scholarly journals Top-Down Contributions to Attention Shifting and Disengagement: A Template Model of Visual Attention

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Motonori Yamaguchi
Keyword(s):  
Visual Attention ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Modeling Framework ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Visual Item ◽  
Driven System ◽  
Fixation Offset

Two separate systems are involved in the control of spatial attention; one that is driven by a goal, and the other that is driven by stimuli. While the goal- and stimulus-driven systems follow different general principles, they also interplay with each other. However, the mechanism by which the goal-driven system influences the stimulus-driven system is still debated. The present study examined top-down contributions to two components of attention orienting, shifting and disengagement, with an experimental paradigm in which participants held a visual item in short-term memory and performed a prosaccade task with a manipulation of the gap between fixation offset and target onset. Four experiments showed that the short-term memory content accelerated shifting and impaired disengagement, but the influence on disengagement depended on the utility of short-term memory in guiding attention toward the target. Thus, the use of short-term memory was strategic. Computational models of visual attention were fitted to the experimental data, which suggested that the top-down contributions to shifting was more prominent than those to disengagement. The present study shows that the current modeling framework was particularly useful when examining the contributions of theoretical constructs for the control of visual attention, but it also suggests limitations.

scholarly journals Top-Down Contributions to Attention Shifting and Disengagement: A Template Model of Visual Attention

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Motonori Yamaguchi
Keyword(s):  
Visual Attention ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Modeling Framework ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Visual Item ◽  
Driven System ◽  
Fixation Offset

Two separate systems are involved in the control of spatial attention; one that is driven by a goal, and the other that is driven by stimuli. While the goal- and stimulus-driven systems follow different general principles, they also interplay with each other. However, the mechanism by which the goal-driven system influences the stimulus-driven system is still debated. The present study examined top-down contributions to two components of attention orienting, shifting and disengagement, with an experimental paradigm in which participants held a visual item in short-term memory and performed a prosaccade task with a manipulation of the gap between fixation offset and target onset. Four experiments showed that the short-term memory content accelerated shifting and impaired disengagement, but the influence on disengagement depended on the utility of short-term memory in guiding attention toward the target. Thus, the use of short-term memory was strategic. Computational models of visual attention were fitted to the experimental data, which suggested that the top-down contributions to shifting was more prominent than those to disengagement. The present study indicates that the current modeling framework was particularly useful when examining the contributions of theoretical constructs for the control of visual attention, but it also suggests limitations.

scholarly journals Visual short-term memory guides infants’ visual attention

Cognition ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 177 ◽  
pp. 189-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samantha G. Mitsven ◽  
Lisa M. Cantrell ◽  
Steven J. Luck ◽  
Lisa M. Oakes
Keyword(s):  
Visual Attention ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Visual Short Term Memory

scholarly journals A Modeling Framework for Deriving the Structural and Functional Architecture of a Short-Term Memory Microcircuit

Neuron ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 79 (5) ◽  
pp. 987-1000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitry Fisher ◽  
Itsaso Olasagasti ◽  
David W. Tank ◽  
Emre R.F. Aksay ◽  
Mark S. Goldman
Keyword(s):  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Modeling Framework ◽  
Functional Architecture ◽  
Term Memory

scholarly journals Parallel encoding of information into visual short-term memory

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edwin S. Dalmaijer ◽  
Sanjay G. Manohar ◽  
Masud Husain
Keyword(s):  
Computational Models ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Feature Integration ◽  
Integration Theory ◽  
Healthy Individuals ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Visual Short Term Memory ◽  
Feature Integration Theory ◽  
Parallel Encoding

AbstractHumans can temporarily retain information in their highly limited short-term memory. Traditionally, objects are thought to be attentionally selected and committed to short-term memory one-by-one. However, few studies directly test this serial encoding assumption. Here, we demonstrate that information from separate objects can be encoded into short-term memory in parallel. We developed models of serial and parallel encoding that describe probabilities of items being present in short-term memory throughout the encoding process, and tested them in a whole-report design. Empirical data from four experiments in healthy individuals were fitted best by the parallel encoding model, even when items were presented unilaterally (processed within one hemisphere). Our results demonstrate that information from several items can be attentionally selected and consequently encoded into short-term memory simultaneously. This suggests the popular feature integration theory needs to be reformulated to account for parallel encoding, and provides important boundaries for computational models of short-term memory.

scholarly journals The strength of attentional biases reduces as visual short-term memory load increases

2013 ◽  
Vol 110 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Shimi ◽  
D. E. Astle
Keyword(s):  
Visual Processing ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Attentional Biases ◽  
Perceptual Similarity ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Visual Short Term Memory

Despite our visual system receiving irrelevant input that competes with task-relevant signals, we are able to pursue our perceptual goals. Attention enhances our visual processing by biasing the processing of the input that is relevant to the task at hand. The top-down signals enabling these biases are therefore important for regulating lower level sensory mechanisms. In three experiments, we examined whether we apply similar biases to successfully maintain information in visual short-term memory (VSTM). We presented participants with targets alongside distracters and we graded their perceptual similarity to vary the extent to which they competed. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that the more items held in VSTM before the onset of the distracters, the more perceptually distinct the distracters needed to be for participants to retain the target accurately. Experiment 3 extended these behavioral findings by demonstrating that the perceptual similarity between target and distracters exerted a significantly greater effect on occipital alpha amplitudes, depending on the number of items already held in VSTM. The trade-off between VSTM load and target-distracter competition suggests that VSTM and perceptual competition share a partially overlapping mechanism, namely top-down inputs into sensory areas.

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