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Wang D, Chota S, Xu L, der Stigchel SV, Gayet S. The priority state of items in visual working memory determines their influence on early visual processing. Conscious Cogn 2024; 127:103800. [PMID: 39700660 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2024.103800] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2024] [Revised: 12/02/2024] [Accepted: 12/05/2024] [Indexed: 12/21/2024]
Abstract
Items held in visual working memory (VWM) influence early visual processing by enhancing memory-matching visual input. Depending on current task demands, memory items can have different priority states. Here, we investigated how the priority state of items in VWM affects two key aspects of early visual processing: access to visual awareness and attention allocation. We used three perceptual tasks: the breaking continuous flash suppression task (Experiment 1), the attentional capture task (Experiment 2), and a visual search task (Experiment 3). We found that stimuli matching prioritized VWM items yielded a large perceptual advantage over stimuli matching non-prioritized VWM items (despite minimal memory loss). Additionally, stimuli matching non-prioritized memory items exhibited a (small but consistent) perceptual advantage over VWM-unrelated stimuli. Taken together, observers can flexibly de-prioritize and re-prioritize VWM contents based on current task demands, allowing observers to exert control over the extent to which VWM contents influence concurrent visual processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dan Wang
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
| | - Samson Chota
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Luzi Xu
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Stefan Van der Stigchel
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Surya Gayet
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
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2
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Cavanah PJ, Fiebelkorn IC. A domain-general process for theta-rhythmic sampling of either environmental information or internally stored information. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.11.26.625454. [PMID: 39651220 PMCID: PMC11623605 DOI: 10.1101/2024.11.26.625454] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2024]
Abstract
Many everyday tasks, such as shopping for groceries, require the sampling of both environmental information and internally stored information. Selective attention involves the preferential processing and sampling of behaviorally important information from the external environment, while working memory involves the preferential processing and sampling of behaviorally important, internally stored information. These essential cognitive processes share neural resources within a large-scale network that includes frontal, parietal, and sensory cortices, and these shared neural resources can lead to between-domain interactions. Previous research has linked external sampling during selective attention and internal sampling during working memory to theta-rhythmic (3-8 Hz) neural activity in higher-order (e.g., frontal cortices) and sensory regions (e.g., visual cortices). Such theta-rhythmic neural activity might help to resolve the competition for shared neural resources by isolating neural activity associated with different functions over time. Here, we used EEG and a dual-task design (i.e., a task that required both external and internal sampling) to directly compare (i) theta-dependent fluctuations in behavioral performance during external sampling with (ii) theta-dependent fluctuations in behavioral performance during internal sampling. Our findings are consistent with a domain-general, theta-rhythmic process for sampling either external information or internal information. We further demonstrate that interactions between external and internal information-specifically, when to-be-detected information matches to-be-remembered information-are not dependent on theta-band activity (i.e., theta phase). Given that these theta-independent 'match effects' occur during early processing stages (peaking at 75 ms), we propose that theta-rhythmic sampling modulates external and internal information during later processing stages.
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3
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Grubert A, Wang Z, Williams E, Jimenez M, Remington R, Eimer M. The capacity limitations of multiple-template visual search during task preparation and target selection. Psychophysiology 2024:e14720. [PMID: 39491049 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14720] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2024] [Revised: 09/21/2024] [Accepted: 10/18/2024] [Indexed: 11/05/2024]
Abstract
Visual search is guided by mental representations of target-defining features (attentional templates) that are activated in a preparatory fashion. It remains unknown how many templates can be maintained concurrently, and what kind of costs are associated with multiple-template versus single-template search. Here, we compared the operation of attentional templates during three-color and single-color search tasks. Preparatory template activation processes were tracked by measuring N2pc components to task-irrelevant singleton color probes that appeared in rapid succession during the interval between search displays. These probes attract attention (as indexed by an N2pc) if the corresponding color template is active at the time when the probe appears. In a three-color search task where target identity was fully predictable (Experiment 1), only probes that matched the upcoming target color triggered N2pcs, demonstrating that only a single target template was activated. When three possible color targets appeared randomly and unpredictably (Experiment 2), probes that matched any of these colors triggered N2pcs, demonstrating that all three templates were activated concurrently. However, relative to a single-color search task, clear costs emerged in this three-color task for attentional guidance toward search targets and for search performance. These costs appear to be linked to inhibitory interactions between simultaneously active search templates. These findings show that while at least three target templates can be maintained in parallel, multiple-template search is still subject to capacity limitations which affect both template-guided attentional guidance and the subsequent selective processing of search targets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Grubert
- Department of Psychology, Durham University, Durham, UK
| | - Ziyi Wang
- Department of Psychology, Durham University, Durham, UK
| | - Ella Williams
- Department of Psychiatry, Oxford University, Warneford Hospital, Oxford, UK
| | - Mikel Jimenez
- Department of Psychology, Durham University, Durham, UK
| | - Roger Remington
- Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
| | - Martin Eimer
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK
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4
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Jimenez M, Wang Z, Grubert A. Attentional templates for target features versus locations. Sci Rep 2024; 14:22306. [PMID: 39333717 PMCID: PMC11437174 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-73656-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2024] [Accepted: 09/18/2024] [Indexed: 09/29/2024] Open
Abstract
Visual search is guided by visual working memory representations (i.e., attentional templates) that are activated prior to search and contain target-defining features (e.g., color). In the present study, we tested whether attentional templates can also contain spatial target properties (knowing where to look for) and whether attentional selection guided by such feature-specific templates is equally efficient than selection that is based on feature-specific templates (knowing what to look for). In every trial, search displays were either preceded by semantic color or location cues, indicating the upcoming target color or location, respectively. Qualitative differences between feature- and location-based template guidance were substantiated in terms of selection efficiency in low-load (one target color/location) versus high-load trials (two target colors/locations). Behavioral and electrophysiological (N2pc) measures of target selection speed and accuracy were combined for converging evidence. In line with previous studies, we found that color search was highly efficient, even under high-low conditions, when multiple attentional templates were activated to guide attentional selection in a spatially global fashion. Importantly, results in the location task almost perfectly mirrored the findings of the color task, suggesting that multiple templates for different target locations were activated concurrently when two possible target locations were task relevant. Our findings align with accounts that assume a common neuronal network during preparation for location and color search, but regard spatial and feature-based selection mechanisms as independent.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mikel Jimenez
- Department of Psychology, University of Durham, Upper Mountjoy, South Rd, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK.
