scholarly journals The vulnerability of working memory to distraction is rhythmic

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malte Wöstmann ◽  
Troby Ka-Yan Lui ◽  
Kai-Hendrik Friese ◽  
Jens Kreitewolf ◽  
Malte Naujokat ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Acoustic Noise ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Serial Order ◽  
Irrelevant Speech ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Cognitive System ◽  
Memory Retention ◽  
Recall Accuracy

AbstractRecent research posits that the cognitive system samples target stimuli in a rhythmic fashion, characterized by target detection fluctuating at frequencies of ~3–8 Hz. Besides prioritized encoding of targets, a key cognitive function is the protection of working memory from distractor intrusion. Here, we test to which degree the vulnerability of working memory to distraction is rhythmic. In an Irrelevant-Speech Task, N = 23 human participants had to retain the serial order of nine numbers in working memory while being distracted by task-irrelevant speech with variable temporal onsets. The magnitude of the distractor-evoked N1 component in the event-related potential as well as behavioural recall accuracy, both measures of memory distraction, were periodically modulated by distractor onset time in approximately 2–4 cycles per second (Hz). Critically, an underlying 2.5-Hz rhythm explained variation in both measures of distraction such that stronger phasic distractor encoding mediated lower phasic memory recall accuracy. In a behavioural follow-up experiment, we tested whether these results would replicate in a task design without rhythmic presentation of target items. Participants (N = 6 with on average >2,500 trials, each) retained two line-figures in memory while being distracted by acoustic noise of varying onset across trials. In agreement with the main experiment, the temporal onset of the distractor periodically modulated memory performance. These results suggest that during working memory retention, the human cognitive system implements distractor suppression in a temporally dynamic fashion, reflected in ~400-ms long cycles of high versus low distractibility.

scholarly journals Working-memory disruption by task-irrelevant talkers depends on degree of talker familiarity

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens Kreitewolf ◽  
Malte Wöstmann ◽  
Sarah Tune ◽  
Michael Plöchl ◽  
Jonas Obleser
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Serial Order ◽  
Irrelevant Speech ◽  
Speech Comprehension ◽  
Memory Retention ◽  
Statistics Course ◽  
Memory Disruption ◽  
Task Irrelevant ◽  
Talker Familiarity

AbstractWhen listening, familiarity with an attended talker’s voice improves speech comprehension. Here, we instead investigated the effect of familiarity with a distracting talker. In an irrelevant-speech task, we assessed listeners’ working memory for the serial order of spoken digits when a task-irrelevant, distracting sentence was produced by either a familiar or an unfamiliar talker (with rare omissions of the task-irrelevant sentence). We tested two groups of listeners using the same experimental procedure. The first group were undergraduate psychology students (N=66) who had attended an introductory statistics course. Critically, each student had been taught by one of two course instructors, whose voices served as familiar and unfamiliar task-irrelevant talkers. The second group of listeners were family members and friends (N=20) who had known either one of the two talkers for more than ten years. Students, but not family members and friends, made more errors when the task-irrelevant talker was familiar versus unfamiliar. Interestingly, the effect of talker familiarity was not modulated by the presence of task-irrelevant speech: students experienced stronger working-memory disruption by a familiar talker irrespective of whether they heard a task-irrelevant sentence during memory retention or merely expected it. While previous work has shown that familiarity with an attended talker benefits speech comprehension, our findings indicate that familiarity with an ignored talker deteriorates working memory for target speech. The absence of this effect in family members and friends suggests that the degree of familiarity modulates memory disruption.

scholarly journals Early Top–Down Control of Visual Processing Predicts Working Memory Performance

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 1224-1234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron M. Rutman ◽  
Wesley C. Clapp ◽  
James Z. Chadick ◽  
Adam Gazzaley
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Natural Scenes ◽  
Attention And Memory ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Sensory Neural

Selective attention confers a behavioral benefit on both perceptual and working memory (WM) performance, often attributed to top–down modulation of sensory neural processing. However, the direct relationship between early activity modulation in sensory cortices during selective encoding and subsequent WM performance has not been established. To explore the influence of selective attention on WM recognition, we used electroencephalography to study the temporal dynamics of top–down modulation in a selective, delayed-recognition paradigm. Participants were presented with overlapped, “double-exposed” images of faces and natural scenes, and were instructed to either remember the face or the scene while simultaneously ignoring the other stimulus. Here, we present evidence that the degree to which participants modulate the early P100 (97–129 msec) event-related potential during selective stimulus encoding significantly correlates with their subsequent WM recognition. These results contribute to our evolving understanding of the mechanistic overlap between attention and memory.

scholarly journals Shielding working-memory representations from temporally predictable external interference

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela Gresch ◽  
Sage Boettcher ◽  
Freek van Ede ◽  
Anna C. Nobre
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Memory Retention ◽  
Protective Effects ◽  
External Interference ◽  
Irrelevant Distractors ◽  
Temporal Predictability ◽  
Memory Representations ◽  
Memory Content

