh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Task Difficulty ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Brain Activation ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Behavioral Performance ◽  
Executive Processes ◽  
Working Memory Load ◽  
The One ◽  
Reliable Increase

We report an experiment that assesses the effect of variations in memory load on brain activations that mediate verbal working memory. The paradigm that forms the basis of this experiment is the “n-back” task in which subjects must decide for each letter in a series whether it matches the one presented n items back in the series. This task is of interest because it recruits processes involved in both the storage and manipulation of information in working memory. Variations in task difficulty were accomplished by varying the value of n. As n increased, subjects showed poorer behavioral performance as well as monotonically increasing magnitudes of brain activation in a large number of sites that together have been identified with verbal working-memory processes. By contrast, there was no reliable increase in activation in sites that are unrelated to working memory. These results validate the use of parametric manipulation of task variables in neuroimaging research, and they converge with the subtraction paradigm used most often in neuroimaging. In addition, the data support a model of working memory that includes both storage and executive processes that recruit a network of brain areas, all of which are involved in task performance.

scholarly journals Effect of verbal working memory load during the oculomotor activity in visual search

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 21-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
B.B. Velichkovsky ◽  
A.I. Izmalkova
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Mutual Influence ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Working Memory Load ◽  
Visual Spatial ◽  
Visual Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Oculomotor Activity

The structure of working memory has components responsible for the storage of verbal and visualspatial information; despite the fairly detailed study of the functions and mechanisms of their work, the question of their mutual influence is still open. Studies on the verbal working memory load influence on visual search performance (a task requiring the use of visual-spatial working memory resources) it was found that the load on the verbal working memory leads to increased efficiency of target detection. The results of the analysis of oculomotor activity during visual search also point out that the implementation of such tasks under verbal working memory load is accompanied by an increase in cognitive tension and of the degree of search automaticity. The results may indicate the interaction of verbal and visual-spatial working memory components that share non-specific cognitive resources.

Auditory Verbal Working Memory Load Effects on a Simulator-Induced Spatial Disorientation Event

2019 ◽  
Vol 90 (6) ◽  
pp. 531-539
Author(s):  
Rafał Lewkowicz ◽  
Paweł Stróżak ◽  
Bibianna Bałaj ◽  
Piotr Francuz
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Working Memory Load ◽  
Spatial Disorientation ◽  
Load Effects

Auditory verbal working memory load and thalamic activation in nonpsychotic relatives of persons with schizophrenia: An fMRI replication.

2007 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 599-610 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larry J. Seidman ◽  
Heidi W. Thermenos ◽  
Jennifer K. Koch ◽  
Michael Ward ◽  
Hans Breiter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Working Memory Load ◽  
Persons With Schizophrenia
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