scholarly journals Visual working memory representations in visual and parietal cortex do not remap after eye movements

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tao He ◽  
Matthias Ekman ◽  
Annelinde R.E. Vandenbroucke ◽  
Floris P. de Lange
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Eye Movements ◽  
Visual Field ◽  
Visual System ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Parietal Cortex ◽  
List Type ◽  
Early Visual Cortex

ABSTRACTIt has been suggested that our visual system does not only process stimuli that are directly available to our eyes, but also has a role in maintaining information in VWM over a period of seconds. It remains unclear however what happens to VWM representations in the visual system when we make saccades. Here, we tested the hypothesis that VWM representations are remapped within the visual system after making saccades. We directly compared the content of VWM for saccade and no-saccade conditions using MVPA of delay-related activity measured with fMRI. We found that when participants did not make a saccade, VWM representations were robustly present in contralateral early visual cortex. When making a saccade, VWM representations degraded in contralateral V1-V3 after the saccade shifted the location of the remembered grating to the opposite visual field. However, contrary to our hypothesis we found no evidence for the representations of the remembered grating at the saccadic target location in the opposite visual field, suggesting that there is no evidence for remapping of VWM in early visual cortex. Interestingly, IPS showed persistent VWM representations in both the saccade and no-saccade condition. Together, our results indicate that VWM representations in early visual cortex are not remapped across eye movements, potentially limiting the role of early visual cortex in VWM storage.HighlightsVisual working memory (VWM) representations do not remap after making saccadesEye movement degrade VWM representations in early visual cortex, limiting the role of early visual cortex in VWM storageParietal cortex shows persistent VWM representations across saccades

scholarly journals Anatomy of early visual cortex predicts visual working memory capacity

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 1349-1349
Author(s):  
J. Bergmann ◽  
E. Genc ◽  
A. Kohler ◽  
W. Singer ◽  
J. Pearson
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Early Visual Cortex

scholarly journals The Neural Codes Underlying Internally Generated Representations in Visual Working Memory

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Qing Yu ◽  
Bradley R. Postle
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Neural Representation ◽  
Delayed Recall ◽  
Early Visual Cortex ◽  
Memory Representations ◽  
Internal Sources ◽  
Scaling Analyses

Abstract Humans can construct rich subjective experience even when no information is available in the external world. Here, we investigated the neural representation of purely internally generated stimulus-like information during visual working memory. Participants performed delayed recall of oriented gratings embedded in noise with varying contrast during fMRI scanning. Their trialwise behavioral responses provided an estimate of their mental representation of the to-be-reported orientation. We used multivariate inverted encoding models to reconstruct the neural representations of orientation in reference to the response. We found that response orientation could be successfully reconstructed from activity in early visual cortex, even on 0% contrast trials when no orientation information was actually presented, suggesting the existence of a purely internally generated neural code in early visual cortex. In addition, cross-generalization and multidimensional scaling analyses demonstrated that information derived from internal sources was represented differently from typical working memory representations, which receive influences from both external and internal sources. Similar results were also observed in intraparietal sulcus, with slightly different cross-generalization patterns. These results suggest a potential mechanism for how externally driven and internally generated information is maintained in working memory.

scholarly journals The limited contribution of early visual cortex in visual working memory for surface roughness

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Munendo Fujimichi ◽  
Hiroki Yamamoto ◽  
Jun Saiki
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Visual Representations ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Early Visual Cortex ◽  
Roughness Discrimination ◽  
Visual Properties

Are visual representations in the human early visual cortex necessary for visual working memory (VWM)? Previous studies suggest that VWM is underpinned by distributed representations across several brain regions, including the early visual cortex. Notably, in these studies, participants had to memorize images under consistent visual conditions. However, in our daily lives, we must retain the essential visual properties of objects despite changes in illumination or viewpoint. The role of brain regions—particularly the early visual cortices—in these situations remains unclear. The present study investigated whether the early visual cortex was essential for achieving stable VWM. Focusing on VWM for object surface properties, we conducted fMRI experiments while male and female participants performed a delayed roughness discrimination task in which sample and probe spheres were presented under varying illumination. By applying multi-voxel pattern analysis to brain activity in regions of interest, we found that the ventral visual cortex and intraparietal sulcus were involved in roughness VWM under changing illumination conditions. In contrast, VWM was not supported as robustly by the early visual cortex. These findings show that visual representations in the early visual cortex alone are insufficient for the robust roughness VWM representation required during changes in illumination.

scholarly journals Visual working memory and attention in early visual cortex

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 1091-1091
Author(s):  
S. Offen ◽  
D. Schluppeck ◽  
D. J. Heeger
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Memory And Attention ◽  
Early Visual Cortex

scholarly journals Population Dynamics of Early Visual Cortex during Working Memory

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masih Rahmati ◽  
Golbarg T. Saber ◽  
Clayton E. Curtis
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Parietal Cortex ◽  
Visual Stimulus ◽  
Visual Stimulation ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Population Activity ◽  
Early Visual Cortex

