Oscillatory Correlates of Control over Working Memory Gating and Updating: An EEG Study Using the Reference-back Paradigm

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (12) ◽  
pp. 1870-1882 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Rac-Lubashevsky ◽  
Yoav Kessler
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Control Process ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Relative Increase ◽  
Delta Power ◽  
Control Functions ◽  
Gate Opening ◽  
Oscillatory Eeg ◽  
Delta Oscillations

Optimal working memory (WM) functioning depends on a control mechanism that balances between maintenance and updating by closing or opening the gate to WM, respectively. Here, we examined the neural oscillation correlates of WM updating and of the control processes involved in gating. The reference-back paradigm was employed to manipulate gate opening, gate closing, and updating independently and examine how the control functions involved in these processes are mapped to oscillatory EEG activity. The results established that different oscillatory patterns were associated with the control process related to gate opening than in gate closing. During the time of gate closing, a relative increase in theta power was observed over midfrontal electrodes. This theta response is a known EEG signature of cognitive control that is proposed here to reflect reactive conflict resolution, achieved by closing the gate when facing irrelevant information. On the other hand, proactive gate opening in preparation for relevant information was associated with an increase in relative delta power over parietal-occipital electrodes. Finally, WM updating was associated with relative increase in delta power over midfrontal electrodes, suggesting a functional role of delta oscillations in WM updating.

scholarly journals The effect of visual salience on memory-based choices

2014 ◽  
Vol 111 (3) ◽  
pp. 481-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arezoo Pooresmaeili ◽  
Dominik R. Bach ◽  
Raymond J. Dolan
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Visual Selective Attention ◽  
Visual Salience ◽  
Perceptual Decision Making ◽  
Capacity Limitations ◽  
Course Of Action ◽  
Task Irrelevant

Deciding whether a stimulus is the “same” or “different” from a previous presented one involves integrating among the incoming sensory information, working memory, and perceptual decision making. Visual selective attention plays a crucial role in selecting the relevant information that informs a subsequent course of action. Previous studies have mainly investigated the role of visual attention during the encoding phase of working memory tasks. In this study, we investigate whether manipulation of bottom-up attention by changing stimulus visual salience impacts on later stages of memory-based decisions. In two experiments, we asked subjects to identify whether a stimulus had either the same or a different feature to that of a memorized sample. We manipulated visual salience of the test stimuli by varying a task-irrelevant feature contrast. Subjects chose a visually salient item more often when they looked for matching features and less often so when they looked for a nonmatch. This pattern of results indicates that salient items are more likely to be identified as a match. We interpret the findings in terms of capacity limitations at a comparison stage where a visually salient item is more likely to exhaust resources leading it to be prematurely parsed as a match.

scholarly journals Neural Substrates of Working Memory Updating

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (12) ◽  
pp. 2285-2302
Author(s):  
Gal Nir-Cohen ◽  
Yoav Kessler ◽  
Tobias Egner
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Posterior Parietal Cortex ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Sensory Cortex ◽  
Face Area ◽  
Gating Model ◽  
Gate Opening ◽  
Gating Mechanism ◽  
Current Content ◽  
Face Stimuli

Working memory (WM) needs to protect current content from interference and simultaneously be amenable to rapid updating with newly relevant information. An influential model suggests these opposing requirements are met via a BG–thalamus gating mechanism that allows for selective updating of PFC WM representations. A large neuroimaging literature supports the general involvement of PFC, BG, and thalamus, as well as posterior parietal cortex, in WM. However, the specific functional contributions of these regions to key subprocesses of WM updating, namely, gate opening, content substitution, and gate closing, are still unknown, as common WM tasks conflate these processes. We therefore combined fMRI with the reference-back task, specifically designed to tease apart these subprocesses. Participants compared externally presented face stimuli to a reference face held in WM, while alternating between updating and maintaining this reference, resulting in opening versus closing the gate to WM. Gate opening and substitution processes were associated with strong BG, thalamic, and frontoparietal activation, but intriguingly, the same activity profile was observed for sensory cortex supporting task stimulus processing (i.e., the fusiform face area). In contrast, gate closing was not reliably associated with any of these regions. These findings provide new support for the involvement of the BG in gate opening, as suggested by the gating model, but qualify the model's assumptions by demonstrating that gate closing does not seem to depend on the BG and that gate opening also involves task-relevant sensory cortex.

