Agency Improves Working Memory and Accelerates Visual and Attentional Processing

Abstract Agency, understood as the ability of an organism to control stimuli onset, modulates perceptual and attentional functions. Since stimulus encoding is an essential component of working memory (WM), we conjectured that the perceptual process's agency would positively modulate WM. To corroborate this proposition, we tested twenty-five healthy subjects in a modified-Sternberg WM task under three stimuli presentation conditions: an unpredictable presentation of encoding stimulus, a self-initiated presentation of the stimulus, and self-initiation presentation with random-delay stimulus onset. Concurrently, we recorded the subjects' electroencephalographic signals during WM encoding. We found that the self-initiated condition was associated with better WM accuracy, and earlier latencies of N100 and P200 evoked potential components representing visual and attentional processes, respectively. Our work demonstrates that agency enhances WM performance and accelerates early visual and attentional processes deployed during WM encoding. We also found that self-initiation presentation correlates with an increased attentional state compared to the other two conditions, suggesting a role for temporal stimuli predictability. Our study remarks on the relevance of agency in sensory and attentional processing for WM.

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Agency improves working memory and accelerates visual and attentional processing

10.1101/2020.10.22.350397 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Rocio Loyola-Navarro ◽

Cristóbal Moënne-Loccoz ◽

Rodrigo C. Vergara ◽

Alexandre Hyafil ◽

Francisco Aboitiz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Healthy Subjects ◽

Evoked Potential ◽

Stimulus Onset ◽

Attentional State ◽

Random Delay ◽

Attentional Processing ◽

Attentional Processes ◽

Initiation Condition ◽

Temporal Stimuli

ABSTRACTAgency, understood as the ability of an organism to control stimuli onset, modulates perceptual and attentional functions. Since stimulus encoding is an essential component of working memory (WM), we conjectured that the perceptual process’s agency would positively modulate WM. To corroborate this proposition, we tested twenty-five healthy subjects in a modified-Sternberg WM task under three stimuli presentation conditions: an unpredictable presentation of encoding stimulus, self-initiated presentation of the stimulus, and self-initiation presentation with random-delay stimulus onset. Concurrently, we recorded the subjects’ electroencephalographic signals during WM encoding. We found that the self-initiation condition was associated with better WM accuracy, and earlier latencies of N100 and P200 evoked potential components representing visual and attentional processes, respectively. Our work demonstrates that agency enhances WM performance and accelerates early visual and attentional processes deployed during WM encoding. We also found that self-initiation presentation correlates with an increased attentional state compared to the other two conditions, suggesting a role for temporal stimuli predictability. Our study remarks on the relevance of agency in sensory and attentional processing for WM.

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Assessing the Effects of Attention and Emotion on Startle Eyeblink Modulation

Journal of Psychophysiology ◽

10.1027//0269-8803.15.3.173 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 15 (3) ◽

pp. 173-182 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Ottmar V. Lipp ◽

David L. Neumann ◽

David A.T. Siddle ◽

Patricia J. Dall

Keyword(s):

Emotional Processing ◽

Stimulus Onset ◽

The Other ◽

Attentional Processing ◽

Attentional Processes ◽

Startle Eyeblink ◽

Emotional Processes ◽

Unpleasant Picture ◽

Electrodermal Responses ◽

Stimulus Offset

Abstract Two experiments were conducted to assess simultaneously the effects of attentional and emotional processes on startle eyeblink modulation. In each experiment, participants were presented with a pleasant and an unpleasant picture. Half the participants were asked to attend to the pleasant picture and to ignore the unpleasant picture, whereas the reverse was the case for the other participants. Startle probes were presented at 3500 and 4500 ms after stimulus onset in Experiment 1 and at 250, 750, and 4450 ms after stimulus onset and 950 ms after stimulus offset in Experiment 2. Attentional processing affected startle eyeblink modulation and electrodermal responses in both experiments. However, effects of picture valence on startle eyeblink modulation were found only in Experiment 2. The results confirm the utility of startle eyeblink modulation as an index of attentional and emotional processing. They also illustrate that procedural characteristics, such as the nature of the lead intervals and how attention and emotion are operationalized, can determine whether emotional or attentional processes will be reflected in startle eyeblink.

