Contributions of the Prefrontal Cortex and Basal Ganglia to Set Shifting

2002 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 472-483 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan M. Ravizza ◽  
Michael A. Ciranni
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Cognitive Deficits ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Response Competition ◽  
Set Shifting ◽  
Working Memory Load ◽  
Younger Adults

Impairments of set shifting have been associated with damage to both the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and to the basal ganglia. The purpose of these experiments was to determine whether damage to the PFC was associated with shifting impairments per se or whether any switching deficits could be attributed to a reduction of working memory capacity. In contrast, shifting impairments were expected for Parkinson patients regardless of memory load, given that these patients seem to have no cognitive deficits other than when having to shift set. To vary working memory demands, a cue to the relevant dimension (letter or shape) in an odd-man-out task was presented or withheld. Pathology to prefrontal areas associated with normal aging was not linked to shifting deficits when working memory load was reduced in a comparison of older and younger adults (Experiment 1). In contrast, set-shifting abilities were still impaired for stroke patients with prefrontal damage regardless of working memory demands (Experiment 2). Parkinson patients were relatively unimpaired on this task (Experiment 2), but began to display shifting deficits when response competition was present in the display (Experiment 3).

scholarly journals Learning to suppress a distractor is not affected by working memory load

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ya Gao ◽  
Jan Theeuwes
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
High Probability ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Automatic Process ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Working Memory Load ◽  
Statistical Regularities

AbstractWhere and what we attend to is not only determined by our current goals but also by what we have encountered in the past. Recent studies have shown that people learn to extract statistical regularities in the environment resulting in attentional suppression of high-probability distractor locations, effectively reducing capture by a distractor. Here, we asked whether this statistical learning is dependent on working memory resources. The additional singleton task in which one location was more likely to contain a distractor was combined with a concurrent visual working memory task (Experiment 1) and a spatial working memory task (Experiment 2). The result showed that learning to suppress this high-probability location was not at all affected by working memory load. We conclude that learning to suppress a location is an implicit and automatic process that does not rely on visual or spatial working memory capacity, nor on executive control resources. We speculate that extracting regularities from the environment likely relies on long-term memory processes.

Working Memory Load Selectively Influences Response Inhibition in a Stop Signal Task

2020 ◽  
pp. 003329412092827
Author(s):  
Leanne Boucher ◽  
Brandi Viparina ◽  
W. Matthew Collins
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Reaction Time ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Stop Signal ◽  
Stop Signal Task ◽  
Working Memory Load ◽  
Stop Signal Reaction Time ◽  
Load Conditions

Inhibitory control is a key executive function and has been studied extensively using the stop signal task. By applying a simple race model that posits an independent race between a GO process responsible for initiation of responses and a STOP process responsible for inhibition of responses, one can estimate how long it takes an individual to inhibit an ongoing response, the stop signal reaction time. Here, we examined how stop signal reaction time can be affected by working memory. Participants engaged in a dual task; they completed a stop signal task under low and high working memory load conditions. Working memory capacity was also measured. We found that the STOP process was lengthened in the high, compared to the low, working memory load condition, as evidenced by differences in stop signal reaction time. The GO process was unaffected and working memory capacity could not account for differences across the load conditions. These results indicate that inhibitory control can be influenced by placing demands on working memory.

scholarly journals Working Memory Capacity and Visual–Verbal Cognitive Load Modulate Auditory–Sensory Gating in the Brainstem: Toward a Unified View of Attention

2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (11) ◽  
pp. 2147-2154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrik Sörqvist ◽  
Stefan Stenfelt ◽  
Jerker Rönnberg
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Load Condition ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Working Memory Load ◽  
Central Domain ◽  
Brainstem Response ◽  
Unified View

Two fundamental research questions have driven attention research in the past: One concerns whether selection of relevant information among competing, irrelevant, information takes place at an early or at a late processing stage; the other concerns whether the capacity of attention is limited by a central, domain-general pool of resources or by independent, modality-specific pools. In this article, we contribute to these debates by showing that the auditory-evoked brainstem response (an early stage of auditory processing) to task-irrelevant sound decreases as a function of central working memory load (manipulated with a visual–verbal version of the n-back task). Furthermore, individual differences in central/domain-general working memory capacity modulated the magnitude of the auditory-evoked brainstem response, but only in the high working memory load condition. The results support a unified view of attention whereby the capacity of a late/central mechanism (working memory) modulates early precortical sensory processing.

scholarly journals Effects of Working Memory Load and Age on the Comprehension of Passive Sentences

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Xinmiao Liu
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Matching Task ◽  
Age Difference ◽  
Working Memory Load ◽  
Cognitive Changes ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Passive Sentence

The ability of older adults to comprehend sentences may decline due to the cognitive changes in working memory. Therefore, an increase in working memory demands during sentence comprehension would result in poorer performance among older adults. To test this hypothesis, the present study explored sentence comprehension as a result of manipulations of age and working memory loads using a sentence-picture matching task. 35 older adults and 35 younger adults were required to match Mandarin passive sentences (high working memory load) and active sentences (low working memory load) with pictures. Passive sentences were found to be more difficult than active sentences for all participants. Older adults responded to passive sentences more slowly than younger adults. However, no significant age difference was found in accuracy of responses. Accuracy on passive sentence comprehension was marginally correlated with syntactic complexity effect among older adults. Compared with younger adults, older adults seem to be more disrupted by the increased WM load in passive sentence comprehension, but they can compensate for the decline in the accuracy of comprehension by spending extra time on sentences with high WM load.

scholarly journals Tic Toc: How working memory load affects intelligence test performance under different time constraints

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna-Lena Schubert ◽  
Christoph Löffler ◽  
Johanna Hein ◽  
Pauline Schröer ◽  
Antonia Teuber ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Intelligence Test ◽  
Time Constraints ◽  
Working Memory Load ◽  
Causal Nature ◽  
The Relationship

There is a broad consensus that individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) are strongly related to individual differences in intelligence. However, correlational studies do not allow conclusions about the causal nature of the relationship between WMC and fluid intelligence. While research on the cognitive basis of intelligence typically assumes that simpler lower-level cognitive processes contribute to individual differences in higher-order reasoning processes, a reversed causality or a third variable giving rise to two intrinsically uncorrelated variables may exist. In the present study, we investigated the causal nature of the relationship between WMC and intelligence by assessing the experimental effect of working memory load on intelligence test performance. Moreover, we tested if the effect of working memory load on intelligence test performance increased under time constraints, as previous studies have shown that the association between the two constructs increases if intelligence tests are administered with a strict time limit. We show in a sample of 65 participants that working memory load impaired intelligence test performance, but that this experimental effect was not affected by time constraints, which suggests that the experimental manipulations of working memory capacity and processing time did not affect the same underlying cognitive process. Our results confirm that WMC causally contributes to higher-order reasoning processes. Remarkably, we found that the introduction of time constraints completely nullified the advantage of more intelligent participants in matrix reasoning test performance, which emphasizes the role of processing speed as an elementary cognitive process parameter underlying individual differences in intelligence.

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