Mnemonic Attention in Analogy to Perceptual Attention: Harmony but Not Uniformity

Mapping Intimacies ◽

10.31234/osf.io/dfx2w ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Sizhu Han ◽

Yixuan Ku

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Memory Load ◽

Voluntary Control ◽

Spatial Cues ◽

Perceptual Attention ◽

Peripheral Cues ◽

Memory Representations ◽

Central Cues ◽

Load Conditions ◽

Confidence Ratings

It is widely accepted that peripheral cues in perception capture attention automatically, while central cues need voluntary control to exert functions. However, whether they differ similarly in working memory remains unclear. The present study addressed this issue through 5 experiments using a retro-cue paradigm with more than two hundred participants. Similar to perceptual attention, we found peripheral cues in working memory (1) were more effective than central cues in low memory-load conditions (Experiments 1 and 2), and (2) they influenced performance much faster than central cues (Experiment 5). Unlike perceptual attention, peripheral cues in working memory (1) did not capture attention to memory representations when they are uninformative (Experiment 3), and (2) could raise confidence ratings (Experiment 4). Taken together, our findings suggest that the effects of spatial cues on memory versus perception are similar but not the same.

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Working Memory Load Selectively Influences Response Inhibition in a Stop Signal Task

Psychological Reports ◽

10.1177/0033294120928271 ◽

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.

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Inhibition of Visual Discrimination During a Memory-Guided Saccade Task

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.01045.2003 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 92 (1) ◽

pp. 660-664 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Florian Ostendorf ◽

Carsten Finke ◽

Christoph J. Ploner

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Visual Processing ◽

Visual Discrimination ◽

Spatial Working Memory ◽

Tight Coupling ◽

Spatial Cues ◽

Memory Representations ◽

Voluntary Behavior ◽

Saccade Task ◽

Term Maintenance

Voluntary behavior critically depends on attentional selection and short-term maintenance of perceptual information. Recent research suggests a tight coupling of both cognitive functions with visual processing being selectively enhanced by working memory representations. Here, we combined a memory-guided saccade paradigm (6-s delay) with a visual discrimination task, performed either 1,500, 2,500, or 3,500 ms after presentation of the memory cue. Contrary to what can be expected from previous studies, our results show that memory of spatial cues can transiently delay speeded discrimination of stimuli presented at remembered locations. This effect was not observed in a control experiment without memory requirements. Furthermore, delayed discrimination was dependent on the strength of actual memory representations as reflected by accuracy of memory-guided saccades. We propose an active inhibitory mechanism that counteracts facilitating effects of spatial working memory, promoting flexible orienting to novel information during maintenance of spatial memoranda for intended actions. Inhibitory delay-period activity in prefrontal cortex is a likely source for this mechanism which may be mediated by prefronto-tectal projections.

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Visual Search Facilitation in Repeated Displays Depends on Visuospatial Working Memory

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027/1618-3169/a000125 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 59 (1) ◽

pp. 47-54 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Angela A. Manginelli ◽

Franziska Geringswald ◽

Stefan Pollmann

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Visual Search ◽

Control Experiment ◽

Memory Load ◽

Contextual Cueing ◽

Long Term Memory ◽

Visuospatial Working Memory ◽

Working Memory Load ◽

Memory Resources

When distractor configurations are repeated over time, visual search becomes more efficient, even if participants are unaware of the repetition. This contextual cueing is a form of incidental, implicit learning. One might therefore expect that contextual cueing does not (or only minimally) rely on working memory resources. This, however, is debated in the literature. We investigated contextual cueing under either a visuospatial or a nonspatial (color) visual working memory load. We found that contextual cueing was disrupted by the concurrent visuospatial, but not by the color working memory load. A control experiment ruled out that unspecific attentional factors of the dual-task situation disrupted contextual cueing. Visuospatial working memory may be needed to match current display items with long-term memory traces of previously learned displays.

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