Protecting working-memory content from distracting external sensory inputs and intervening tasks is a ubiquitous demand in daily life. Here, we ask whether and how temporal expectations about external events can help mitigate effects of such interference during working-memory retention. We manipulated the temporal predictability of interfering items that occurred during the retention period of a visual working-memory task and report that temporal expectations reduce the detrimental influence of external interference on subsequent memory performance. Moreover, to determine if the protective effects of temporal expectations rely mainly on distractor suppression or also involve shielding of internal representations, we compared effects after irrelevant distractors that could be ignored vs. interrupters that required a response. Whereas distractor suppression may be sufficient to confer protection from predictable distractors, any benefits after interruption are likely to involve memory shielding. We found similar benefits of temporal expectations after both types of interference. We conclude that temporal expectations may play an important role in safeguarding behaviour based on working memory – acting, at least partly, through mechanisms that include the shielding of internal content from external interference.

scholarly journals Higher Cognitive Reserve Is Associated with Better Working Memory Performance and Working-Memory-Related P300 Modulation

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 308
Author(s):  
Gabriela Gutiérrez-Zamora Velasco ◽  
Thalía Fernández ◽  
Juan Silva-Pereyra ◽  
Vicenta Reynoso-Alcántara ◽  
Susana A. Castro-Chavira
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Reading Skills ◽  
Cognitive Reserve ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Reading Performance ◽  
Load Level ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
P300 Amplitude ◽  
Potential Component ◽  
Neural Efficiency

This study aims to examine how two levels of cognitive reserve, as evidenced by reading syntactic skill, modify performance and neural activity in a two-load-level (high vs. low) working memory (WM) task. Two groups of participants with different reading skills, high and low, were obtained from clustering analysis. We collected the P300 event-related potential component during the performance of the WM Sternberg task. The high reading performance (HRP) group showed a higher percentage of correct answers than the low reading performance (LRP) group in the negative probes of the WM task, which were probe stimuli not included in the memory set presented immediately before. Both groups showed P300 amplitude modulations, that is, larger WM-related P300 amplitudes for low than for high WM loads. Following the behavioral results, the HRP group displayed smaller WM-related amplitude modulations than the LRP group in the negative probes. The findings together suggest that higher levels of reading skill are associated with improved neural efficiency, which reflects in a better working memory performance.

scholarly journals Working memory as a mental workspace: Why activated long-term memory is not enough

2003 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 745-746 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert H. Logie ◽  
Sergio Della Sala
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Memory Retention ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
On Line ◽  
Processing And Storage ◽  
And Storage

Working-memory retention as activated long-term memory fails to capture orchestrated processing and storage, the hallmark of the concept of working memory. The event-related potential (ERP) data are compatible with working memory as a mental workspace that holds and manipulates information on line, which is distinct from long-term memory, and deals with the products of activated traces from stored knowledge.

PERFORMANCE PREDICTION OF WORKING MEMORY RETENTION USING EVENT-RELATED POTENTIAL SIGNAL TOWARDS CHILDREN

2016 ◽  
Vol 78 (7-5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Siti Zubaidah Mohd Tumari ◽  
Rubita Sudirman
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Stimuli ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
The Other ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
Memory Retention ◽  
Normal Children ◽  
Spectrum Density ◽  
Related Potentials

This study is to investigate the Event-Related Potentials (ERP) from the background of Electroencephalograph (EEG) signal for working memory retention by using visual stimuli. The proposed analysis of ERP signal is to predict the performance of working memory retention for various frequency bands such as gamma, beta, alpha, theta and delta. This study is intended to process the EEG data into ERP data and analyze the ERP signal based on power spectrum density. This method is applied to data of normal children with age between 7 to 12 years old. Result showed that alpha power band increases during working memory retention towards visual stimuli compared to the other frequency band. 9 years old has the highest amplitude alpha power compared to the other group of age. Therefore, the alpha power band at the prefrontal cortex will be used for the next analysis of the working memory retention.

scholarly journals Verbal Working Memory, Long-Term Knowledge, and Statistical Learning

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 340-345
Author(s):  
Satoru Saito ◽  
Masataka Nakayama ◽  
Yuki Tanida
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Serial Order ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Learning Mechanisms ◽  
Learning Techniques ◽  
Statistical Learning Techniques

Evidence supporting the idea that serial-order verbal working memory is underpinned by long-term knowledge has accumulated over more than half a century. Recent studies using natural-language statistics, artificial statistical-learning techniques, and the Hebb repetition paradigm have revealed multiple types of long-term knowledge underlying serial-order verbal working memory performance. These include (a) element-to-element association knowledge, which slowly accumulates through extensive exposure to an exemplar; (b) position–element knowledge, which is acquired through several encounters with an exemplar; and (c) whole-sequence knowledge, which is captured by the Hebb repetition paradigm and acquired rapidly with a few repetitions. Arguably, the first two are a basis for fluent and efficient language usage, and the third is a basis for vocabulary learning. Thus, statistical-learning mechanisms (and possibly episodic-learning mechanisms) may form the foundation of language acquisition and language processing, which characterize linguistic long-term knowledge for verbal working memory.

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