scholarly journals Abstracting time in memory

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie K Herbst ◽  
Izem Mangione ◽  
Tadeusz Kononowicz ◽  
Virginie van Wassenhove
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Delay Period ◽  
Abstract Representation ◽  
Time Intervals ◽  
Reproduction Task ◽  
Elapsed Time ◽  
Temporal Reproduction ◽  
The Future ◽  
Empty Time

Planning the future relies on the ability to remember how long events last, yet, how durations are stored in memory is unknown. Here, we developed a novel n-item delayed duration reproduction task to assess whether elapsed time is stored as a continuous feature or as an abstract item in memory. In three experiments (N = 58), participants listened to non-rhythmic sequences composed of empty time intervals (durations), which they had to reproduce as precisely as possible following a delay period. We manipulated the number of time intervals (n-item) and the overall sequence duration to separate their effects on recall precision. The precision of temporal reproduction systematically decreased with an increasing number of items. Our results suggest that the number of time intervals, not their duration, determines recall precision. We interpret this as evidence towards an abstract representation of duration in working memory.

scholarly journals Prefrontal Activity During Serial Probe Reproduction Task: Encoding, Mnemonic, and Retrieval Processes

2006 ◽  
Vol 95 (2) ◽  
pp. 1008-1041 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masato Inoue ◽  
Akichika Mikami
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Temporal Order ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Target Object ◽  
Delay Period ◽  
Color Stimulus ◽  
Multiple Objects ◽  
Reproduction Task ◽  
Retrieval Processes ◽  
Order Of Presentation

To study the prefrontal neuronal mechanism for the encoding and mnemonic processing of multiple objects, the order of object presentation, and the retrieval of an object among objects in the working memory, we recorded neuronal activity from the lateral prefrontal cortex while two monkeys performed the serial probe reproduction task. In the task, two objects (C1 and C2) were presented sequentially interleaved with a delay (D1) period, and after the second delay (D2) period, a color cue was presented. Monkeys were trained to select one target object on the basis of the color stimulus. During the C1 and C2 periods, we found responses that depended on the order of presentation (order-selective response). During the D1 and/or D2 periods, two-thirds of the neurons with object-selective delay-period activity showed order-selective activity coding either C1 or C2. Neurons with larger response magnitudes during the C2 period showed order-selective delay-period activity during the D2 period. These order-selective responses during the C2 period could also contribute to order-selective delay-period activity, and order-selective delay-period activity during the D1 and D2 periods could play an essential role in storing information on both the object and the temporal order of presentation. During the color cue period, two-thirds of the neurons with responses showed target object selectivity (CT and T responses), although the target object was not presented during this period. The CT and T responses could play a critical role in the retrieval of an item among various items in the working memory.

The art of planning ahead: when do we prepare for the future and when is it effective? (under review)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Huijser ◽  
Niels Anne Taatgen ◽  
Marieke K. van Vugt
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Task Difficulty ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Working Memory Load ◽  
Task Preparation ◽  
Memory Integration ◽  
The Future ◽  
Dual Task Paradigm ◽  
Consistent Support

Preparing for the future during ongoing activities is an essential skill. Yet, it is currently unclear to what extent we can prepare for the future in parallel with another task. In two experiments, we investigated how characteristics of a present task influenced whether and when participants prepared for the future, as well as its usefulness. We focused on the influence of concurrent working memory load, assuming that working memory would interfere most strongly with preparation. In both experiments, participants performed a novel sequential dual-task paradigm, in which they could voluntary prepare for a second task while performing a first task. We identified task preparation by means of eye tracking, through detecting when participants switched their gaze from the first to the second task. The results showed that participants prepared productively, as evidenced by faster RTs on the second task, with only a small cost to the present task. The probability of preparation and its productiveness decreased with general increases in present task difficulty. In contrast to our prediction, we found some but no consistent support for influence of concurrent working memory load on preparation. Only for concurrent high working memory load (i.e., two items in memory), we observed strong interference with preparation. We conclude that preparation is affected by present task difficulty, potentially due to decreased opportunities for preparation and changes in multitasking strategy. Furthermore, the interference from holding two items may reflect that concurrent preparation is compromised when working memory integration is required by both processes.