| | - Ziyi Wang
- Department of Psychology, University of Durham, Upper Mountjoy, South Rd, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK
| | - Anna Grubert
- Department of Psychology, University of Durham, Upper Mountjoy, South Rd, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK
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5
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Wang S, Woodman GF. Intentional learning establishes multiple attentional sets that simultaneously guide attention. J Exp Psychol Gen 2024; 153:2314-2327. [PMID: 39088005 PMCID: PMC11377161 DOI: 10.1037/xge0001628] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/02/2024]
Abstract
One of the key human cognitive capabilities is to extract regularities from the environment to guide behavior. An attentional set for a target feature can be established through statistical learning of probabilistic target associations; however, whether an array of attentional sets of predictive target features can be established during intentional learning, and how they might guide attention, is not known yet. To address these questions, we had human observers perform a visual search task where we instructed them to try to use color to find their target shape. We structured the task with a fine-grained statistical regularity such that the target shapes appeared in different colors with five unique probabilities (i.e., 33%, 26%, 19%, 12%, and 5%) while we recorded their electroencephalogram. Observers rapidly learned these regularities, evidenced by being faster to report targets that appeared in higher probability colors. These effects were not due to unequal sample sizes or simple feature priming. More importantly, equivalent speeding across a set of high-probability colors suggests that the brain was driving attention to multiple targets simultaneously. Our electrophysiological results showed larger amplitude N2 posterior contralateral component, indexing perceptual attention, and late positive complex (LPC) component, indexing postperceptual processes, for targets paired with high-probability colors. These electrophysiological data suggest that the learned attentional sets change both perceptual selection and how postperceptual decisions are made. In sum, we show that multiple attentional sets can be established during intentional learning that accompanies general task acquisition and that these attentional sets can simultaneously guide attention by enhancing both perceptual attention and postperceptual processes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
- Sisi Wang
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University
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6
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Bays PM, Schneegans S, Ma WJ, Brady TF. Representation and computation in visual working memory. Nat Hum Behav 2024; 8:1016-1034. [PMID: 38849647 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-024-01871-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2022] [Accepted: 03/22/2024] [Indexed: 06/09/2024]
Abstract
The ability to sustain internal representations of the sensory environment beyond immediate perception is a fundamental requirement of cognitive processing. In recent years, debates regarding the capacity and fidelity of the working memory (WM) system have advanced our understanding of the nature of these representations. In particular, there is growing recognition that WM representations are not merely imperfect copies of a perceived object or event. New experimental tools have revealed that observers possess richer information about the uncertainty in their memories and take advantage of environmental regularities to use limited memory resources optimally. Meanwhile, computational models of visuospatial WM formulated at different levels of implementation have converged on common principles relating capacity to variability and uncertainty. Here we review recent research on human WM from a computational perspective, including the neural mechanisms that support it.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul M Bays
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | | | - Wei Ji Ma
- Center for Neural Science and Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Timothy F Brady
- Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
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7
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Kardosh N, Waugh C, Mikels J, Mor N. Simultaneous maintenance of emotions in affective working memory. Cogn Emot 2024; 38:624-634. [PMID: 38318882 DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2024.2310160] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2023] [Accepted: 01/20/2024] [Indexed: 02/07/2024]
Abstract
Affective Working Memory (AWM) is the ability to maintain an emotion after the emotion-eliciting stimulus is no longer present. Emotions are dynamic, and emotion-eliciting stimuli are encountered simultaneously and sequentially. Therefore, this research aimed to examine AWM when more than one emotion is being maintained. We aimed to re-examine previous findings, that people are better at maintaining positive than negative emotions in the context of dynamic presentations of multiple stimuli. We introduce a modified maintenance task, and present a novel metric that models the latent maintenance processes to acquire an accurate measure of AWM. Participants (N = 49) were asked to complete the study online. On each trial, participants were presented with a sequence of three images, and were asked to compare the intensity of the emotion elicited by image 1 to image 3, whilst maintaining the emotion elicited by image 2 to rate it at the end of the trial. The results showed that people are successful at simultaneously maintaining two emotions in AWM, and they replicate previous findings concerning the advantage of maintaining positive compared to negative emotions. Overall, the study highlights the complexity of AWM and provides insight into the processes involved in maintaining multiple emotions simultaneously.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nour Kardosh
- School of Education, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Christian Waugh
- Psychology Department, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, USA
| | - Joseph Mikels
- Psychology Department, DePaul University, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Nilly Mor
- School of Education, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
- Psychology Department, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
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8
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Che X, Lian H, Zhang F, Li S, Zheng Y. The Reactivation of working memory representations affects attentional guidance. Psychophysiology 2024; 61:e14514. [PMID: 38183326 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14514] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2022] [Revised: 11/19/2023] [Accepted: 12/19/2023] [Indexed: 01/08/2024]
Abstract
