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.

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 A novel paradigm for assessing olfactory working memory capacity in mice

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Geng-Di Huang ◽  
Li-Xin Jiang ◽  
Feng Su ◽  
Hua-Li Wang ◽  
Chen Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Young Adult ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Rule Learning ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Average Error ◽  
Mice Model ◽  
Percent Correct

AbstractA decline in working memory (WM) capacity is suggested to be one of the earliest symptoms observed in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Although WM capacity is widely studied in healthy subjects and neuropsychiatric patients, few tasks are developed to measure this variation in rodents. The present study describes a novel olfactory working memory capacity (OWMC) task, which assesses the ability of mice to remember multiple odours. The task was divided into five phases: context adaptation, digging training, rule-learning for non-matching to a single-sample odour (NMSS), rule-learning for non-matching to multiple sample odours (NMMS) and capacity testing. During the capacity-testing phase, the WM capacity (number of odours that the mice could remember) remained stable (average capacity ranged from 6.11 to 7.00) across different testing sessions in C57 mice. As the memory load increased, the average errors of each capacity level increased and the percent correct gradually declined to chance level, which suggested a limited OWMC in C57 mice. Then, we assessed the OWMC of 5 × FAD transgenic mice, an animal model of AD. We found that the performance displayed no significant differences between young adult (3-month-old) 5 × FAD mice and wild-type (WT) mice during the NMSS phase and NMMS phase; however, during the capacity test with increasing load, we found that the OWMC of young adult 5 × FAD mice was significantly decreased compared with WT mice, and the average error was significantly increased while the percent correct was significantly reduced, which indicated an impairment of WM capacity at the early stage of AD in the 5 × FAD mice model. Finally, we found that FOS protein levels in the medial prefrontal cortex and entorhinal cortex after the capacity test were significantly lower in 5 × FAD than WT mice. In conclusion, we developed a novel paradigm to assess the capacity of olfactory WM in mice, and we found that OWMC was impaired in the early stage of AD.

The role of working memory capacity in analytic and multiply-constrained problem-solving in demanding situations

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (6) ◽  
pp. 920-928
Author(s):  
Derek M Ellis ◽  
B Hunter Ball ◽  
Nicole Kimpton ◽  
Gene A Brewer
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Item Difficulty ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Working Memory Load ◽  
Memory Processes ◽  
Constrained Problem

Working memory processes are important for analytic problem-solving; however, their role in multiply-constrained problem-solving is currently debated. This study explored individual differences in working memory and successful completion of analytic and multiply-constrained problem-solving by having participants solve algebra and compound remote associate (CRAT) problems of varying difficulty under low and high memory demand conditions. Working memory was predictive of both algebra and multiply-constrained problem-solving. Specifically, participants with high working memory solved more problems than those with low working. Memory load did not differentially affect performance for low and high working memory participants. However, for multiply-constrained problem-solving the effect of item difficulty was more detrimental for high-span participants than low-span participants. Together, these findings suggest that working memory processes are important for both types of problem-solving and that participants with low working memory capacity may need to offload internal memory demands onto the environment to efficiently solve problems.

scholarly journals Intensive Working Memory Training Produces Functional Changes in Large-scale Frontoparietal Networks

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 575-588 ◽  
Author(s):  
Todd W. Thompson ◽  
Michael L. Waskom ◽  
John D. E. Gabrieli
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Neural Systems ◽  
Control Network ◽  
Working Memory Load ◽  
Executive Control Network

Working memory is central to human cognition, and intensive cognitive training has been shown to expand working memory capacity in a given domain. It remains unknown, however, how the neural systems that support working memory are altered through intensive training to enable the expansion of working memory capacity. We used fMRI to measure plasticity in activations associated with complex working memory before and after 20 days of training. Healthy young adults were randomly assigned to train on either a dual n-back working memory task or a demanding visuospatial attention task. Training resulted in substantial and task-specific expansion of dual n-back abilities accompanied by changes in the relationship between working memory load and activation. Training differentially affected activations in two large-scale frontoparietal networks thought to underlie working memory: the executive control network and the dorsal attention network. Activations in both networks linearly scaled with working memory load before training, but training dissociated the role of the two networks and eliminated this relationship in the executive control network. Load-dependent functional connectivity both within and between these two networks increased following training, and the magnitudes of increased connectivity were positively correlated with improvements in task performance. These results provide insight into the adaptive neural systems that underlie large gains in working memory capacity through training.

EXPRESS: Bored, distracted and forgetful – The impact of mind wandering and boredom on memory encoding

2021 ◽  
pp. 174702182110263
Author(s):  
Philippe Blondé ◽  
Marco Sperduti ◽  
Dominique Makowski ◽  
Pascale Piolino
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Load Condition ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Mind Wandering ◽  
Memory Encoding ◽  
Working Memory Load ◽  
Thought Probes ◽  
The Impact

Mind wandering, defined as focusing attention toward task unrelated thoughts, is a common mental state known to impair memory encoding. This phenomenon is closely linked to boredom. Very few studies, however, have tested the potential impact of boredom on memory encoding. Thus, the present study aimed at manipulating mind wandering and boredom during an incidental memory encoding task, to test their differential impact on memory encoding. Thirty-two participants performed a variant of the n-back task in which they had to indicate if the current on-screen object was the same as the previous one (1-back; low working memory load) or the one presented three trials before (3-back; high working memory load). Moreover, thought probes assessing either mind wandering or boredom were randomly presented. Afterward, a surprise recognition task was delivered. Results showed that mind wandering and boredom were highly correlated, and both decreased in the high working memory load condition, while memory performance increased. Although both boredom and mind wandering predicted memory performance taken separately, we found that mind wandering was the only reliable predictor of memory performance when controlling for boredom and working memory load. Model comparisons also revealed that a model with boredom only was outperformed by a model with mind wandering only and a model with both mind wandering and boredom, suggesting that the predictive contribution of boredom in the complete model is minimal. The present results confirm the high correlation between mind wandering and boredom and suggest that the hindering effect of boredom on memory is subordinate to the effect of mind wandering.

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