scholarly journals Neural markers of category-based selective working memory in aging

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert M Mok ◽  
M. Clare O'Donoghue ◽  
Nicholas E Myers ◽  
Erin H.S. Drazich ◽  
Anna Christina Nobre
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Memory Processing ◽  
Normal Cognitive Function ◽  
Psychophysiological Interaction ◽  
Relevant Category

Working memory (WM) is essential for normal cognitive function, but shows marked decline in aging. Studies have shown that the ability to attend selectively to relevant information amongst competing distractors is related to WM capacity. The extent to which WM deficits in aging are related to impairments in selective attention is unclear. To investigate the neural mechanisms supporting selective attention in WM in aging, we tested a large group of older adults using functional magnetic resonance imaging whilst they performed a category-based (faces/houses) selective-WM task. Older adults were able to use attention to encode targets and suppress distractors to reach high levels of task performance. A subsequent, surprise recognition-memory task showed strong consequences of selective attention. Attended items in the relevant category were recognised significantly better than items in the ignored category. Neural measures also showed reliable markers of selective attention during WM. Purported control regions including the dorsolateral and inferior prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortex were reliably recruited for attention to both categories. Activation levels in category-sensitive visual cortex showed reliable modulation according to attentional demands, and positively correlated with subsequent memory measures of attention and WM span. Psychophysiological interaction analyses showed that activity in category-sensitive areas were coupled with non-sensory cortex known to be involved in cognitive control and memory processing, including regions in the PFC and hippocampus. In summary, we found that brain mechanisms of attention for selective WM are relatively preserved in aging, and individual differences in these abilities corresponded to the degree of attention-related modulation in the brain.

Interactions Between Visual Working Memory and Selective Attention

2000 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 467-473 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul E. Downing
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Opposite Pattern ◽  
Sample Object ◽  
Probe Task ◽  
Specific Prediction ◽  
Memory Contents

The relationship between working memory and selective attention has traditionally been discussed as operating in one direction: Attention filters incoming information, allowing only relevant information into short-term processing stores. This study tested the prediction that the contents of visual working memory also influence the guidance of selective attention. Participants held a sample object in working memory on each trial. Two objects, one matching the sample and the other novel, were then presented simultaneously. As measured by a probe task, attention shifted to the object matching the sample. This effect generalized across object type, attentional-probe task, and working memory task. In contrast, a matched task with no memory requirement showed the opposite pattern, demonstrating that this effect is not simply due to exposure to the sample. These results confirm a specific prediction about the influence of working memory contents on the guidance of attention.

Holding On to the Past: Older Adults Show Lingering Neural Activation of No-Longer-Relevant Items in Working Memory

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (10) ◽  
pp. 1946-1962 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer C. Weeks ◽  
Cheryl L. Grady ◽  
Lynn Hasher ◽  
Bradley R. Buchsbaum
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Delay Interval ◽  
Medial Temporal Lobe ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Specific Pattern ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Neural Activation ◽  
Task Goals

Goal-relevant information can be maintained in working memory over a brief delay interval to guide an upcoming decision. There is also evidence suggesting the existence of a complementary process: namely, the ability to suppress information that is no longer relevant to ongoing task goals. Moreover, this ability to suppress or inhibit irrelevant information appears to decline with age. In this study, we compared younger and older adults undergoing fMRI on a working memory task designed to address whether the modulation of neural representations of relevant and no-longer-relevant items during a delay interval is related to age and overall task performance. Following from the theoretical predictions of the inhibitory deficit hypothesis of aging, we hypothesized that older adults would show higher activation of no-longer-relevant items during a retention delay compared to young adults and that higher activation of these no-longer-relevant items would predict worse recognition memory accuracy for relevant items. Our results support this prediction and more generally demonstrate the importance of goal-driven modulation of neural activity in successful working memory maintenance. Furthermore, we showed that the largest age differences in the regulation of category-specific pattern activity during working memory maintenance were seen throughout the medial temporal lobe and prominently in the hippocampus, further establishing the importance of “long-term memory” retrieval mechanisms in the context of high-load working memory tasks that place large demands on attentional selection mechanisms.

scholarly journals Brain Changes Following Executive Control Training in Older Adults

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (10-11) ◽  
pp. 910-922 ◽  
Author(s):  
Areeba Adnan ◽  
Anthony J. W. Chen ◽  
Tatjana Novakovic-Agopian ◽  
Mark D’Esposito ◽  
Gary R. Turner
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Intervention Group ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Imaging Results ◽  
Brain Changes

Background. While older adults are able to attend to goal-relevant information, the capacity to ignore irrelevant or distracting information declines with advancing age. This decline in selective attention has been associated with poor modulation of brain activity in sensory cortices by anterior brain regions implicated in cognitive control. Objective. Here we investigated whether participation in an executive control training program would result in improved selective attention and associated functional brain changes in a sample of healthy older adults (N = 24, age 60-85 years). Methods. Participants were enrolled in a goal-oriented attentional self-regulation (GOALS) program (n = 11) or a brain health education workshop as an active control condition (n = 13). All participants performed a working memory task requiring attention to or suppression of visual stimuli based on goal-relevance during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Results. We observed a pattern of enhanced activity in right frontal, parietal and temporal brain regions from pre- to posttraining in the GOALS intervention group, which predicted the selectivity of subsequent memory for goal-relevant stimuli. Conclusions. Executive control training in older adults alters functional activity in brain regions associated with attentional control, and selectively predicts behavioral outcome.

Does Strategic Memory Training Improve the Working Memory Performance of Younger and Older Adults?