Recent studies have suggested that the neural activity that supported working memory (WM) storage is dynamic over time and this dynamic storage decides memory performance. Does the temporal dynamic of the WM representation also affect visual search, and how does it interact with distractor suppression over time? To address these issues, we tracked the time course of the reactivation of WM representations during visual search by analyzing the electroencephalogram (EEG) and event-related optical signals (EROS) in Experiments 1 and 2, respectively, and investigated the interaction between the representation reactivation and distractor suppression in Experiment 3. Participants had to maintain a color in WM under high- or low-precision requirement and perform a subsequent search task. The reactivation of WM representations was defined by the above-chance decoding accuracy. The EEG results showed that compared with the low-precision requirement, WM-matching distractors captured more attention and the WM representation were reactivated more frequently under high-precision requirement. The EROS results showed that compared with the low-precision requirement, the increased activity in occipital cortex in the WM-matching versus WM-mismatching conditions was observed at 224 ms during visual search under high-precision requirement. Regression analysis showed that the representation reactivation during visual search directly predicted the behavioral WM-based attentional capture effect, while the representation reactivation before visual search impacted the WM-based attentional capture effect through the mediation of distractor suppression during visual search. These results suggest that the reactivation of WM representations and distractor suppression collectively determine WM-based attentional capture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaowei Che
- Department of Psychology, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, P. R. China
- School of Information Science and Engineering, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, P. R. China
| | - Haomin Lian
- Department of Psychology, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, P. R. China
| | - Feiyan Zhang
- School of Information Science and Engineering, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, P. R. China
| | - Shouxin Li
- Department of Psychology, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, P. R. China
| | - Yuanjie Zheng
- School of Information Science and Engineering, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, P. R. China
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9
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Linde-Domingo J, Spitzer B. Geometry of visuospatial working memory information in miniature gaze patterns. Nat Hum Behav 2024; 8:336-348. [PMID: 38110511 PMCID: PMC10896725 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-023-01737-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2023] [Accepted: 09/25/2023] [Indexed: 12/20/2023]
Abstract
Stimulus-dependent eye movements have been recognized as a potential confound in decoding visual working memory information from neural signals. Here we combined eye-tracking with representational geometry analyses to uncover the information in miniature gaze patterns while participants (n = 41) were cued to maintain visual object orientations. Although participants were discouraged from breaking fixation by means of real-time feedback, small gaze shifts (<1°) robustly encoded the to-be-maintained stimulus orientation, with evidence for encoding two sequentially presented orientations at the same time. The orientation encoding on stimulus presentation was object-specific, but it changed to a more object-independent format during cued maintenance, particularly when attention had been temporarily withdrawn from the memorandum. Finally, categorical reporting biases increased after unattended storage, with indications of biased gaze geometries already emerging during the maintenance periods before behavioural reporting. These findings disclose a wealth of information in gaze patterns during visuospatial working memory and indicate systematic changes in representational format when memory contents have been unattended.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juan Linde-Domingo
- Research Group Adaptive Memory and Decision Making, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany.
- Center for Adaptive Rationality, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany.
- Mind, Brain and Behavior Research Center, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
| | - Bernhard Spitzer
- Research Group Adaptive Memory and Decision Making, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany.
- Center for Adaptive Rationality, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany.
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10
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Park HB, Zhang W. The dynamics of attentional guidance by working memory contents. Cognition 2024; 242:105638. [PMID: 37839251 PMCID: PMC10843273 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105638] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2022] [Revised: 07/16/2023] [Accepted: 10/05/2023] [Indexed: 10/17/2023]
Abstract
Working memory (WM) contents can guide attention toward matching sensory information in the environment, but there are mixed findings regarding whether only a single prioritized item or multiple items held in WM can guide attention. The present study examines the limit of WM-guided attention with a novel task procedure and mouse trajectory analysis. Specifically, we introduced a perceptual-matching task utilizing the continuous estimation procedure within the maintenance interval of a WM task for one or two colors. We found that the overall perceptual matching mouse trajectory were robustly biased toward the location of WM-match color on the color-wheel (i.e., attraction bias), but only at memory set size one. However, the analysis of circular mouse trajectory distributions, through hierarchical Bayesian modeling, revealed two separable central peaks at both memory set sizes. Furthermore, model-free analysis demonstrated that the perceptual matching mouse trajectory patterns were similar regardless of memory set sizes. Together, these results support the single-item account and highlight the utility of mouse trajectory analyses in hypothesis testing in experimental psychology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hyung-Bum Park
- Institute for Mind and Biology, The University of Chicago, Biopsychological Sciences Building (BPSB), 940 E 57th St., Chicago, IL 60637, USA; Department of Psychology, University of California, 900 University Ave., Riverside, CA 92521, USA.
| | - Weiwei Zhang
- Department of Psychology, University of California, 900 University Ave., Riverside, CA 92521, USA
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11
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Grubert A, Eimer M. Do We Prepare for What We Predict? How Target Expectations Affect Preparatory Attentional Templates and Target Selection in Visual Search. J Cogn Neurosci 2023; 35:1919-1935. [PMID: 37713670 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_02054] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/17/2023]
Abstract
Visual search is guided by representations of target-defining features (attentional templates) that are activated in a preparatory fashion. Here, we investigated whether these template activation processes are modulated by probabilistic expectations about upcoming search targets. We tracked template activation while observers prepared to search for one or two possible color-defined targets by measuring N2pc components (markers of attentional capture) to task-irrelevant color probes flashed every 200 msec during the interval between search displays. These probes elicit N2pcs only if the corresponding color template is active at the time when the probe appears. Probe N2pcs emerged from about 600 msec before search display onset. They did not differ between one-color and two-color search, indicating that two color templates can be activated concurrently. Critically, probe N2pcs measured during two-color search were identical for probes matching an expected or unexpected color (target color probability: 80% vs. 20%), or one of two equally likely colors. This strongly suggests that probabilistic target color expectations had no impact on search preparation. In marked contrast, subsequent target selection processes were strongly affected by these expectations. We discuss possible explanations for this clear dissociation in the effects of expectations on preparatory search template activation and search target selection, respectively.
