scholarly journals Behavioral Measures of Attention and Cognitive Control During a New Auditory Working Memory Paradigm

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jürgen Kayser ◽  
Lidia Y.X. Wong ◽  
Elizabeth Sacchi ◽  
Lindsey Casal-Roscum ◽  
Jorge E. Alvarenga ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Cognitive Impairments ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Auditory Hallucinations ◽  
Proactive Control ◽  
Behavioral Measures ◽  
Response Sensitivity ◽  
Functional Deficits ◽  
Visual Tasks

Proactive control is the ability to manipulate and maintain goal-relevant information within working memory (WM), allowing individuals to selectively attend to important information while inhibiting irrelevant distractions. Deficits in proactive control may cause multiple cognitive impairments seen in schizophrenia. However, studies of cognitive control have largely relied on visual tasks, even though functional deficits in schizophrenia are more frequent and severe in the auditory domain (i.e., hallucinations). Hence, we developed an auditory analog of a visual Ignore/Suppress paradigm. Healthy adults (N=40) listened to a series of 4 letters (600-ms SOA) presented alternately to each ear, followed by a 3.2-s maintenance interval and a probe. Participants were directed to either selectively ignore (I) to-be-presented letters to one ear, suppress (S) letters already presented to one ear, or remember (R) all presented letters. The critical cue was provided either before (I) or after (S) the encoding series, or simultaneously with the probe (R). Probes were encoding items presented to the attended/not suppressed ear (“Valid”), the ignored/suppressed ear (“Lure”), or not presented (“Control”). Replicating prior findings during visual Ignore/Suppress tasks, response sensitivity and latency revealed poorer performance for Lure than Control trials, particularly during the Suppress condition. Shorter Suppress than Remember latencies suggested a behavioral advantage when discarding encoded items from WM. Paradigm-related internal consistencies and 1-week test-retest reliabilities (n=38) were good to excellent. Findings validate these auditory WM tasks as a reliable manipulation of proactive control and set the stage for studies with schizophrenia patients who experience auditory hallucinations.

scholarly journals Behavioral measures of attention and cognitive control during a new auditory working memory paradigm

2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 1161-1174
Author(s):  
Jürgen Kayser ◽  
Lidia Y. X. Wong ◽  
Elizabeth Sacchi ◽  
Lindsey Casal-Roscum ◽  
Jorge E. Alvarenga ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Auditory Hallucinations ◽  
Proactive Control ◽  
Behavioral Measures ◽  
Functional Deficits ◽  
Visual Tasks ◽  
Onset Asynchrony

AbstractProactive control is the ability to manipulate and maintain goal-relevant information within working memory (WM), allowing individuals to selectively attend to important information while inhibiting irrelevant distractions. Deficits in proactive control may cause multiple cognitive impairments seen in schizophrenia. However, studies of cognitive control have largely relied on visual tasks, even though the functional deficits in schizophrenia are more frequent and severe in the auditory domain (i.e., hallucinations). Hence, we developed an auditory analogue of a visual ignore/suppress paradigm. Healthy adults (N = 40) listened to a series of four letters (600-ms stimulus onset asynchrony) presented alternately to each ear, followed by a 3.2-s maintenance interval and a probe. Participants were directed either to selectively ignore (I) the to-be-presented letters at one ear, to suppress (S) letters already presented to one ear, or to remember (R) all presented letters. The critical cue was provided either before (I) or after (S) the encoding series, or simultaneously with the probe (R). The probes were encoding items presented to either the attended/not suppressed ear (“valid”) or the ignored/suppressed ear (“lure”), or were not presented (“control”). Replicating prior findings during visual ignore/suppress tasks, response sensitivity and latency revealed poorer performance for lure than for control trials, particularly during the suppress condition. Shorter suppress than remember latencies suggested a behavioral advantage when discarding encoded items from WM. The paradigm-related internal consistencies and 1-week test–retest reliabilities (n = 38) were good to excellent. Our findings validate these auditory WM tasks as a reliable manipulation of proactive control and set the stage for studies with schizophrenia patients who experience auditory hallucinations.

scholarly journals Cognitive Control of Working Memory: A Model-Based Approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 721
Author(s):  
Russell J. Boag ◽  
Niek Stevenson ◽  
Roel van Dooren ◽  
Anne C. Trutti ◽  
Zsuzsika Sjoerds ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Decision Time ◽  
Control Processes ◽  
Prepotent Response ◽  
New Information ◽  
Empirical Performance ◽  
Flow Of Information

Working memory (WM)-based decision making depends on a number of cognitive control processes that control the flow of information into and out of WM and ensure that only relevant information is held active in WM’s limited-capacity store. Although necessary for successful decision making, recent work has shown that these control processes impose performance costs on both the speed and accuracy of WM-based decisions. Using the reference-back task as a benchmark measure of WM control, we conducted evidence accumulation modeling to test several competing explanations for six benchmark empirical performance costs. Costs were driven by a combination of processes, running outside of the decision stage (longer non-decision time) and showing the inhibition of the prepotent response (lower drift rates) in trials requiring WM control. Individuals also set more cautious response thresholds when expecting to update WM with new information versus maintain existing information. We discuss the promise of this approach for understanding cognitive control in WM-based decision making.

