scholarly journals Common capacity‐limited neural mechanisms of selective attention and spatial working memory encoding

2011 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 827-838 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabian Fusser ◽  
David E. J. Linden ◽  
Benjamin Rahm ◽  
Harald Hampel ◽  
Corinna Haenschel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Memory Encoding

Distinct profiles of stimulus specific cortical activity for ignoring distraction during working memory encoding and maintenance, and associations with performance

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Ashton ◽  
André Gouws ◽  
Marcus Glennon ◽  
THEODORE ZANTO ◽  
Steve Tipper ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Cortical Activity ◽  
Irrelevant Information ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Memory Encoding ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Short Time

Abstract Our ability to hold information in mind for a short time (working memory) is separately predicted by our ability to ignore two types of distraction: distraction that occurs while we put information into working memory (encoding) and distraction that occurs while we maintain already encoded information within working memory. This suggests that ignoring these different types of distraction involves distinct mechanisms which separately limit performance. Here we used fMRI to measure category-sensitive cortical activity and probe these mechanisms. The results reveal specific neural mechanisms by which relevant information is remembered and irrelevant information is ignored, which contribute to intra-individual differences in WM performance.

The Role of Spatial Selective Attention in Working Memory for Locations: Evidence from Event-Related Potentials

2000 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 840-847 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Awh ◽  
Lourdes Anllo-Vento ◽  
Steven A. Hillyard
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Stimulus Display ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
On Line ◽  
Multichannel Recordings

We investigated the hypothesis that the covert focusing of spatial attention mediates the on-line maintenance of location information in spatial working memory. During the delay period of a spatial working-memory task, behaviorally irrelevant probe stimuli were flashed at both memorized and nonmemorized locations. Multichannel recordings of event-related potentials (ERPs) were used to assess visual processing of the probes at the different locations. Consistent with the hypothesis of attention-based rehearsal, early ERP components were enlarged in response to probes that appeared at memorized locations. These visual modulations were similar in latency and topography to those observed after explicit manipulations of spatial selective attention in a parallel experimental condition that employed an identical stimulus display.

scholarly journals Neural Bases of Human Working Memory

2000 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward E. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Rhesus Monkeys ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Neural System ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Positron Emission ◽  
Neural Bases ◽  
Substantial Effort ◽  
Neuroimaging Techniques

Working memory is the memory system that allows us to briefly keep information active, often so we can operate on it. Studies with rhesus monkeys first established that this system is partly mediated by neural mechanisms in the pre-frontal cortex. Recently, there has been a substantial effort to study the neural bases of working memory in humans, using neuroimaging techniques such as positron emission tomography and functional magnetic resonance imaging. Some of the initial neuroimaging studies with humans focused on the neural mechanisms that mediate our ability to keep spatial information active. These results indicated that human spatial working memory is partly mediated by regions in parietal and prefrontal cortex. Subsequent research has shown that a different neural system is involved when people store object (rather than spatial) information, a difference similar to that found in monkeys.

Neural correlates of visuo-spatial working memory encoding—An EEG study

2011 ◽  
Vol 500 (2) ◽  
pp. 118-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Hönegger ◽  
Christoph Atteneder ◽  
Birgit Griesmayr ◽  
Elisa Holz ◽  
Emily Weber ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Memory Encoding

scholarly journals Human parietal cortex lesions impact the precision of spatial working memory

2016 ◽  
Vol 116 (3) ◽  
pp. 1049-1054 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wayne E. Mackey ◽  
Orrin Devinsky ◽  
Werner K. Doyle ◽  
John G. Golfinos ◽  
Clayton E. Curtis
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Parietal Cortex ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Great Sensitivity ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Visually Guided ◽  
Visuomotor Processing ◽  
Relationship Of

The neural mechanisms that support working memory (WM) depend on persistent neural activity. Within topographically organized maps of space in dorsal parietal cortex, spatially selective neural activity persists during WM for location. However, to date, the necessity of these topographic subregions of human parietal cortex for WM remains unknown. To test the causal relationship of these areas to WM, we compared the performance of patients with lesions to topographically organized parietal cortex with those of controls on a memory-guided saccade (MGS) task as well as a visually guided saccade (VGS) task. The MGS task allowed us to measure WM precision continuously with great sensitivity, whereas the VGS task allowed us to control for any deficits in general spatial or visuomotor processing. Compared with controls, patients generated memory-guided saccades that were significantly slower and less accurate, whereas visually guided saccades were unaffected. These results provide key missing evidence for the causal role of topographic areas in human parietal cortex for WM, as well as the neural mechanisms supporting WM.

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