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12
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Panitz C, Keil A, Müller MM. Sustained selective attention to chromatic information enhances visuocortical gain at the population level. Eur J Neurosci 2023; 58:3518-3530. [PMID: 37560804 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.16113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2023] [Revised: 07/24/2023] [Accepted: 07/24/2023] [Indexed: 08/11/2023]
Abstract
Prior work in selective attention research has shown that colour-selective attention enhances neural activity in visuocortical areas sensitive to the attended colour while suppressing activity in areas sensitive to ignored colours. However, it is currently unclear whether this effect is limited to attending to specific colour hues or extends to chromatic information more broadly. To investigate this question, we used steady-state visual evoked potentials (ssVEPs) frequency tagging to quantify participants' visuocortical responses to specific elements embedded in arrays of flickering, randomly moving mid-complex patterns. Participants were instructed to attend to either coloured or greyscale patterns while ignoring the others. We found that attending to either coloured or greyscale patterns produced robust increases in ssVEP amplitudes both compared to ignored stimuli and to baseline. There was however no evidence of suppressed responses to ignored patterns. These findings demonstrate that attentional selection based on the presence or absence of chromatic information prompts selectively enhanced visuocortical processing but this selective amplification is not accompanied by suppression of unattended stimuli. Findings are consistent with theoretical notions that predict strong competition between specific exemplars within a given feature dimension, such as red or green, but weak competition between broadly defined stimulus categories, such as chromatic versus non-chromatic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian Panitz
- Department of Psychology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
- Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
- Department of Psychology, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
| | - Andreas Keil
- Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
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13
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Liang X, Wu Z, Yue Z. The association of targets modulates the search efficiency in multitarget searches. Atten Percept Psychophys 2023; 85:1888-1904. [PMID: 37568033 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-023-02771-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/24/2023] [Indexed: 08/13/2023]
Abstract
Previous studies have found that distractors can affect visual search efficiency when associated with the target in a single-target search. However, multitarget searches are frequently necessary in daily life. In the present study, we examined how the association of targets in a multitarget search affected performance when searching for two targets simultaneously (Experiment 1). In addition, we explored whether the association affected switch cost (Experiment 2) and preparation cost (Experiment 3). Participants were required to learn associations between different colors or shapes and then performed feature search and conjunction search tasks. For all experiments, the results of search efficiency showed that for conjunction search, the search efficiency under the associated condition was significantly higher than that under the neutral condition. Similarly, the response times in the associated condition were significantly faster than those in the neutral condition under the conjunction search condition in Experiments 1 and 2. However, in Experiment 3, the response times in the associated condition were longer than those in the neutral condition. These results indicate that the association between targets can improve the efficiency of multitarget searches. Furthermore, associations can reduce the time spent searching for individual targets and the switch cost; however, the preparation cost increases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinxian Liang
- Department of Psychology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience and Mental Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510006, China
| | - Zehua Wu
- Department of Psychology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience and Mental Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510006, China
| | - Zhenzhu Yue
- Department of Psychology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience and Mental Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510006, China.
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14
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Torres RE, Emrich SM, Campbell KL. Age differences in the use of positive and negative cues to filter distracting information from working memory. Atten Percept Psychophys 2023; 85:1207-1218. [PMID: 37012577 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-023-02695-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/08/2023] [Indexed: 04/05/2023]
Abstract
Previous research has demonstrated that as people age, visual working memory (VWM) declines. One potential explanation for this decline is that older adults are less able to ignore irrelevant information, which contributes to VWM filtering deficits. Most research examining age differences in filtering ability has used positive cues (indicating which items to pay attention to), but negative cues (indicating which items to ignore) may be even harder for older adults to implement as some work suggests that negatively cued items are first paid attention to before they are suppressed. The current study aimed to test whether older adults can use negative cues to filter irrelevant information from VWM. Across two experiments, young and older adults were presented with two (Experiment 1) or four (Experiment 2) display items, preceded by a neutral, negative, or positive cue. After a delay, participants reported the target's orientation in a continuous-response task. Results show that both groups benefitted from being provided with a cue (positive or negative) compared to no cue (i.e., neutral condition), but the benefit was smaller for negative cues. Thus, although negative cues aid in filtering of VWM, they are less effective than positive cues, possibly due to residual attention being directed towards distractor items.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rosa E Torres
- Department of Psychology, Brock University, 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, St. Catharines, ON, L2S 3A1, Canada.
| | - Stephen M Emrich
- Department of Psychology, Brock University, 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, St. Catharines, ON, L2S 3A1, Canada
| | - Karen L Campbell
- Department of Psychology, Brock University, 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, St. Catharines, ON, L2S 3A1, Canada
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15
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Plater L, Nyman S, Joubran S, Al-Aidroos N. Repetition enhances the effects of activated long-term memory. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2023; 76:621-631. [PMID: 35400220 PMCID: PMC9936439 DOI: 10.1177/17470218221095755] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Recent research indicates that visual long-term memory (vLTM) representations directly interface with perception and guide attention. This may be accomplished through a state known as activated LTM, however, little is known about the nature of activated LTM. Is it possible to enhance the attentional effects of these activated representations? And furthermore, is activated LTM discrete (i.e., a representation is either active or not active, but only active representations interact with perception) or continuous (i.e., there are different levels within the active state that all interact with perception)? To answer these questions, in the present study, we measured intrusion effects during a modified Sternberg task. Participants saw two lists of three complex visual objects, were cued that only one list was relevant for the current trial (the other list was, thus, irrelevant), and then their memory for the cued list was probed. Critically, half of the trials contained repeat objects (shown 10 times each), and half of the trials contained non-repeat objects (shown only once each). Results indicated that repetition enhanced activated LTM, as the intrusion effect (i.e., longer reaction times to irrelevant list objects than novel objects) was larger for repeat trials compared with non-repeat trials. These initial findings provide preliminary support that LTM activation is continuous, as the intrusion effect was not the same size for repeat and non-repeat trials. We conclude that researchers should repeat stimuli to increase the size of their effects and enhance how LTM representations interact with perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lindsay Plater
- Lindsay Plater, Department of Psychology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1.
