Corresponding influences of top-down control on task switching and long-term memory

Previous research has shown that stimulus–response associations comprise associations between the stimulus and the task (a classification task in particular) and the stimulus and the action performed as a response. These associations, contributing to the phenomenon of priming, affect behaviour after a delay of hundreds of trials and they are resistant against overwriting. Here, we investigate their longevity, testing their effects in short-term (seconds after priming) and long-term (24 hr and 1 week after priming) memory. Three experiments demonstrated that both stimulus–classification (S-C) and stimulus–action (S-A) associations show long-term memory effects. The results also show that retrieval of these associations can be modulated by the amount of engagement on the same task between encoding and retrieval, that is, how often participants performed this task between prime and probe sessions. Finally, results show that differences in processing time during encoding are linked to the amount of conflict caused during retrieval of S-C, but not S-A associations. These findings add new information to the existing model of priming as a memory system and pose questions about the interactions of priming and top-down control processes.

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Enhancing long-term memory with stimulation tunes visual attention in one trial

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.1417259112 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 112 (2) ◽

pp. 625-630 ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Author(s):

Robert M. G. Reinhart ◽

Geoffrey F. Woodman

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Frontal Cortex ◽

Posterior Parietal Cortex ◽

Medial Frontal Cortex ◽

Long Term Memory ◽

Top Down ◽

Term Memory ◽

Memory Representations ◽

Attentional Tuning

Scientists have long proposed that memory representations control the mechanisms of attention that focus processing on the task-relevant objects in our visual field. Modern theories specifically propose that we rely on working memory to store the object representations that provide top-down control over attentional selection. Here, we show that the tuning of perceptual attention can be sharply accelerated after 20 min of noninvasive brain stimulation over medial-frontal cortex. Contrary to prevailing theories of attention, these improvements did not appear to be caused by changes in the nature of the working memory representations of the search targets. Instead, improvements in attentional tuning were accompanied by changes in an electrophysiological signal hypothesized to index long-term memory. We found that this pattern of effects was reliably observed when we stimulated medial-frontal cortex, but when we stimulated posterior parietal cortex, we found that stimulation directly affected the perceptual processing of the search array elements, not the memory representations providing top-down control. Our findings appear to challenge dominant theories of attention by demonstrating that changes in the storage of target representations in long-term memory may underlie rapid changes in the efficiency with which humans can find targets in arrays of objects.

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The road to long-term memory: Top-down attention is more effective than bottom-up attention for forming long-term memories

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review ◽

10.3758/s13423-020-01856-y ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Edyta Sasin ◽

Daryl Fougnie

Keyword(s):

Visual Search ◽

Attentional Capture ◽

Long Term Memory ◽

Top Down ◽

Bottom Up ◽

Term Memory ◽

The Road ◽

Memory Traces ◽

Better Than

AbstractDoes the strength of representations in long-term memory (LTM) depend on which type of attention is engaged? We tested participants’ memory for objects seen during visual search. We compared implicit memory for two types of objects—related-context nontargets that grabbed attention because they matched the target defining feature (i.e., color; top-down attention) and salient distractors that captured attention only because they were perceptually distracting (bottom-up attention). In Experiment 1, the salient distractor flickered, while in Experiment 2, the luminance of the salient distractor was alternated. Critically, salient and related-context nontargets produced equivalent attentional capture, yet related-context nontargets were remembered far better than salient distractors (and salient distractors were not remembered better than unrelated distractors). These results suggest that LTM depends not only on the amount of attention but also on the type of attention. Specifically, top-down attention is more effective in promoting the formation of memory traces than bottom-up attention.

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Conceptual short-term memory (CSTM) supports core claims of Christiansen and Chater

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x15000928 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 39 ◽

Author(s):

Mary C. Potter

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Rapid Serial Visual Presentation ◽

Language Comprehension ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Visual Presentation ◽

Long Term Memory ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory ◽

Use Of Knowledge

AbstractRapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) of words or pictured scenes provides evidence for a large-capacity conceptual short-term memory (CSTM) that momentarily provides rich associated material from long-term memory, permitting rapid chunking (Potter 1993; 2009; 2012). In perception of scenes as well as language comprehension, we make use of knowledge that briefly exceeds the supposed limits of working memory.

