Processing symmetry between visual and auditory spatial representations in updating working memory

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomoki Maezawa ◽  
Jun Kawahara
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Spatial Updating ◽  
Spatial Representations ◽  
Attentional Resources ◽  
Visual Spatial ◽  
Matrix Surface ◽  
Memory Representations

Updating spatial representations in visual and auditory working memory relies on common processes, and the modalities should compete for attentional resources. The present study examined the relative dominance of memory updating using incompatible spatial information conveyed from two different cue modalities. Participants maneuvered a designated target on a matrix surface according to visual or auditory stimuli that were simultaneously presented, to identify a terminal location. Prior to the navigation task, the relative perceptual salience of the visual cues was manipulated to be equal, superior, or inferior to the auditory cues. The results demonstrated that visual and auditory inputs competed for attentional resources such that visual/auditory guidance was impaired by incongruent cues delivered from the other modality. Although visual dominance was favored in working memory navigation on average, stimuli of relatively high salience interfered with or facilitated other stimuli regardless of modality, demonstrating the similarity of updating processes in visual and auditory spatial working memory. Furthermore, processing asymmetry can be identified during the encoding of sensory inputs into working memory representations. The present results suggest that auditory spatial updating is comparable to visual spatial updating in that salient stimuli receive a high priority when selecting inputs and are used when tracking spatial representations.

Modeling Mental Navigation in Scenes with Multiple Objects

2004 ◽  
Vol 16 (9) ◽  
pp. 1851-1872 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Byrne ◽  
Suzanna Becker
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Neural Circuit ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Spatial Updating ◽  
Multiple Objects ◽  
Object Locations ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Memory Representations ◽  
Experimental Findings

Various lines of evidence indicate that animals process spatial information regarding object locations differently from spatial information regarding environmental boundaries or landmarks. Following Wang and Spelke's (2002) observation that spatial updating of egocentric representations appears to lie at the heart of many navigational tasks in many species, including humans, we postulate a neural circuit that can support this computation in parietal cortex, assuming that egocentric representations of multiple objects can be maintained in prefrontal cortex in spatial working memory (not simulated here). Our method is a generalization of an earlier model by Droulez and Berthoz (1991), with extensions to support observer rotation. We can thereby simulate perspective transformation of working memory representations of object coordinates based on an egomotion signal presumed to be generated via mental navigation. This biologically plausible transformation would allow a subject to recall the locations of previously viewed objects from novel viewpoints reached via imagined, discontinuous, or disoriented displacement. Finally, we discuss how this model can account for a wide range of experimental findings regarding memory for object locations, and we present several predictions made by the model.

scholarly journals Sport as a Factor in Improving Visual Spatial Cognitive Deficits in Patients with Hearing Loss and Chronic Vestibular Deficit

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-300
Author(s):  
Giorgio Guidetti ◽  
Riccardo Guidetti ◽  
Silvia Quaglieri
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Cognitive Deficits ◽  
Healthy Subjects ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Sport Activity ◽  
Visual Spatial ◽  
Visual Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Vestibular Deficit

Hearing loss and chronic vestibular pathologies require brain adaptive mechanisms supported by a cross-modal cortical plasticity. They are often accompanied by cognitive deficits. Spatial memory is a cognitive process responsible for recording information about the spatial environment and spatial orientation. Visual-spatial working memory (VSWM) is a kind of short-term working memory that allows spatial information to be temporarily stored and manipulated. It can be conditioned by hearing loss and also well-compensated chronic vestibular deficit. Vestibular rehabilitation and hearing aid devices or training are able to improve the VSWM. We studied 119 subjects suffering from perinatal or congenital hearing loss, compared with 532 healthy subjects and 404 patients with well-compensated chronic vestibular deficit (CVF). VSWM was evaluated by the eCorsi test. The subjects suffering from chronic hearing loss and/or unilateral or bilateral vestibular deficit showed a VSWM less efficient than healthy people, but much better than those with CVF, suggesting a better multimodal adaptive strategy, probably favored by a cross-modal plasticity which also provides habitual use of lip reading. The sport activity cancels the difference with healthy subjects. It is therefore evident that patients with this type of deficit since childhood should be supported and advised on a sport activity or repeated vestibular stimulation.

scholarly journals Flexible utilization of spatial- and motor-based codes for the storage of visuo-spatial information

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret M. Henderson ◽  
Rosanne L. Rademaker ◽  
John T. Serences
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Premotor Cortex ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Alternative View ◽  
Visual Spatial ◽  
Early Visual Cortex ◽  
Visual Spatial Working Memory

Working memory (WM) provides flexible storage of information in service of upcoming behavioral goals. Some models propose specific fixed loci and mechanisms for the storage of visual information in WM, such as sustained spiking in parietal and prefrontal cortex during the maintenance of features. An alternative view is that information can be remembered in a flexible format that best suits current behavioral goals. For example, remembered visual information might be stored in sensory areas for easier comparison to future sensory inputs (i.e. a retrospective code) or might be remapped into a more abstract, output-oriented format and stored in motor areas (i.e. a prospective code). Here, we tested this hypothesis using a visual-spatial working memory task where the required behavioral response was either known or unknown during the memory delay period. Using fMRI and multivariate decoding, we found that there was less information about remembered spatial positions in early visual and parietal regions when the required response was known versus unknown. Further, a representation of the planned motor action emerged in primary somatosensory, primary motor, and premotor cortex on the same trials where spatial information was reduced in early visual cortex. These results suggest that the neural networks supporting WM can be strategically reconfigured depending on the specific behavioral requirements of canonical visual WM paradigms.