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16
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Long-term memory and working memory compete and cooperate to guide attention. Atten Percept Psychophys 2022:10.3758/s13414-022-02593-1. [PMID: 36303020 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-022-02593-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Multiple types of memory guide attention: Both long-term memory (LTM) and working memory (WM) effectively guide visual search. Furthermore, both types of memories can capture attention automatically, even when detrimental to performance. It is less clear, however, how LTM and WM cooperate or compete to guide attention in the same task. In a series of behavioral experiments, we show that LTM and WM reliably cooperate to guide attention: Visual search is faster when both memories cue attention to the same spatial location (relative to when only one memory can guide attention). LTM and WM competed to guide attention in more limited circumstances: Competition only occurred when these memories were in different dimensions - particularly when participants searched for a shape and held an accessory color in mind. Finally, we found no evidence for asymmetry in either cooperation or competition: There was no evidence that WM helped (or hindered) LTM-guided search more than the other way around. This lack of asymmetry was found despite differences in LTM-guided and WM-guided search overall, and differences in how two LTMs and two WMs compete or cooperate with each other to guide attention. This work suggests that, even if only one memory is currently task-relevant, WM and LTM can cooperate to guide attention; they can also compete when distracting features are salient enough. This work elucidates interactions between WM and LTM during attentional guidance, adding to the literature on costs and benefits to attention from multiple active memories.
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A ventral stream-prefrontal cortex processing cascade enables working memory gating dynamics. Commun Biol 2022; 5:1086. [PMID: 36224253 PMCID: PMC9556714 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-04048-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2022] [Accepted: 09/29/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The representation of incoming information, goals and the flexible processing of these are required for cognitive control. Efficient mechanisms are needed to decide when it is important that novel information enters working memory (WM) and when these WM 'gates' have to be closed. Compared to neural foundations of maintaining information in WM, considerably less is known about what neural mechanisms underlie the representational dynamics during WM gating. Using different EEG analysis methods, we trace the path of mental representations along the human cortex during WM gate opening and closing. We show temporally nested representational dynamics during WM gate opening and closing depending on multiple independent neural activity profiles. These activity profiles are attributable to a ventral stream-prefrontal cortex processing cascade. The representational dynamics start in the ventral stream during WM gate opening and WM gate closing before prefrontal cortical regions are modulated. A regional specific activity profile is shown within the prefrontal cortex depending on whether WM gates are opened or closed, matching overarching concepts of prefrontal cortex functions. The study closes an essential conceptual gap detailing the neural dynamics underlying how mental representations drive the WM gate to open or close to enable WM functions such as updating and maintenance.
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Learned distractor rejection persists across target search in a different dimension. Atten Percept Psychophys 2022; 85:785-795. [PMID: 36045310 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-022-02559-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Attention is guided by several factors, including task-relevant target features, which attract attention, but also statistical regularities associated distractors, which repel attention away from themselves. However, whether feature-based distractor regularities (e.g., color) are extracted automatically from a feature dimension orthogonal to the target-guiding dimension (e.g., shape) remains to be tested. In two experiments, we tested if learned distractor rejection by color operated when color was not part of the attentional control settings, specifically, while attention was guided by a shape-based target template. Participants performed a visual search task for a task-relevant shape in displays containing two unsegregated colors. These displays allowed us to manipulate target guidance (based on shape) independently from distractor-based regularities (based on color). In both experiments we found clear evidence for learned distractor rejection: faster mean response times to locate the target when a consistent distractor color was present than when it was absent. Critically, these task-irrelevant learned distractor rejection effects were robust despite strong target guidance by an orthogonal search dimension. These findings corroborate recent demonstrations of learned distractor rejection during strong target guidance, indicating that learned distractor rejection and target guidance can operate on separate feature dimensions.
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Fan L, Diao L, Xu M, Zhang X. Multiple representations in visual working memory can simultaneously guide attention. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s12144-022-03332-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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20
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Oculomotor suppression of abrupt onsets versus color singletons. Atten Percept Psychophys 2022; 85:613-633. [PMID: 35701658 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-022-02524-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
There is considerable evidence that salient items can be suppressed in order to prevent attentional capture. However, this evidence has relied almost exclusively on paradigms using color singletons as salient distractors. It is therefore unclear whether other kinds of salient stimuli, such as abrupt onsets, can also be suppressed. Using an additional singleton paradigm optimized for detecting oculomotor suppression, we directly compared color singletons with abrupt onsets. Participants searched for a target shape (e.g., green diamond) and attempted to ignore salient distractors that were either abrupt onsets or color singletons. First eye movements were used to assess whether salient distractors captured attention or were instead suppressed. Initial experiments using a type of abrupt onset from classic attentional capture studies (four white dots) revealed that abrupt onsets strongly captured attention whereas color singletons were suppressed. After controlling for important differences between the onsets and color singletons - such as luminance and color - abrupt-onset capture was reduced but not eliminated. We ultimately conclude that abrupt onsets are not suppressed like color singletons.
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Trial-by-trial mouse trajectory predicts variance in precision across working memory representations: A critical reanalysis of Hao et al. (2021). Psychon Bull Rev 2022; 29:2181-2191. [PMID: 35668294 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-022-02128-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Multiple representations in visual working memory (VWM) can vary in mnemonic precision. This inhomogeneity of VWM precision has received some support from recent studies with the whole-report procedure, in which all memory items are recalled in free or forced orders. Recently, Hao et al. (2021, Cognition, 214, 104739) added a novel item-selection stage before each memory recall and found smaller between-trial variance in mouse trajectory during the selection stage in free-recall condition as compared with forced recall, which was taken as evidence for less between-item interference and the resulting precision benefit under free recall. Here, we reanalyzed the original dataset with a different analytic approach and attempted independent hypothesis testing focusing on within-trial trajectory deviations. We found that the direction of trial-by-trial trajectory bias for the first to-be-recalled item was predictive of the relative mnemonic precision of the remaining items. Critically, this relationship was only present for forced recall but not for free recall. Hierarchical Bayesian modeling of recall errors further identified that this relationship was selectively driven by VWM precision. Together, our reanalysis provides evidence for the source of between-item interference and its direct association with variable precision of VWM representations, and further highlights the novel methodological benefits of probing memory decisional processes using mouse trajectory data.