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Comparison of Auditory, Language, Memory, and Attention Abilities in Children With and Without Listening Difficulties

American Journal of Audiology ◽

10.1044/2020_aja-20-00018 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 29 (4) ◽

pp. 710-727

Author(s):

Beula M. Magimairaj ◽

Naveen K. Nagaraj ◽

Alexander V. Sergeev ◽

Natalie J. Benafield

Keyword(s):

Auditory Processing ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Group Differences ◽

Long Term Memory ◽

Short Term ◽

Significant Group ◽

Term Memory ◽

Memory And Attention ◽

Speed And Accuracy

Objectives School-age children with and without parent-reported listening difficulties (LiD) were compared on auditory processing, language, memory, and attention abilities. The objective was to extend what is known so far in the literature about children with LiD by using multiple measures and selective novel measures across the above areas. Design Twenty-six children who were reported by their parents as having LiD and 26 age-matched typically developing children completed clinical tests of auditory processing and multiple measures of language, attention, and memory. All children had normal-range pure-tone hearing thresholds bilaterally. Group differences were examined. Results In addition to significantly poorer speech-perception-in-noise scores, children with LiD had reduced speed and accuracy of word retrieval from long-term memory, poorer short-term memory, sentence recall, and inferencing ability. Statistically significant group differences were of moderate effect size; however, standard test scores of children with LiD were not clinically poor. No statistically significant group differences were observed in attention, working memory capacity, vocabulary, and nonverbal IQ. Conclusions Mild signal-to-noise ratio loss, as reflected by the group mean of children with LiD, supported the children's functional listening problems. In addition, children's relative weakness in select areas of language performance, short-term memory, and long-term memory lexical retrieval speed and accuracy added to previous research on evidence-based areas that need to be evaluated in children with LiD who almost always have heterogenous profiles. Importantly, the functional difficulties faced by children with LiD in relation to their test results indicated, to some extent, that commonly used assessments may not be adequately capturing the children's listening challenges. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.12808607

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Retrieval from Memory or Procedural Strategies for Addition Problems

Swiss Journal of Psychology ◽

10.1024/1421-0185/a000036 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 70 (1) ◽

pp. 35-39 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Muriel Fanget ◽

Catherine Thevenot ◽

Caroline Castel ◽

Michel Fayol

Keyword(s):

Reaction Times ◽

Long Term Memory ◽

Verbal Reports ◽

Term Memory ◽

Simple Addition ◽

Memory Traces ◽

Addition Problem ◽

Retrieval From Memory ◽

Calculation Procedures

In this study, we used a paradigm recently developed ( Thevenot, Fanget, & Fayol, 2007 ) to determine whether 10-year-old children solve simple addition problems by retrieval of the answer from long-term memory or by calculation procedures. Our paradigm is unique in that it does not rely on reaction times or verbal reports, which are known to potentially bias the results, especially in children. Rather, it takes advantage of the fact that calculation procedures degrade the memory traces of the operands, so that it is more difficult to recognize them when they have been involved in the solution of an addition problem by calculation rather than by retrieval. The present study sharpens the current conclusions in the literature and shows that, when the sum of addition problems is up to 10, children mainly use retrieval, but when it is greater than 10, they mainly use calculation procedures.

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The Acute Effect of Alcohol on Various Memory Processes

Journal of Psychophysiology ◽

10.1027/0269-8803/a000038 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 24 (4) ◽

pp. 249-252 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Márk Molnár ◽

Roland Boha ◽

Balázs Czigler ◽

Zsófia Anna Gaál

Keyword(s):

Low Dose ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Acute Effect ◽

Long Term Memory ◽

Term Memory ◽

Memory Processes ◽

Different Types ◽

The Brain ◽

Legal Consequences

This review surveys relevant and recent data of the pertinent literature regarding the acute effect of alcohol on various kinds of memory processes with special emphasis on working memory. The characteristics of different types of long-term memory (LTM) and short-term memory (STM) processes are summarized with an attempt to relate these to various structures in the brain. LTM is typically impaired by chronic alcohol intake but according to some data a single dose of ethanol may have long lasting effects if administered at a critically important age. The most commonly seen deleterious acute effect of alcohol to STM appears following large doses of ethanol in conditions of “binge drinking” causing the “blackout” phenomenon. However, with the application of various techniques and well-structured behavioral paradigms it is possible to detect, albeit occasionally, subtle changes of cognitive processes even as a result of a low dose of alcohol. These data may be important for the consideration of legal consequences of low-dose ethanol intake in conditions such as driving, etc.

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