scholarly journals EEG Cross-Frequency Phase Synchronization as an Index of Memory Matching in Visual Search

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Lena Biel ◽  
Tamas Minarik ◽  
Paul Sauseng
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Phase Synchronization ◽  
Time Window ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Early Time ◽  
Search Display ◽  
Gamma Activity ◽  
Frequency Phase ◽  
Multiple Templates

AbstractVisual perception is influenced by our expectancies about incoming sensory information. It is assumed that mental templates of expected sensory input are created and compared to actual input, which can be matching or not. When such mental templates are held in working memory, cross-frequency phase synchronization (CFS) between theta and gamma band activity has been proposed to serve matching processes between prediction and sensation. We investigated how this is affected by the number of activated templates that could be matched by comparing conditions where participants had to keep either one or multiple templates in mind for successful visual search. We found that memory matching appeared as transient CFS between EEG theta and gamma activity in an early time window around 150ms after search display presentation, in right hemispheric parietal cortex. Our results suggest that for single template conditions, stronger transient theta-gamma CFS at posterior sites contralateral to target presentation can be observed than for multiple templates. This lends evidence to the idea of sequential attentional templates and is understood in line with previous theoretical accounts strongly arguing for transient synchronization between posterior theta and gamma phase as a neuronal correlate of matching incoming sensory information with contents from working memory.

scholarly journals Cross-frequency synchronization connects networks of fast and slow oscillations during visual working memory maintenance

eLife ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix Siebenhühner ◽  
Sheng H Wang ◽  
J Matias Palva ◽  
Satu Palva
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Attentional Control ◽  
Phase Synchronization ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Gamma Oscillations ◽  
Frequency Synchronization ◽  
Neuronal Processing ◽  
Gamma Frequencies ◽  
Frequency Phase

Neuronal activity in sensory and fronto-parietal (FP) areas underlies the representation and attentional control, respectively, of sensory information maintained in visual working memory (VWM). Within these regions, beta/gamma phase-synchronization supports the integration of sensory functions, while synchronization in theta/alpha bands supports the regulation of attentional functions. A key challenge is to understand which mechanisms integrate neuronal processing across these distinct frequencies and thereby the sensory and attentional functions. We investigated whether such integration could be achieved by cross-frequency phase synchrony (CFS). Using concurrent magneto- and electroencephalography, we found that CFS was load-dependently enhanced between theta and alpha–gamma and between alpha and beta-gamma oscillations during VWM maintenance among visual, FP, and dorsal attention (DA) systems. CFS also connected the hubs of within-frequency-synchronized networks and its strength predicted individual VWM capacity. We propose that CFS integrates processing among synchronized neuronal networks from theta to gamma frequencies to link sensory and attentional functions.

scholarly journals Neural Dynamics of Cognitive Control over Working Memory Capture of Attention

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (7) ◽  
pp. 1079-1090 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter S. Whitehead ◽  
Mathilde M. Ooi ◽  
Tobias Egner ◽  
Marty G. Woldorff
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Attentional Capture ◽  
Search Display ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
High Temporal Resolution ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Attentional Orienting ◽  
Behavioral Studies

The contents of working memory (WM) guide visual attention toward matching features, with visual search being faster when the target and a feature of an item held in WM spatially overlap (validly cued) than when they occur at different locations (invalidly cued). Recent behavioral studies have indicated that attentional capture by WM content can be modulated by cognitive control: When WM cues are reliably helpful to visual search (predictably valid), capture is enhanced, but when reliably detrimental (predictably invalid), capture is attenuated. The neural mechanisms underlying this effect are not well understood, however. Here, we leveraged the high temporal resolution of ERPs time-locked to the onset of the search display to determine how and at what processing stage cognitive control modulates the search process. We manipulated predictability by grouping trials into unpredictable (50% valid/invalid) and predictable (100% valid, 100% invalid) blocks. Behavioral results confirmed that predictability modulated WM-related capture. Comparison of ERPs to the search arrays showed that the N2pc, a posteriorly distributed signature of initial attentional orienting toward a lateralized target, was not impacted by target validity predictability. However, a longer latency, more anterior, lateralized effect—here, termed the “contralateral attention-related negativity”—was reduced under predictable conditions. This reduction interacted with validity, with substantially greater reduction for invalid than valid trials. These data suggest cognitive control over attentional capture by WM content does not affect the initial attentional-orienting process but can reduce the need to marshal later control mechanisms for processing relevant items in the visual world.

scholarly journals EEG cross-frequency phase synchronization as an index of memory matching in visual search

NeuroImage ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 235 ◽  
pp. 117971
Author(s):  
Anna Lena Biel ◽  
Tamas Minarik ◽  
Paul Sauseng
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Phase Synchronization ◽  
Frequency Phase

Automatic Selection of Irrelevant Object Features Through Working Memory

2009 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 165-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Soto ◽  
Glyn W. Humphreys
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Search Display ◽  
Target Line ◽  
Search Performance ◽  
Distractor Object ◽  
Automatic Selection ◽  
Object Features ◽  
Selection Of