scholarly journals Cortical Mechanisms of Cognitive Control for Shifting Attention in Vision and Working Memory

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (10) ◽  
pp. 2905-2919 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin J. Tamber-Rosenau ◽  
Michael Esterman ◽  
Yu-Chin Chiu ◽  
Steven Yantis
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Cognitive Domains ◽  
Future Goals ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Past Experiences ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Superior Frontal Sulcus

Organisms operate within both a perceptual domain of objects and events, and a mnemonic domain of past experiences and future goals. Each domain requires a deliberate selection of task-relevant information, through deployments of external (perceptual) and internal (mnemonic) attention, respectively. Little is known about the control of attention shifts in working memory, or whether voluntary control of attention in these two domains is subserved by a common or by distinct functional networks. We used human fMRI to examine the neural basis of cognitive control while participants shifted attention in vision and in working memory. We found that these acts of control recruit in common a subset of the dorsal fronto-parietal attentional control network, including the medial superior parietal lobule, intraparietal sulcus, and superior frontal sulcus/gyrus. Event-related multivoxel pattern classification reveals, however, that these regions exhibit distinct spatio-temporal patterns of neural activity during internal and external shifts of attention, respectively. These findings constrain theoretical accounts of selection in working memory and perception by showing that populations of neurons in dorsal fronto-parietal network regions exhibit selective tuning for acts of cognitive control in different cognitive domains.

EXPRESS: Working Memory Capacity and Dual Mechanisms of Cognitive Control: An Experimental-Correlational Approach

2021 ◽  
pp. 174702182110664
Author(s):  
Kevin Rosales ◽  
Jean-Paul Snijder ◽  
Andrew Conway ◽  
Corentin Gonthier
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Proactive Control ◽  
Effective Mechanism ◽  
Correlational Approach ◽  
And Performance

Working memory is thought to be strongly related to cognitive control. Recent studies have sought to understand this relationship under the prism of the dual mechanisms of control (DMC) framework, in which cognitive control is thought to operate in two distinct modes: proactive and reactive. Several authors have concluded that a high working memory capacity is associated with a tendency to engage the more effective mechanism of proactive control. However, the predicted pattern of proactive control use has never been observed; correlational evidence is made difficult to interpret by the overall superiority of participants with a high working memory capacity: they tend to perform better even when proactive control should be detrimental. In two experiments, we used an experimental-correlational approach to experimentally induce the use of reactive or proactive control in the AX-CPT. The relation between working memory capacity and performance was unaffected, incompatible with the hypothesis that the better performance of participants with a high working memory capacity in the task is due to their use of proactive control. It remains unclear how individual differences in working memory capacity relate to cognitive control under the DMC framework.

EXPRESS: High Bladder Pressure Reduces the Ability to Filter Out Interference From Distractors in Low Perceptual Load Condition

2021 ◽  
pp. 174702182110688
Author(s):  
Hasan Gunduz ◽  
Turan Gunduz ◽  
Arzu Ozkan Ceylan
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Perceptual Load ◽  
Control Mechanism ◽  
Load Condition ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Bladder Pressure ◽  
Distractor Interference ◽  
Load Effect ◽  
Load Theory

According to the load theory of attention, an active cognitive control mechanism is needed to ensure that behavior is controlled by target-relevant information when distractors are also perceived. Although the active cognitive control mechanism consists of working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibition components, predictions regarding the load effects of this mechanism were derived mostly from studies on working memory. We aimed to test whether these predictions are also valid for an inhibition component. The inhibitory load was manipulated physiologically by creating different bladder pressure and its effects on distractor interference were examined under low and high perceptual load conditions. Results indicated that the availability of inhibitory control resources was important for decreasing the interference of distractors in the low perceptual load condition and that the high perceptual load reduced the effects of distractors independently from the availability of inhibitory resources. Results were consistent with the predictions of load theory, and to the best of our knowledge, the study provided the first piece of evidence in terms of the load effect of inhibition component on distractor interference.

scholarly journals The Dual Mechanisms of Cognitive Control (DMCC) project: Validation of an on-line behavioral task battery

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rongxiang Tang ◽  
Julie Bugg ◽  
Jean-Paul Snijder ◽  
Andrew R. A. Conway ◽  
Todd Samuel Braver
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
Proactive Control ◽  
Behavioral Task ◽  
Reactive Control ◽  
Context Processing ◽  
On Line