Although the content of working memory (WM) can be decoded from the spatial patterns of brain activity in early visual cortex, how populations encode WM representations remains unclear. Here, we address this limitation by using a model-based approach that reconstructs the feature encoded by population activity measured with fMRI. Using this approach, we could successfully reconstruct the locations of memory-guided saccade goals based on the pattern of activity in visual cortex during a memory delay. We could reconstruct the saccade goal even when we dissociated the visual stimulus from the saccade goal using a memory-guided antisaccade procedure. By comparing the spatiotemporal population dynamics, we find that the representations in visual cortex are stable but can also evolve from a representation of a remembered visual stimulus to a prospective goal. Moreover, because the representation of the antisaccade goal cannot be the result of bottom–up visual stimulation, it must be evoked by top–down signals presumably originating from frontal and/or parietal cortex. Indeed, we find that trial-by-trial fluctuations in delay period activity in frontal and parietal cortex correlate with the precision with which our model reconstructed the maintained saccade goal based on the pattern of activity in visual cortex. Therefore, the population dynamics in visual cortex encode WM representations, and these representations can be sculpted by top–down signals from frontal and parietal cortex.

scholarly journals Motor learning by selection in visual working memory

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilja Wagner ◽  
Christian Wolf ◽  
Alexander C. Schütz
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Eye Movements ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Movement Control ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Temporal Window ◽  
Optimal Movement ◽  
Saccade Adaptation

AbstractMotor adaptation maintains movement accuracy over the lifetime. Saccadic eye movements have been used successfully to study the mechanisms and neural basis of adaptation. Using behaviorally irrelevant targets, it has been shown that saccade adaptation is driven by errors only in a brief temporal interval after movement completion. However, under natural conditions, eye movements are used to extract information from behaviorally relevant objects and to guide actions manipulating these objects. In this case, the action outcome often becomes apparent only long after movement completion, outside the supposed temporal window of error evaluation. Here, we show that saccade adaptation can be driven by error signals long after the movement when using behaviorally relevant targets. Adaptation occurred when a task-relevant target appeared two seconds after the saccade, or when a retro-cue indicated which of two targets, stored in visual working memory, was task-relevant. Our results emphasize the important role of visual working memory for optimal movement control.

scholarly journals Evidence for, and challenges to, sensory recruitment models of visual working memory

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsten C. S. Adam ◽  
Rosanne L. Rademaker ◽  
John Serences
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Visual Memory ◽  
Memory Representation ◽  
Correct Color ◽  
Early Visual Cortex ◽  
Sensory Activity ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Sensory Recruitment

Visual working memory refers to the ability to temporarily hold information in mind in the service of behavior. Often, it is not sufficient to hold an abstract idea in mind to achieve our goals. Rather, we must maintain vivid sensory details. For example, when buying a spool of thread to repair a much-loved shirt, holding an abstract category in mind is not sufficient to buy the correct color (e.g. ‘blue’)—instead, you need a precise visual memory of the color (e.g., a particular gray-ish shade of blue). One proposal for how we maintain vivid, detailed information in mind is the sensory recruitment hypothesis. Sensory recruitment proposes that neural circuits already specialized for encoding sensory details during perception are likewise recruited to help maintain this information in working memory. In this review, we recount evidence that is consistent with a key role for early visual cortex in supporting visual working memory, we discuss key debates about the role of early sensory activity in supporting memory maintenance, and we outline a framework in which sensory codes are one part of a flexible, multi-level working memory representation.

scholarly journals Limited evidence of hierarchical encoding in the cheerleader effect

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel James Carragher ◽  
Nicole A Thomas ◽  
Scott Gwinn ◽  
Mike Nicholls
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual System ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Hierarchical Structure ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Limited Evidence ◽  
Hierarchical Encoding

“The cheerleader effect” refers to the increase in attractiveness that an individual face experiences when seen in a group of other faces. It has been proposed that the cheerleader effect occurs because (a) the visual system rapidly summarises a group of faces into an ensemble representation, (b) which is hypothesised to be highly attractive because of its average facial characteristics, and (c) observers remember individual faces to be more alike the ensemble representation than they were, due to hierarchical structure of visual working memory. Across three experiments, we investigated whether the cheerleader effect is consistent with hierarchical encoding, by asking observers to give attractiveness ratings to the same target faces shown in groups and alone. Consistent with hierarchical encoding, the largest attractiveness increases of 1.5 - 2.0% occurred when target faces were presented in groups of faces that could be mentally summarised to create an ensemble representation with average facial characteristics. Surprisingly, smaller cheerleader effects still occurred in conditions that were incompatible with hierarchical encoding (i.e., groups with non-human images). Together, these results offer only limited evidence for the role of hierarchical encoding in the cheerleader effect, suggesting that alternative mechanisms must be explored in future research.

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