2007 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 311-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Carretti ◽  
Erika Borella ◽  
Rossana De Beni
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Memory Training ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Improved Performance ◽  
Strategic Training ◽  
Strategic Memory ◽  
Experimental Group

Abstract. The paper examines the effect of strategic training on the performance of younger and older adults in an immediate list-recall and a working memory task. The experimental groups of younger and older adults received three sessions of memory training, teaching the use of mental images to improve the memorization of word lists. In contrast, the control groups were not instructed to use any particular strategy, but they were requested to carry out the memory exercises. The results showed that strategic training improved performance of both the younger and older experimental groups in the immediate list recall and in the working memory task. Of particular interest, the improvement in working memory performance of the older experimental group was comparable to that of the younger experimental group.

scholarly journals Memory-Related Frontal Brainwaves Predict Transition to Mild Cognitive Impairment in Healthy Older Individuals Five Years Before Diagnosis

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Yang Jiang ◽  
Juan Li ◽  
Frederick A. Schmitt ◽  
Gregory A. Jicha ◽  
Nancy B. Munro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Cognitive Status ◽  
Older Individuals ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Differentiation Pattern

Background: Early prognosis of high-risk older adults for amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), using noninvasive and sensitive neuromarkers, is key for early prevention of Alzheimer’s disease. We have developed individualized measures in electrophysiological brain signals during working memory that distinguish patients with aMCI from age-matched cognitively intact older individuals. Objective: Here we test longitudinally the prognosis of the baseline neuromarkers for aMCI risk. We hypothesized that the older individuals diagnosed with incident aMCI already have aMCI-like brain signatures years before diagnosis. Methods: Electroencephalogram (EEG) and memory performance were recorded during a working memory task at baseline. The individualized baseline neuromarkers, annual cognitive status, and longitudinal changes in memory recall scores up to 10 years were analyzed. Results: Seven of the 19 cognitively normal older adults were diagnosed with incident aMCI for a median 5.2 years later. The seven converters’ frontal brainwaves were statistically identical to those patients with diagnosed aMCI (n = 14) at baseline. Importantly, the converters’ baseline memory-related brainwaves (reduced mean frontal responses to memory targets) were significantly different from those who remained normal. Furthermore, differentiation pattern of left frontal memory-related responses (targets versus nontargets) was associated with an increased risk hazard of aMCI (HR = 1.47, 95% CI 1.03, 2.08). Conclusion: The memory-related neuromarkers detect MCI-like brain signatures about five years before diagnosis. The individualized frontal neuromarkers index increased MCI risk at baseline. These noninvasive neuromarkers during our Bluegrass memory task have great potential to be used repeatedly for individualized prognosis of MCI risk and progression before clinical diagnosis.

scholarly journals Negative Effects of Embodiment in a Visuo-Spatial Working Memory Task in Children, Young Adults, and Older Adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianluca Amico ◽  
Sabine Schaefer
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Negative Effects

Studies examining the effect of embodied cognition have shown that linking one’s body movements to a cognitive task can enhance performance. The current study investigated whether concurrent walking while encoding or recalling spatial information improves working memory performance, and whether 10-year-old children, young adults, or older adults (Mage = 72 years) are affected differently by embodiment. The goal of the Spatial Memory Task was to encode and recall sequences of increasing length by reproducing positions of target fields in the correct order. The nine targets were positioned in a random configuration on a large square carpet (2.5 m × 2.5 m). During encoding and recall, participants either did not move, or they walked into the target fields. In a within-subjects design, all possible combinations of encoding and recall conditions were tested in counterbalanced order. Contrary to our predictions, moving particularly impaired encoding, but also recall. These negative effects were present in all age groups, but older adults’ memory was hampered even more strongly by walking during encoding and recall. Our results indicate that embodiment may not help people to memorize spatial information, but can create a dual-task situation instead.

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.

scholarly journals Working memory training in older adults: COMT Val158Met modulates the transfer of benefits in a virtual reality working memory task

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (S10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnaud Boujut ◽  
Samira Mellah ◽  
Lynn Valeyry Verty ◽  
Samantha Maltezos ◽  
Maxime Lussier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Working Memory Training ◽  
Memory Training ◽  
Comt Val158met

scholarly journals Perturbing Neural Representations of Working Memory with Task-irrelevant Interruption

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 558-569 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Hakim ◽  
Tobias Feldmann-Wüstefeld ◽  
Edward Awh ◽  
Edward K. Vogel
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
Neural Signals ◽  
Neural Representations ◽  
Contralateral Delay Activity ◽  
The Face ◽  
Task Irrelevant ◽  
The Impact

Working memory maintains information so that it can be used in complex cognitive tasks. A key challenge for this system is to maintain relevant information in the face of task-irrelevant perturbations. Across two experiments, we investigated the impact of task-irrelevant interruptions on neural representations of working memory. We recorded EEG activity in humans while they performed a working memory task. On a subset of trials, we interrupted participants with salient but task-irrelevant objects. To track the impact of these task-irrelevant interruptions on neural representations of working memory, we measured two well-characterized, temporally sensitive EEG markers that reflect active, prioritized working memory representations: the contralateral delay activity and lateralized alpha power (8–12 Hz). After interruption, we found that contralateral delay activity amplitude momentarily sustained but was gone by the end of the trial. Lateralized alpha power was immediately influenced by the interrupters but recovered by the end of the trial. This suggests that dissociable neural processes contribute to the maintenance of working memory information and that brief irrelevant onsets disrupt two distinct online aspects of working memory. In addition, we found that task expectancy modulated the timing and magnitude of how these two neural signals responded to task-irrelevant interruptions, suggesting that the brain's response to task-irrelevant interruption is shaped by task context.

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