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Skipping Breakfast Affects the Early Steps of Cognitive Processing

Journal of Psychophysiology ◽

10.1027/0269-8803/a000214 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 33 (2) ◽

pp. 109-118

Author(s):

Andrés Antonio González-Garrido ◽

Jacobo José Brofman-Epelbaum ◽

Fabiola Reveca Gómez-Velázquez ◽

Sebastián Agustín Balart-Sánchez ◽

Julieta Ramos-Loyo

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Cognitive Processing ◽

Task Difficulty ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Reaction Times ◽

Brain Potentials ◽

Brain Functioning ◽

Attentional Processes ◽

Electrical Brain Activity ◽

Skipping Breakfast

Abstract. It has been generally accepted that skipping breakfast adversely affects cognition, mainly disturbing the attentional processes. However, the effects of short-term fasting upon brain functioning are still unclear. We aimed to evaluate the effect of skipping breakfast on cognitive processing by studying the electrical brain activity of young healthy individuals while performing several working memory tasks. Accordingly, the behavioral results and event-related brain potentials (ERPs) of 20 healthy university students (10 males) were obtained and compared through analysis of variances (ANOVAs), during the performance of three n-back working memory (WM) tasks in two morning sessions on both normal (after breakfast) and 12-hour fasting conditions. Significantly fewer correct responses were achieved during fasting, mainly affecting the higher WM load task. In addition, there were prolonged reaction times with increased task difficulty, regardless of breakfast intake. ERP showed a significant voltage decrement for N200 and P300 during fasting, while the amplitude of P200 notably increased. The results suggest skipping breakfast disturbs earlier cognitive processing steps, particularly attention allocation, early decoding in working memory, and stimulus evaluation, and this effect increases with task difficulty.

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Modulation of the Corticomotor Excitability by Repetitive Peripheral Magnetic Stimulation on the Median Nerve in Healthy Subjects

Frontiers in Neural Circuits ◽

10.3389/fncir.2021.616084 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 15 ◽

Author(s):

Yanbing Jia ◽

Xiaoyan Liu ◽

Jing Wei ◽

Duo Li ◽

Chun Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Peripheral Nerve ◽

Healthy Subjects ◽

Magnetic Stimulation ◽

Evoked Potential ◽

Sham Group ◽

Motor Evoked Potential ◽

Dominant Hand ◽

Corticomotor Excitability ◽

Hand Dexterity ◽

Stimulation Group

Objective: We aimed to examine the effects of repetitive peripheral nerve magnetic stimulation (rPNMS) on the excitability of the contralateral motor cortex and motor function of the upper limb in healthy subjects.Methods: Forty-six healthy subjects were randomly assigned to either a repetitive peripheral nerve magnetic stimulation group (n = 23) or a sham group (n = 23). The repetitive peripheral nerve magnetic stimulation group received stimulation using magnetic pulses at 20 Hz, which were applied on the median nerve of the non-dominant hand, whereas the sham group underwent the same protocol without the stimulation output. The primary outcome was contralateral transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)-induced corticomotor excitability for the abductor pollicis brevis of the stimulated hand in terms of resting motor threshold (rMT), the slope of recruitment curve, and peak amplitude of motor evoked potential (MEP), which were measured at baseline and immediately after each session. The secondary outcomes were motor hand function including dexterity and grip strength of the non-dominant hand assessed at baseline, immediately after stimulation, and 24 h post-stimulation.Results: Compared with the sham stimulation, repetitive peripheral nerve magnetic stimulation increased the peak motor evoked potential amplitude immediately after the intervention. The repetitive peripheral nerve magnetic stimulation also increased the slope of the recruitment curve immediately after intervention and enhanced hand dexterity after 24 h. However, the between-group difference for the changes was not significant. The significant changes in hand dexterity and peak amplitude of motor evoked potential after repetitive peripheral nerve magnetic stimulation were associated with their baseline value.Conclusions: Repetitive peripheral nerve magnetic stimulation may modulate the corticomotor excitability together with a possible lasting improvement in hand dexterity, indicating that it might be helpful for clinical rehabilitation.

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Expert radiologists have improved memory performance for images with focal abnormalities

10.31234/osf.io/b4zv3 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Hayden Schill ◽

Jeremy Wolfe ◽

Timothy F. Brady

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Prior Knowledge ◽

Memory Performance ◽

Memory Capacity ◽

Current Work ◽

Long Term Memory ◽

Attentional Processing ◽

Term Memory ◽

Focal Abnormality

Memory capacity depends on prior knowledge, both in working memory and in long-term memory. For example, radiologists have improved long-term memory for medical images compared to novices. Furthermore, people tend to remember abnormal or surprising items best. This is often claimed to arise primarily because such items attract additional attention at encoding. How do expertise and abnormality interact when experts are actively searching for abnormalities; e.g. radiologists looking at mammograms? In the current work, we investigate whether expert radiologists (N=32) show improved memory performance for abnormal images compared to novice participants (N=60). We consider two types of “abnormality.” A mammogram can have a focal abnormality that can be localized or it could simply be the mammogram of a woman known to have cancer (e.g. the image of the breast contralateral to the focal abnormality). Must an image have a focal abnormality for additional attentional processing to be engaged? We found that experts have better memory for mammograms than novice participants and enhanced memory for abnormal images relative to normal images. Overall, radiologists showed no memory benefit for the contralateral-abnormal images and did not discriminate them from normal images, but had enhanced memory for images with focal abnormalities. Our results suggest that focal abnormalities play an important role in enhancing memory of expert observers.