Recent research has shown that the contents of working memory (WM) can guide the early deployment of attention in visual search. Here, we assessed whether this guidance occurred for all attributes of items held in WM, or whether effects are based on just the attributes relevant for the memory task. We asked observers to hold in memory just the shape of a coloured object and to subsequently search for a target line amongst distractor lines, each embedded within a different object. On some trials, one of the objects in the search display could match the shape, the colour or both dimensions of the cue, but this object never contained the relevant target line. Relative to a neutral baseline, where there was no match between the memory and the search displays, search performance was impaired when a distractor object matched both the colour and the shape of the memory cue. The implications for the understanding of the interaction between WM and selection are discussed.

scholarly journals Multivariate analysis of EEG activity indexes contingent and non-contingent attentional capture

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaap Munneke ◽  
Johannes Fahrenfort ◽  
David Sutterer ◽  
Jan Theeuwes ◽  
Edward Awh
Keyword(s):  
Multivariate Analysis ◽  
Attentional Capture ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Time Window ◽  
Early Time ◽  
Search Display ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
Attentional Orienting ◽  
Alpha Band ◽  
Eeg Activity

AbstractIt is well known that salient yet irrelevant singleton can capture attention, even when this is inconsistent with the current goals of the observer (Theeuwes, 1992; 2010). Others however have claimed that capture is critically contingent on the goals of the observer: Capture is strongly modulated (or even eliminated) when the irrelevant singleton does not match the target-defining properties (Folk, Remington, & Johnston, 1992). There has been a long-standing debate on whether attentional capture can be explained by goal-driven and/or stimulus-driven accounts. Here, we shed further light on this phenomenon by using EEG activity (raw EEG and alpha power) to provide a time-resolved index of attentional orienting. Participants searched for a target defined by a pre-specified color. The search display was preceded by a singleton cue that either matched the color of the upcoming target (contingent cues), or that appeared in an irrelevant color (non-contingent cues). Multivariate analysis of raw EEG and alpha power revealed preferential tuning to the location of both contingent and non-contingent cues, with a stronger bias towards contingent than non-contingent cues. The time course of these effects, however, depended on the neural signal. Raw EEG data revealed attentional orienting towards the cue early on in the trial (>156 ms), while alpha power revealed sustained spatial selection in the cued locations at a later moment in the trial (>250 ms). Moreover, while raw EEG showed stronger capture by contingent cues during this early time window, the advantage for contingent cues arose during a later time window in alpha band activity. Thus, our findings suggest that raw EEG activity and alpha-band power tap into distinct neural processes that index movements of covert spatial attention. Both signals provide clear neural evidence that both contingent and non-contingent cues can capture attention, and that this process is robustly shaped by the target-defining properties in the current block of trials.

scholarly journals Greater discrimination difficulty during perceptual learning leads to stronger and more distinct representations

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vencislav Popov ◽  
Lynne Reder
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Perceptual Learning ◽  
Prior Knowledge ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Search Display ◽  
False Alarms ◽  
Specific Character ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
Search Training

Despite the conventional wisdom that it is more difficult to find a target among similar distractors, this study demonstrates that the advantage of searching for a target among dissimilar distractors is short-lived, and that high target-to-distractor (TD) similarity during visual search training can have beneficial effects for learning. Participants with no prior knowledge of Chinese performed 12 hour-long sessions over 4 weeks, where they had to find a briefly presented target character among a set of distractors. At the beginning of the experiment, high TD similarity hurt performance, but the effect reversed during the first session and remained positive throughout the remaining sessions. This effect was due primarily to reducing false alarms on trials in which the target was absent from the search display. In addition, making an error on a trial with a specific character was associated with slower visual search RTs on the subsequent repetition of the character, suggesting that participants paid more attention in encoding the characters after false alarms. Finally, the benefit of high TD similarity during visual search training transferred to a subsequent n-back working memory task. These results suggest that greater discrimination difficulty likely induces stronger and more distinct representations of each character.

Visual Search Facilitation in Repeated Displays Depends on Visuospatial Working Memory

2012 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela A. Manginelli ◽  
Franziska Geringswald ◽  
Stefan Pollmann
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Control Experiment ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Contextual Cueing ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Visuospatial Working Memory ◽  
Working Memory Load ◽  
Memory Resources

When distractor configurations are repeated over time, visual search becomes more efficient, even if participants are unaware of the repetition. This contextual cueing is a form of incidental, implicit learning. One might therefore expect that contextual cueing does not (or only minimally) rely on working memory resources. This, however, is debated in the literature. We investigated contextual cueing under either a visuospatial or a nonspatial (color) visual working memory load. We found that contextual cueing was disrupted by the concurrent visuospatial, but not by the color working memory load. A control experiment ruled out that unspecific attentional factors of the dual-task situation disrupted contextual cueing. Visuospatial working memory may be needed to match current display items with long-term memory traces of previously learned displays.

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