scholarly journals Positive Affect Modulates Flexibility and Evaluative Control

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 524-539 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nelleke C. van Wouwe ◽  
Guido P. H. Band ◽  
K. Richard Ridderinkhof
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Positive Affect ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Reactive Control ◽  
Error Related Negativity ◽  
New Information ◽  
Flexible Adaptation ◽  
Memory Content ◽  
Target Probe

The ability to interact with a constantly changing environment requires a balance between maintaining the currently relevant working memory content and being sensitive to potentially relevant new information that should be given priority access to working memory. Mesocortical dopamine projections to frontal brain areas modulate working memory maintenance and flexibility. Recent neurocognitive and neurocomputational work suggests that dopamine release is transiently enhanced by induced positive affect. This ERP study investigated the role of positive affect in different aspects of information processing: in proactive control (context maintenance and updating), reactive control (flexible adaptation to incoming task-relevant information), and evaluative control in an AX-CPT task. Subjects responded to a target probe if it was preceded by a specific cue. Induced positive affect influenced the reactive and evaluative components of control (indexed by the N2 elicited by the target and by the error-related negativity elicited after incorrect responses, respectively), whereas cue-induced proactive preparation and maintenance processes remained largely unaffected (as reflected in the P3b and the contingent negative variation components of the ERP).

scholarly journals The role of working memory for bridging the gap between perception and goal-directed actions: Evidence by mu and beta oscillations in sensorimotor cortex

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Schneider ◽  
Marlene Rösner ◽  
Laura-Isabelle Klatt ◽  
Edmund Wascher
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Sensorimotor Cortex ◽  
Motor Planning ◽  
Selection Processes ◽  
Visual Item ◽  
Oscillatory Power ◽  
Oscillatory Eeg ◽  
Response Alternatives ◽  
Oscillatory Response

AbstractWhat mechanisms are at work when transferring a visual representation in working memory into a higher-level code for guiding future actions? We investigated the underlying attentional and motor selection processes in working memory by means of oscillatory EEG parameters. Participants stored two, three or four objects in working memory and subsequent retroactive cues indicated one or two items as task-relevant. The oscillatory response in mu (10-14 Hz) and beta (15-25 Hz) frequencies with an estimated source in sensorimotor cortex contralateral to response side was used as a correlate of motor planning. There was a stronger suppression of oscillatory power when only one item was cued. Importantly, this effect appeared although the required response could not be anticipated at this point in time. This suggests that working memory can store multiple item-specific motor plans and the selection of a stored visual item leads to an automatic updating of associated response alternatives.

scholarly journals “Keep That in Mind!” The Role of Positive Affect in Working Memory for Maintaining Goal-Relevant Information

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica S. B. Figueira ◽  
Luiza B. Pacheco ◽  
Isabela Lobo ◽  
Eliane Volchan ◽  
Mirtes G. Pereira ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Positive Affect ◽  
Relevant Information

scholarly journals Optogenetic suppression of the medial septum impairs working memory maintenance

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (10) ◽  
pp. 361-370
Author(s):  
Zachary M. Gemzik ◽  
Margaret M. Donahue ◽  
Amy L. Griffin
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Conditional Discrimination ◽  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Medial Septum ◽  
Temporal Delay ◽  
Choice Accuracy

Spatial working memory (SWM) is the ability to encode, maintain, and retrieve spatial information over a temporal gap, and relies on a network of structures including the medial septum (MS), which provides critical input to the hippocampus. Although the role of the MS in SWM is well-established, up until recently, we have been unable to use temporally precise circuit manipulation techniques to examine the specific role of the MS in SWM, particularly to distinguish between encoding, maintenance, and retrieval. Here, we test the hypothesis that the MS supports the maintenance of spatial information over a temporal gap using precisely timed optogenetic suppression delivered during specific portions of three different tasks, two of which rely on SWM and one that does not. In experiment 1, we found that MS optogenetic suppression impaired choice accuracy of a SWM dependent conditional discrimination task. Moreover, this deficit was only observed when MS suppression was delivered during the cue-sampling, but not the cue-retrieval, portion of the trial. There was also no deficit when MS neurons were optogenetically suppressed as rats performed a SWM-independent variant of the task. In experiment 2, we tested whether MS suppression affected choice accuracy on a delayed nonmatch to position (DNMP) task when suppression was limited to the sample, delay, and choice phases of the task. We found that MS suppression delivery during the delay phase of the DNMP task, but not during the sample or choice phases, impaired choice accuracy. Our results collectively suggest that the MS plays an important role in SWM by maintaining task-relevant information over a temporal delay.

scholarly journals The role of alpha power in the suppression of anticipated distractors during verbal working memory