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Rapid orienting of spatial attention toward and away from aggressive voices

10.31234/osf.io/zprf9 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Nicolas Burra ◽

Dirk Kerzel ◽

David Munoz ◽

Didier Grandjean ◽

Leonardo Ceravolo

Keyword(s):

Spatial Attention ◽

Auditory Processing ◽

Temporal Dynamics ◽

Detection System ◽

Stimulus Onset ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Auditory Modality ◽

Attentional Processing ◽

Auditory Spatial Attention ◽

Vocal Signals

Salient vocalizations, especially aggressive voices, are believed to attract attention due to an automatic threat detection system. However, studies assessing the temporal dynamics of auditory spatial attention to aggressive voices are missing. Using event-related potential markers of auditory spatial attention (N2ac and LPCpc), we show that attentional processing of threatening vocal signals is enhanced at two different stages of auditory processing. As early as 200 ms post stimulus onset, attentional orienting/engagement is enhanced for threatening as compared to happy vocal signals. Subsequently, as early as 400 ms post stimulus onset, the reorienting of auditory attention to the center of the screen (or disengagement from the target) is enhanced. This latter effect is consistent with the need to optimize perception by balancing the intake of stimulation from left and right auditory space. Our results extend the scope of theories from the visual to the auditory modality by showing that threatening stimuli also bias early spatial attention in the auditory modality. Although not the focus of the present work, we observed that the attentional enhancement was more pronounced in female than male participants.

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Neural Dynamics of Conflict Control in Working Memory

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn_a_01744 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-14

Author(s):

Khoi D. Vo ◽

Audrey Siqi-Liu ◽

Alondra Chaire ◽

Sophia Li ◽

Elise Demeter ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Stroop Task ◽

Color Word ◽

Color Naming ◽

Control Task ◽

Attentional Processing ◽

Shared Representations ◽

Color Representation ◽

And Performance ◽

External Stimuli

Abstract Attention and working memory (WM) have classically been considered as two separate cognitive functions, but more recent theories have conceptualized them as operating on shared representations and being distinguished primarily by whether attention is directed internally (WM) or externally (attention, traditionally defined). Supporting this idea, a recent behavioral study documented a “WM Stroop effect,” showing that maintaining a color word in WM impacts perceptual color-naming performance to the same degree as presenting the color word externally in the classic Stroop task. Here, we employed ERPs to examine the neural processes underlying this WM Stroop task compared to those in the classic Stroop and in a WM-control task. Based on the assumption that holding a color word in WM would (pre-)activate the same color representation as by externally presenting that color word, we hypothesized that the neural cascade of conflict–control processes would occur more rapidly in the WM Stroop than in the classic Stroop task. Our behavioral results replicated equivalent interference behavioral effects for the WM and classic Stroop tasks. Importantly, however, the ERP signatures of conflict detection and resolution displayed substantially shorter latencies in the WM Stroop task. Moreover, delay-period conflict in the WM Stroop task, but not in the WM control task, impacted the ERP and performance measures for the WM probe stimuli. Together, these findings provide new insights into how the brain processes conflict between internal representations and external stimuli, and they support the view of shared representations between internally held WM content and attentional processing of external stimuli.

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Possible Effect of Headphone Usage on Working Memory Among Students in Faculty of Medicine, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria‒Nigeria

Neurology and Neurobiology ◽

10.31487/j.nnb.2019.02.02 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 1-4

Author(s):

Yushau Yusuf ◽

Muhammad U.A ◽

Isah F.A

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Signal Processing ◽

Cognitive Abilities ◽

Healthy Subjects ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Stored Information ◽

Age Range ◽

The Relationship ◽

The Brain ◽

Back Task

Working memory is a system that is responsible for transient holding and processing of new and already stored information. It also involves processing for reasoning, comprehension, learning and memory updating. Headphones are a pair of small loudspeakers that are designed to be held in place close to a user’s ear. They are electroacoustic transducers which convert electrical signals to a corresponding sound in the user’s ear. Several studies have recently shown a link between cognitive abilities and response to hearing aid and signal processing in the brain. Therefore, the relationship between headphone usage among healthy subjects become pertinent. This study is aimed at evaluating the effect of headphone on working memory using N-back task. One hundred (100) participants (55 headphone users and 45 non-headphone user’s) within the age range of 18-31 years were assessed. Participants were instructed to keep in memory, a series of letters and say “target” whenever there was a repetition of letter with exactly one intervening letter and to remain silent when any other letter appeared. The results of this study showed that there was no statistically significant difference in working memory between headphone and non-headphone users with p>0.05. In conclusion, this study revealed headphone use has no effect on working memory of the participants subjected to N–back test.

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