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22
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Testing the underlying processes leading to learned distractor rejection: Learned oculomotor avoidance. Atten Percept Psychophys 2022; 84:1964-1981. [PMID: 35386017 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-022-02483-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Target templates stored in visual memory guide visual attention toward behaviorally relevant target objects. Visual attention also is guided away from nontarget distractors by longer-term learning, a phenomenon termed "learned distractor rejection." Template guidance and learned distractor rejection can occur simultaneously to further increase search efficiency. However, the underlying processes guiding learned distractor rejection are unknown. In two visual search experiments employing eye-tracking, we tested between two plausible processes: proactive versus reactive attentional control. Participants searched through two-color, spatially unsegregated displays. Participants could guide attention by both target templates and consistent nontarget distractors. We observed fewer distractor fixations (including the first eye movement) and shorter distractor dwell times. The data supported a single mechanism of learned distractor rejection, whereby observers adopted a learned, proactive attentional control setting to avoid distraction whenever possible. Further, when distraction occurred, observers rapidly recovered. We term this proactive mechanism "learned oculomotor avoidance." The current study informs theories of visual attention by demonstrating the underlying processes leading to learned distractor suppression during strong target guidance.
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23
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Plater L, Dube B, Giammarco M, Donaldson K, Miller K, Al-Aidroos N. Revisiting the role of visual working memory in attentional control settings. VISUAL COGNITION 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2022.2044949] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Lindsay Plater
- Department of Psychology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
| | - Blaire Dube
- Department of Psychology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
| | - Maria Giammarco
- Department of Psychology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
| | - Kirsten Donaldson
- Department of Psychology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
| | - Krista Miller
- Department of Psychology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
| | - Naseem Al-Aidroos
- Department of Psychology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
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Abstract
Representations held in working memory are crucial in guiding human attention in a goal-directed fashion. Currently, it is debated whether only a single representation or several of these representations can be active and bias behavior at any given moment. In the present study, 25 university students performed a behavioral dense-sampling experiment to produce an estimate of the temporal-activation patterns of two simultaneously held visual templates. We report two key novel results. First, performance related to both representations was not continuous but fluctuated rhythmically at 6 Hz. This corresponds to neural oscillations in the theta band, the functional importance of which in working memory is well established. Second, our findings suggest that two concurrently held representations may be prioritized in alternation, not simultaneously. Our data extend recent research on rhythmic sampling of external information by demonstrating an analogous mechanism in the cyclic activation of internal working memory representations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ulrich Pomper
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, University of Vienna
| | - Ulrich Ansorge
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, University of Vienna.,Cognitive Science Research Hub, University of Vienna.,Research Platform Mediatised Lifeworlds, University of Vienna
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25
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Attention expedites target selection by prioritizing the neural processing of distractor features. Commun Biol 2021; 4:814. [PMID: 34188169 PMCID: PMC8242025 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-021-02305-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2020] [Accepted: 06/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Whether doing the shopping, or driving the car – to navigate daily life, our brain has to rapidly identify relevant color signals among distracting ones. Despite a wealth of research, how color attention is dynamically adjusted is little understood. Previous studies suggest that the speed of feature attention depends on the time it takes to enhance the neural gain of cortical units tuned to the attended feature. To test this idea, we had human participants switch their attention on the fly between unpredicted target color alternatives, while recording the electromagnetic brain response to probes matching the target, a non-target, or a distracting alternative target color. Paradoxically, we observed a temporally prioritized processing of distractor colors. A larger neural modulation for the distractor followed by its stronger attenuation expedited target identification. Our results suggest that dynamic adjustments of feature attention involve the temporally prioritized processing and elimination of distracting feature representations. In order to investigate underlying mechanisms of color attention, Bartsch et al measured electromagnetic brain responses in participants who were challenged to switch their attention in accordance with unpredicted target colors changes in the absence or presence of ‘distractor colors’. They demonstrated that dynamic adjustments of feature attention involve the temporally prioritized processing and elimination of distracting feature representations.
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Bahle B, Kershner AM, Hollingworth A. Categorical cuing: Object categories structure the acquisition of statistical regularities to guide visual search. J Exp Psychol Gen 2021; 150:2552-2566. [PMID: 33829823 DOI: 10.1037/xge0001059] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Recent statistical regularities have been demonstrated to influence visual search across a wide variety of learning mechanisms and search features. To function in the guidance of real-world search, however, such learning must be contingent on the context in which the search occurs and the object that is the target of search. The former has been studied extensively under the rubric of contextual cuing. Here, we examined, for the first time, categorical cuing: The role of object categories in structuring the acquisition of statistical regularities used to guide visual search. After an exposure session in which participants viewed six exemplars with the same general color in each of 40 different real-world categories, they completed a categorical search task, in which they searched for any member of a category based on a label cue. Targets that matched recent within-category regularities were found faster than targets that did not (Experiment 1). Such categorical cuing was also found to span multiple recent colors within a category (Experiment 2). It was observed to influence both the guidance of search to the target object (Experiment 3) and the basic operation of assigning single exemplars to categories (Experiment 4). Finally, the rapid acquisition of category-specific regularities was also quickly modified, with the benefit rapidly decreasing during the search session as participants were exposed equally to the two possible colors in each category. The results demonstrate that object categories organize the acquisition of perceptual regularities and that this learning exerts strong control over the instantiation of the category representation as a template for visual search. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
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EEG cross-frequency phase synchronization as an index of memory matching in visual search. Neuroimage 2021; 235:117971. [PMID: 33839263 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.117971] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2020] [Revised: 03/02/2021] [Accepted: 03/05/2021] [Indexed: 01/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Visual perception is influenced by our expectancies about incoming sensory information. It is assumed that mental templates of expected sensory input are created and compared to actual input, which can be matching or not. When such mental templates are held in working memory, cross-frequency phase synchronization (CFS) between theta and gamma band activity has been proposed to serve matching processes between prediction and sensation. We investigated how this is affected by the number of activated templates that could be matched by comparing conditions where participants had to keep either one or multiple templates in mind for successful visual search. We found a transient CFS between EEG theta and gamma activity in an early time window around 150 ms after search display presentation, in right hemispheric parietal cortex. Our results suggest that for single template conditions, stronger transient theta-gamma CFS at posterior sites contralateral to target presentation can be observed than for multiple templates. This can be interpreted as evidence to the idea of sequential attentional templates. But mainly, it is understood in line with previous theoretical accounts strongly arguing for transient synchronization between posterior theta and gamma phase as a neural correlate of matching incoming sensory information with contents from working memory and as evidence for limitations in memory matching during multiple template search.