Working Memory and Number Sense as Predictors of Mathematical (Dis-)Ability

2015 ◽  
Vol 223 (2) ◽  
pp. 102-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evelyn H. Kroesbergen ◽  
Marloes van Dijk
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Learning Disabilities ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Number Sense ◽  
Mathematical Learning ◽  
Visual Spatial ◽  
Mathematical Learning Disabilities ◽  
Visual Spatial Working Memory ◽  
And Mathematics

Recent research has pointed to two possible causes of mathematical (dis-)ability: working memory and number sense, although only few studies have compared the relations between working memory and mathematics and between number sense and mathematics. In this study, both constructs were studied in relation to mathematics in general, and to mathematical learning disabilities (MLD) in particular. The sample consisted of 154 children aged between 6 and 10 years, including 26 children with MLD. Children performing low on either number sense or visual-spatial working memory scored lower on math tests than children without such a weakness. Children with a double weakness scored the lowest. These results confirm the important role of both visual-spatial working memory and number sense in mathematical development.

Shared Predictors of Academic Achievement in Children with ADHD: A Multi-Sample Study

2021 ◽  
pp. 108705472110120
Author(s):  
Kelly D. Carrasco ◽  
Chi-Ching Chuang ◽  
Gail Tripp
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Word Reading ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
The United States ◽  
Children With Adhd ◽  
Visual Spatial ◽  
Visual Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Predictors Of Academic Achievement

Objective: To identify common and shared predictors of academic achievement across samples of children with ADHD. Method: Two clinically referred samples from New Zealand (1 n = 88, 82% boys; 2 n = 121, 79% boys) and two community samples from the United States (3 n = 111, 65% boys; 4 n = 114, 69% boys), completed similar diagnostic, cognitive and academic assessments. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses identified significant predictors of word reading, spelling, and math computation performance in each sample. Results: Entered after IQ, semantic language, age at testing, and verbal working memory emerged as consistent predictors of achievement across academic subjects and samples. Visual-spatial working memory contributed to variance in math performance only. Symptom severity explained limited variance. Conclusions: We recommend evaluations of children with ADHD incorporate assessments of working memory and language skills. Classroom/academic interventions should accommodate reduced working memory and address any identified language weaknesses.

scholarly journals Negative Effects of Embodiment in a Visuo-Spatial Working Memory Task in Children, Young Adults, and Older Adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianluca Amico ◽  
Sabine Schaefer
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Negative Effects

Studies examining the effect of embodied cognition have shown that linking one’s body movements to a cognitive task can enhance performance. The current study investigated whether concurrent walking while encoding or recalling spatial information improves working memory performance, and whether 10-year-old children, young adults, or older adults (Mage = 72 years) are affected differently by embodiment. The goal of the Spatial Memory Task was to encode and recall sequences of increasing length by reproducing positions of target fields in the correct order. The nine targets were positioned in a random configuration on a large square carpet (2.5 m × 2.5 m). During encoding and recall, participants either did not move, or they walked into the target fields. In a within-subjects design, all possible combinations of encoding and recall conditions were tested in counterbalanced order. Contrary to our predictions, moving particularly impaired encoding, but also recall. These negative effects were present in all age groups, but older adults’ memory was hampered even more strongly by walking during encoding and recall. Our results indicate that embodiment may not help people to memorize spatial information, but can create a dual-task situation instead.

scholarly journals Fine Spike Timing in Hippocampal–Prefrontal Ensembles Predicts Poor Encoding and Underlies Behavioral Performance in Healthy and Malformed Brains

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-158
Author(s):  
Amanda E Hernan ◽  
J Matthew Mahoney ◽  
Willie Curry ◽  
Seamus Mawe ◽  
Rod C Scott
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Spike Timing ◽  
Functional Network ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Encode Task ◽  
To Receive ◽  
Task Parameters

Abstract Spatial working memory (SWM) is a central cognitive process during which the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex (PFC) encode and maintain spatial information for subsequent decision-making. This occurs in the context of ongoing computations relating to spatial position, recall of long-term memory, attention, among many others. To establish how intermittently presented information is integrated with ongoing computations we recorded single units, simultaneously in hippocampus and PFC, in control rats and those with a brain malformation during performance of an SWM task. Neurons that encode intermittent task parameters are also well modulated in time and incorporated into a functional network across regions. Neurons from animals with cortical malformation are poorly modulated in time, less likely to encode task parameters, and less likely to be integrated into a functional network. Our results implicate a model in which ongoing oscillatory coordination among neurons in the hippocampal–PFC network describes a functional network that is poised to receive sensory inputs that are then integrated and multiplexed as working memory. The background temporal modulation is systematically altered in disease, but the relationship between these dynamics and behaviorally relevant firing is maintained, thereby providing potential targets for stimulation-based therapies.

Differences in visual-spatial working memory and driving behavior between morning-type and evening-type drivers

2020 ◽  
Vol 136 ◽  
pp. 105402
Author(s):  
Yan Ge ◽  
Biying Sheng ◽  
Weina Qu ◽  
Yuexing Xiong ◽  
Xianghong Sun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Driving Behavior ◽  
Visual Spatial ◽  
Visual Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Morning Type
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