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabrina Sghirripa ◽  
Lynton Graetz ◽  
Ashley Merkin ◽  
Nigel C Rogasch ◽  
Michael C Ridding ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Neural Oscillations ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
Alpha Frequency ◽  
Task Irrelevant ◽  
Sternberg Task

AbstractAs working memory (WM) is limited in capacity, it is important to direct neural resources towards processing task-relevant information while ignoring distractors. Neural oscillations in the alpha frequency band (8-12 Hz) have been suggested to play a role in the inhibition of task-irrelevant information during WM, although results are mixed, possibly due to differences in the type of WM task employed. Here, we examined the role of alpha power in inhibition of anticipated distractors of varying strength using a modified Sternberg task where the encoding and retention periods were temporally separated. We recorded EEG while 20 young adults completed the task and found: 1) slower reaction times in strong distractor trials compared to weak distractor trials; 2) increased alpha power in posterior regions from baseline prior to presentation of a distractor regardless of condition; and 3) no differences in alpha power between strong and weak distractor conditions. Our results suggest that parieto-occipital alpha power is increased prior to a distractor. However we could not find evidence that alpha power is further modulated by distractor strength.

scholarly journals Neural substrates of working memory updating

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gal Nir-Cohen ◽  
Yoav Kessler ◽  
Tobias Egner
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Posterior Parietal Cortex ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Sensory Cortex ◽  
Face Area ◽  
Gating Model ◽  
Gate Opening ◽  
Gating Mechanism ◽  
Current Content ◽  
Face Stimuli

AbstractWorking memory (WM) needs to protect current content from interference and simultaneously be amenable to rapid updating with newly relevant information. An influential model suggests these opposing requirements are met via a basal ganglia (BG) - thalamus gating mechanism that allows for selective updating of prefrontal cortex (PFC) WM representations. A large neuroimaging literature supports the general involvement of the PFC, BG, and thalamus, as well as posterior parietal cortex (PPC), in WM. However, the specific functional contributions of these regions to key sub-processes of WM updating, namely gate-opening, content substitution, and gate closing, are still unknown, as common WM tasks conflate these processes. We therefore combined functional MRI with the reference-back task, specifically designed to tease apart these sub-processes. Participants compared externally presented face stimuli to a reference face held in WM, while alternating between updating and maintaining this reference, resulting in opening vs. closing the gate to WM. Gate opening and substitution processes were associated with strong BG, thalamic and fronto-parietal activation, but – intriguingly - the same activity profile was observed for sensory cortex supporting task stimulus processing (i.e., the fusiform face area). In contrast, gate closing was not reliably associated with any of these regions. These findings provide new support for the involvement of the BG in gate opening as suggested by the gating model, but qualify the model’s assumptions by demonstrating that gate closing does not seem to depend on the BG, and that gate opening also involves task-relevant sensory cortex.

scholarly journals Proactive interference and the development of working memory

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mollie Hamilton ◽  
Ashley Ross ◽  
Erik Blaser ◽  
Zsuzsa Kaldy
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Proactive Interference ◽  
Early Development ◽  
Posterior Parietal Cortex ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Left Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Posterior Parietal

Working Memory (WM), the ability to maintain information in service to a task, is characterized by its limited capacity. Several influential models attribute this limitation in a large extent to proactive interference (Anderson & Neely, 1996; Bunting, 2006; Kane & Engle, 2000), the phenomenon that previously encoded, now-irrelevant information competes with relevant information (Keppel & Underwood, 1963). Here, we look back at the adult PI literature, spanning over sixty years, as well as recent results linking the ability to cope with PI to WM capacity (Endress & Potter, 2014; Kane & Engle, 2000). In early development, WM capacity is even more limited (Kaldy & Leslie, 2005; Simmering, 2012), yet an accounting for the role of PI has been lacking. Our Focus Article aims to address this through an integrative account: since PI resolution is mediated by networks involving the frontal cortex (particularly, the left inferior frontal gyrus) and the posterior parietal cortex (Badre & Wagner, 2005; Jonides & Nee, 2006), and since children have protracted development and less recruitment (Crone et al., 2006) of these areas, the increase in the ability to cope with PI (Kail, 2002; De Visscher & Noel, 2014) is a major factor underlying the increase in WM capacity in early development. Given this, we suggest that future research should focus on mechanistic studies of PI resolution in children. Finally, we note a crucial methodological implication: typical WM paradigms repeat stimuli from trial-to-trial, facilitating, inadvertently, PI and reducing performance; we may be fundamentally underestimating children’s WM capacity.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document