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Allocation of resources in working memory: Theoretical and empirical implications for visual search. Psychon Bull Rev 2021; 28:1093-1111. [PMID: 33733298 PMCID: PMC8367923 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-021-01881-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/08/2021] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Recently, working memory (WM) has been conceptualized as a limited resource, distributed flexibly and strategically between an unlimited number of representations. In addition to improving the precision of representations in WM, the allocation of resources may also shape how these representations act as attentional templates to guide visual search. Here, we reviewed recent evidence in favor of this assumption and proposed three main principles that govern the relationship between WM resources and template-guided visual search. First, the allocation of resources to an attentional template has an effect on visual search, as it may improve the guidance of visual attention, facilitate target recognition, and/or protect the attentional template against interference. Second, the allocation of the largest amount of resources to a representation in WM is not sufficient to give this representation the status of attentional template and thus, the ability to guide visual search. Third, the representation obtaining the status of attentional template, whether at encoding or during maintenance, receives an amount of WM resources proportional to its relevance for visual search. Thus defined, the resource hypothesis of visual search constitutes a parsimonious and powerful framework, which provides new perspectives on previous debates and complements existing models of template-guided visual search.
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Visual Working Memory Guides Spatial Attention: Evidence from alpha oscillations and sustained potentials. Neuropsychologia 2020; 151:107719. [PMID: 33309675 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107719] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2020] [Revised: 12/04/2020] [Accepted: 12/07/2020] [Indexed: 01/30/2023]
Abstract
Selective attention can facilitate performance by filtering irrelevant information and temporary maintaining limited information to accomplish the current task. However, the neural substrate how attentional selection can be guided by visual working memory (vWM) is not clear. Here, we recorded electrophysiological signals during vWM retention and investigated the relationship between objects held in memorial templates and the subsequent attentional selection during visual search. We observed that sustained posterior contralateral delay activity (CDA) was present and scaled with lateral vWM loads during the whole period of vWM retention, but that it was absent when objects were bilaterally held in vWM. Surprisingly, a strikingly similar pattern emerged for modulations in the averaged posterior alpha (8-12 Hz) power during the late period but not during the early period of retention. More importantly, it was the alpha modulation, but not the CDA, that strongly predicted the subsequent biomarker of attentional selection (the memorial template-induced N2pc) during visual search. We further observed the N2pc amplitudes decreased with increasing memory loads and predicted the same gradation of the final behavioral accuracy in visual search. All these results suggested that the subsequent memorial template-induced N2pc is response to the level of top-down attentional guiding effect caused by vWM. Our results provide neurophysiological evidence that keeping multiple templates in working memory simultaneously weakens the guiding effect to the following attentional selection.
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Prioritization within visual working memory reflects a flexible focus of attention. Atten Percept Psychophys 2020; 82:2985-3004. [PMID: 32488643 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-020-02049-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
When motivated, people can keep nonrecent items in a list active during the presentation of new items, facilitating fast and accurate recall of the earlier items. It has been proposed that this occurs by flexibly orienting attention to a single prioritized list item, thus increasing the amount of attention-based maintenance directed toward this item at the expense of other items. This is manipulated experimentally by associating a single distinct feature with a higher reward value, such as a single red item in a list of black items. These findings may be more parsimoniously explained under a distinctiveness of encoding framework rather than a flexible attention allocation framework. The retrieval advantage for the prioritized list position may be because the incongruent feature stands out in the list perceptually and causes it to become better encoded. Across three visual working memory experiments, we contrast a flexible attention theory against a distinctiveness of encoding theory by manipulating the reward value associated with the incongruent feature. Findings from all three experiments show strong support in favor of the flexible attention theory and no support for the distinctiveness of encoding theory. We also evaluate and find no evidence that strategy use, motivation, or tiredness/fatigue associated with reward value can adequately explain flexible prioritization of attention. Flexible attentional prioritization effects may be best understood under the context of an online attentional refreshing mechanism.
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Wang H, Or CKL. Effects of Text Enhancement, Identical Prescription-Package Names, Visual Cues, and Verbal Provocation on Visual Searches of Look-Alike Drug Names: A Simulation and Eye-Tracking Study. HUMAN FACTORS 2020; 62:1102-1116. [PMID: 31465699 DOI: 10.1177/0018720819870700] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Simulation and eye tracking were used to examine the effects of text enhancement, identical prescription-package names, visual cues, and verbal provocation on visual searches of look-alike drug names. BACKGROUND Look-alike drug names can cause confusion and medication errors, which jeopardize patient safety. The effectiveness of many strategies that may prevent these problems requires evaluation. METHOD We conducted two experiments that were based on a four-way, repeated-measures design. The within-subject factors were text enhancement, identical prescription-package names, visual cues, and verbal provocation. In Experiment 1, 40 nurses searched for and selected a target drug from an array of drug packages on a pharmacy shelf mock-up. In Experiment 2, the eye movements of another 40 nurses were tracked while they performed a computer-based drug search task. RESULTS Text enhancement had no significant effect on the drug search. Nurses selected the target drugs more quickly and easily when the prescriptions and drug packages shared identical drug name formats. The use of a visual cue to direct nurses' attention facilitated their visual searches and improved their eye gaze behaviors. The nurses reported greater mental effort if they were provoked verbally during the drug search. CONCLUSION Efficient and practical strategies should be adopted for designs that facilitate accurate drug search. Among these strategies are using identical name appearances on drug prescriptions and packages, using a visual cue to direct nurses' attention, and avoiding rushing nurses while they are concentrating. APPLICATION The findings aim to inspire recommendations for work system designs that will improve the visual search of look-alike drug names.