Sense of time in children with ADHD: Effects of duration, distraction, and stimulant medication

1997 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 359-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
RUSSELL A. BARKLEY ◽  
SETH KOPLOWITZ ◽  
TAMARA ANDERSON ◽  
MARY B. McMURRAY
Keyword(s):  
Stimulant Medication ◽  
Recent Theory ◽  
Interval Duration ◽  
Time Intervals ◽  
Reproduction Task ◽  
Children With Adhd ◽  
Time Reproduction ◽  
Control Subjects ◽  
Adhd Children ◽  
Sense Of Time

A recent theory of ADHD predicts a deficiency in sense of time in the disorder. Two studies were conducted to test this prediction, and to evaluate the effects of interval duration, distraction, and stimulant medication on the reproductions of temporal durations in children with ADHD. Study I: 12 ADHD children and 26 controls (ages 6–14 years) were tested using a time reproduction task in which subjects had to reproduce intervals of 12, 24, 36, 48, and 60 s. Four trials at each duration were presented with a distraction occurring on half of these trials. Control subjects were significantly more accurate than ADHD children at most durations and were unaffected by the distraction. ADHD children, in contrast, were significantly less accurate when distracted. Both groups became less accurate with increasing durations to be reproduced. Study II: Tested three doses of methylphenidate (MPH) and placebo on the time reproductions of the 12 ADHD children. ADHD children became less accurate with increasing durations and distraction was found to reduce accuracy at 36 s or less. No effects of MPH were evident. The results of these preliminary studies seem to support the prediction that sense of time is impaired in children with ADHD. The capacity to accurately reproduce time intervals in ADHD children does not seem to improve with administration of stimulant medication. (JINS, 1997, 3, 359–369.)

scholarly journals Time-Shrinking and Categorical Temporal Ratio Perception

2006 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gert Ten Hoopen ◽  
Takayuki Sasaki ◽  
Yoshitaka Nakajima ◽  
Ger Remijn ◽  
Bob Massier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cluster Analysis ◽  
Categorical Perception ◽  
Scaling Analysis ◽  
Rhythm Perception ◽  
Time Intervals ◽  
Temporal Dimension ◽  
Matching Procedure ◽  
T1 And T2 ◽  
Fourth Experiment ◽  
Empty Time

In a previous study, we presented psychophysical evidence that time-shrinking (TS), an illusion of time perception that empty durations preceded by shorter ones can be conspicuously underestimated, gives rise to categorical perception on the temporal dimension (Sasaki, Nakajima, & ten Hoopen, 1998). In the present study, we first survey studies of categorical rhythm perception and then describe four experiments that provide further evidence that TS causes categorical perception on the temporal dimension. In the first experiment, participants judged the similarity between pairs of /t1/t2/ patterns (slashes denote short sound markers delimiting the empty time intervals t1 and t2). A cluster analysis and a scaling analysis showed that patterns liable to TS piled up in a 1:1 category. The second and third experiments are improved replications in which the sum of t1 and t2 in the /t1/t2/ patterns is kept constant at 320 ms. The results showed that the 12 patterns /115/205/, /120/200/,  . . ., /165/155/, /170/150/ formed a 1:1 category. The fourth experiment utilizes a cross-modality matching procedure to establish the subjective temporal ratio of the /t1/t2/ patterns and a 1:1 category was established containing the 11 patterns /120/200/, /125/195/,  . . ., /165/155/, /170/150/. On basis of these converging results we estimate a domain of perceived 1:1 ratios as a function of total pattern duration (t1 + t2) between 160 and 480 ms. We discuss the implications of this study for rhythm perception and production.

scholarly journals Active information maintenance in working memory by a sensory cortex

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoxing Zhang ◽  
Wenjun Yan ◽  
Wenliang Wang ◽  
Hongmei Fan ◽  
Ruiqing Hou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Piriform Cortex ◽  
Delay Period ◽  
Sensory Cortex ◽  
Critical Function ◽  
Impaired Performance ◽  
Anterior Piriform Cortex ◽  
Electrophysiological Recordings ◽  
Dual Task Paradigm ◽  
The Brain