Cognitive control serves a crucial role in human higher mental functions. The Dual Mechanisms of Control (DMC) account provides a unifying theoretical framework that decomposes cognitive control into two qualitatively distinct mechanisms – proactive control and reactive control. While prior behavioral and neuroimaging work has demonstrated the validity of individual tasks in isolating these two mechanisms of control, there has not been a comprehensive, theoretically-guided task battery specifically designed to tap into proactive and reactive control across different domains of cognition. To address this critical limitation and provide useful methodological tools for future investigations, the Dual Mechanisms of Cognitive Control (DMCC) task battery was developed to probe these two control modes, as well as their intra-individual and inter-individual differences, across four prototypical domains of cognition: selective attention, context processing, multi-tasking, and working memory. We present this task battery, along with detailed descriptions of the experimental manipulations used to encourage shifts to proactive or reactive control in each of the four task domains. We rigorously evaluate the group effects of these manipulations in primary indices of proactive and reactive control, establishing the validity of the DMCC task battery in providing dissociable yet convergent measures of the two cognitive control modes.

scholarly journals Changes in working memory facilitate the transition from reactive to proactive cognitive control during childhood

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonya V. Troller-Renfree ◽  
George Buzzell ◽  
Nathan A. Fox
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Control Strategy ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Continuous Performance Task ◽  
Proactive Control ◽  
Reactive Control ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Memory Ability

Cognitive control develops rapidly over the first decade of life, with one of the dominant changes being a transition from reliance on “as-needed” control (reactive control) to a more planful, sustained form of control (proactive control). While the emergence of proactive control is important for adaptive, mature behavior, we know little about how this transition takes place, the neural correlates of this transition, and whether development of executive functions are a precondition for developing the ability to adopt a proactive control strategy. The present study addresses these questions, focusing on the transition from reactive to proactive control in a cross-sectional sample of 79 children – forty-one 5-year-olds and thirty-eight 9-year-olds. Children completed an adapted version of the AX-Continuous Performance Task while electroencephalography was recorded and a standardized executive function battery was administered. Results revealed 5-year-olds predominantly employed reactive strategies, while 9-year-olds used proactive strategies. Critically, use of proactive control was predicted by working memory ability, above and beyond other executive functions. Moreover, when enacting proactive control, greater increases in neural activity underlying working memory updating were observed; links between working memory ability and proactive control strategy use were mediated by such neural activity. Collectively, the results provide convergent evidence that the developmental transition from reactive to proactive control is dependent on neurocognitive development of specific executive functioning skills. Developments in working memory appear to be a precondition for adopting the more mature, and adaptive, proactive control strategy.

scholarly journals Proactive Control Mediates the Relationship Between Working Memory and Math Ability in Early Childhood

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chunjie Wang ◽  
Baoming Li ◽  
Yuan Yao
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Educational Practice ◽  
Math Performance ◽  
Continuous Performance Task ◽  
Proactive Control ◽  
Reactive Control ◽  
Math Ability

Based on the dual mechanisms of control (DMC) theory, there are two distinct mechanisms of cognitive control, proactive and reactive control. Importantly, accumulating evidence indicates that there is a developmental shift from predominantly using reactive control to proactive control during childhood, and the engagement of proactive control emerges as early as 5–7 years old. However, less is known about whether and how proactive control at this early age stage is associated with children’s other cognitive abilities such as working memory and math ability. To address this issue, the current study recruited 98 Chinese children under 5–7 years old. Among them, a total of 81 children (mean age = 6.29 years) contributed useable data for the assessments of cognitive control, working memory, and math ability. The results revealed that children at this age period predominantly employed a pattern of proactive control during an AX-Continuous Performance Task (AX-CPT). Moreover, the proactive control index estimated by this task was positively associated with both working memory and math performance. Further regression analysis showed that proactive control accounted for significant additional variance in predicting math performance after controlling for working memory. Most interestingly, mediation analysis showed that proactive control significantly mediated the association between working memory and math performance. This suggests that as working memory increases so does proactive control, which may in turn improve math ability in early childhood. Our findings may have important implications for educational practice.

Slow Wave Activity Related to Working Memory Maintenance in the N-Back Task

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 141-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kira Bailey ◽  
Gregory Mlynarczyk ◽  
Robert West
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Slow Wave ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Wave Activity ◽  
Slow Wave Activity ◽  
Response Accuracy ◽  
Functional Neuroanatomy ◽  
Stimulus Interval ◽  
Back Task

Abstract. Working memory supports our ability to maintain goal-relevant information that guides cognition in the face of distraction or competing tasks. The N-back task has been widely used in cognitive neuroscience to examine the functional neuroanatomy of working memory. Fewer studies have capitalized on the temporal resolution of event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to examine the time course of neural activity in the N-back task. The primary goal of the current study was to characterize slow wave activity observed in the response-to-stimulus interval in the N-back task that may be related to maintenance of information between trials in the task. In three experiments, we examined the effects of N-back load, interference, and response accuracy on the amplitude of the P3b following stimulus onset and slow wave activity elicited in the response-to-stimulus interval. Consistent with previous research, the amplitude of the P3b decreased as N-back load increased. Slow wave activity over the frontal and posterior regions of the scalp was sensitive to N-back load and was insensitive to interference or response accuracy. Together these findings lead to the suggestion that slow wave activity observed in the response-to-stimulus interval is related to the maintenance of information between trials in the 1-back task.

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