SummaryWorking memory is a critical function of the brain to maintain and manipulate information over delay periods of seconds. Sensory areas have been implicated in working memory; however, it is debated whether the delay-period activity of sensory regions is actively maintaining information or passively reflecting top-down inputs. We hereby examined the anterior piriform cortex, an olfactory cortex, in head-fixed mice performing a series of olfactory working memory tasks. Information maintenance is necessary in these tasks, especially in a dual-task paradigm in which mice are required to perform another distracting task while actively maintaining information during the delay period. Optogenetic suppression of the piriform cortex activity during the delay period impaired performance in all the tasks.Furthermore, electrophysiological recordings revealed that the delay-period activity of the anterior piriform cortex encoded odor information with or without the distracting task.Thus, this sensory cortex is critical for active information maintenance in working memory.

scholarly journals Spontaneous Eye Blink Rate during the Working Memory Delay Period Predicts Task Performance

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jefferson Ortega ◽  
Chelsea Reichert Plaska ◽  
Bernard A Gomes ◽  
Timothy M Ellmore
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Delay Period ◽  
Blink Rate ◽  
Indirect Measure ◽  
Eye Blink ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

Spontaneous eye blink rate (sEBR) has been found to be a non-invasive indirect measure of striatal dopamine activity. Dopamine (DA) neurons project to the prefrontal cortex (PFC) through the mesocortical dopamine pathway and their activity is implicated in a range of cognitive functions, including attention and working memory (WM). The goal of the present study was to understand how fluctuations in sEBR during different phases of a working memory task relate to task performance. Across two experiments, with recordings of sEBR inside and outside of a magnetic resonance imaging bore, we observed sEBR to be positively correlated with WM performance during the WM delay period. Additionally we investigated the non-linear relationship between sEBR and WM performance, and modeled a proposed Inverted-U-shape relationship between DA and WM performance. We also investigated blink duration, which is proposed to be related to sustained attention, and found blink duration to be significantly shorter during the encoding and probe periods of the task. Taken together, these results provide support towards sEBR as an important correlate of working memory task performance. The relationship of sEBR to DA activity and the influence of DA on the PFC during WM maintenance is discussed.

scholarly journals Memory for empty time intervals in pigeons

2001 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 293-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas S. Grant
Keyword(s):  
Time Intervals ◽  
Empty Time

‘Working for the future: parentally deprived Nigerian Children have enhanced working memory ability’ – Tochukwu Nweze video abstract

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Memory Ability ◽  
Nigerian Children ◽  
The Future ◽  
Video Abstract

Tochukwu Nweze gives a video abstract of his paper 'Working for the future: parentally deprived Nigerian Children have enhanced working memory ability'

scholarly journals Aesthetic Preference and Time: Preferred Painting Dilates Time Perception

SAGE Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 215824402093990
Author(s):  
Lingjing Li ◽  
Yu Tian
Keyword(s):  
Time Perception ◽  
Reproduction Task ◽  
Aesthetic Preference ◽  
Temporal Reproduction ◽  
Time Perceptions ◽  
Aesthetic Preferences ◽  
Perceived Duration

In the domain of aesthetic preference, previous studies focused primarily on exploring the factors that influence aesthetic preference while neglecting to investigate whether aesthetic preference affects other psychological activities. This study sought to expand our understanding of time perception by examining whether aesthetic preference in viewing paintings influenced its perceived duration. Participants who preferred Chinese paintings ( n = 20) and participants who preferred western paintings ( n = 21) were recruited to complete a temporal reproduction task that measured their time perception of Chinese paintings and of western paintings. The results showed that participants who preferred Chinese paintings exhibited longer time perceptions for Chinese paintings than for western paintings, while the participants who preferred western paintings exhibited longer time perceptions for western paintings than for Chinese paintings. These results suggested that aesthetic preference could modulate our perceived duration of painting presentation. Specifically, individuals perceive longer painting presentation durations when exposed to the stimuli matching their aesthetic preferences.

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