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Abstract
In visual search tasks, observers look for targets among distractors. In the lab, this often takes the form of multiple searches for a simple shape that may or may not be present among other items scattered at random on a computer screen (e.g., Find a red T among other letters that are either black or red.). In the real world, observers may search for multiple classes of target in complex scenes that occur only once (e.g., As I emerge from the subway, can I find lunch, my friend, and a street sign in the scene before me?). This article reviews work on how search is guided intelligently. I ask how serial and parallel processes collaborate in visual search, describe the distinction between search templates in working memory and target templates in long-term memory, and consider how searches are terminated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeremy M. Wolfe
- Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
- Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
- Visual Attention Lab, Brigham & Women's Hospital, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
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Verbal Working Memory but Not Attention Is Related to Language Proficiency: Evidence from Multilingual Speakers. Psychol Belg 2020; 60:270-293. [PMID: 32944261 PMCID: PMC7473201 DOI: 10.5334/pb.525] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Numerous studies have shown a consistent relationship between verbal working memory (WM) and native-language as well as non-native language learning abilities. However, the role of attentional abilities has been rarely explored, although these abilities have been shown to be associated both with verbal working memory and oral language proficiency. This study investigated the association between WM, attention and language proficiency in young adults raised with three different languages (Luxembourgish, German and French). Auditory-verbal WM abilities were assessed via an immediate serial recall task. Attentional abilities were assessed via auditory-verbal and visuo-spatial attentional tasks. Using a Bayesian correlational approach, we observed robust evidence for an association between auditory-verbal WM abilities and non-native language proficiency. At the same time, we observed no reliable evidence in favor of an association between language proficiency and auditory-verbal/visuo-spatial attentional measures. These results suggest that auditory-verbal WM and non-native language proficiency are strongly linked in young multilingual adults, irrespective of auditory-verbal or visuo-spatial attentional abilities.
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34
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Attentional flexibility and prioritization improves long-term memory. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2020; 208:103104. [PMID: 32622150 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2020.103104] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2020] [Revised: 04/10/2020] [Accepted: 05/20/2020] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent evidence suggests the focus of attention (FoA) is a flexible resource within working memory (WM) used to temporarily maintain some information in a highly accessible state. This flexibility comes at the expense of other representations, demonstrating a resource trade-off in WM maintenance. The present experiments evaluate how flexibility within the FoA impacts long-term memory (LTM) for semantically meaningful information. A WM probe-recognition task was used in which two items were presented in black and a single item was presented in red. To encourage the prioritization and uninterrupted preferential maintenance of specific items, a process we call online refreshing, the red item was associated with a greater point-reward value than were the black items. This WM task was followed by a surprise delayed LTM test. In Experiment 1, the FoA flexibly adjusted to maintain non-recent semantic information with evidence for a resource trade-off across list positions. Flexibility also directly improved LTM. In Experiment 2, reward value was equated across red and black items to evaluate whether an alternative explanation, distinctiveness of encoding, could account for the LTM findings. When reward value was equated, the cued item did not encourage flexible orienting of the FoA toward non-recent items and there was no benefit of the distinct red item on LTM performance. While supportive of past research, these data further demonstrate that semantic information can be flexibly prioritized at the expense of other list positions and that this is directly tied to improvements in LTM.
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35
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Three visual working memory representations simultaneously control attention. Sci Rep 2020; 10:10504. [PMID: 32601295 PMCID: PMC7324568 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-67455-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2019] [Accepted: 06/02/2020] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
How many items can we store in visual working memory while simultaneously conducting a visual search? Previous research has proposed that during concurrent visual search, only one visual working memory representation can be activated to directly influence attention. This previous research suggests that other visual working memory representations are "accessory items", which have little direct influence on attention. However, recent findings provided evidence that not one, but two visual working memory representations can capture attention and interfere with concurrent visual search. We successfully replicate these findings, and further test whether the capacity of visual working memory during visual search extends to not two, but three representations that influence attention directly. We find evidence that three visual working memory representations can simultaneously control attention.
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36
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Affiliation(s)
- Eduard Ort
- Biological Psychology of Decision Making, Institute of Experimental Psychology, Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Germany
- Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Christian N. L. Olivers
- Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Institute for Brain and Behavior Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
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37
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Shi Y, Li H. How a crisis mindset activates implicit knowledge and brings it into awareness: The role of attentional switch cost. Conscious Cogn 2020; 82:102934. [PMID: 32413835 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2020.102934] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2019] [Revised: 02/14/2020] [Accepted: 04/08/2020] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
In this study, we relied on the attentional switch cost to ascertain whether a crisis mindset can activate and momentarily bring related implicit knowledge into awareness. We found that the attentional switch cost was higher in a crisis mindset condition than in a common mindset condition in which non-crisis-related stimuli were being attended to (Experiment 1). However, the attentional switch cost was lower in the crisis mindset condition when crisis-related stimuli were being attended to (Experiment 2A), and the reduced cost was not attributable to the complexity of the stimuli (Experiment 2B). A link emerged in the crisis mindset condition between the attentional switch cost and related implicit knowledge (Experiment 3A and 3B). Potential confounding factors were adequately controlled (see the Appendix). In conclusion, the results offer insight into the pivotal role of a crisis mindset. This finding delineates an alternative pathway in which implicit knowledge can be activated and brought into working memory once an event is perceived and interpreted as a crisis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yin Shi
- Department of Psychology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, China
| | - Hong Li
- Department of Psychology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, China.
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Concurrent guidance of attention by multiple working memory items: Behavioral and computational evidence. Atten Percept Psychophys 2020; 82:2950-2962. [PMID: 32394070 PMCID: PMC7381447 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-020-02048-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
During visual search, task-relevant representations in visual working memory (VWM), known as attentional templates, are assumed to guide attention. A current debate concerns whether only one (Single-Item-Template hypothesis; SIT) or multiple (Multiple-Item-Template hypothesis; MIT) items can serve as attentional templates simultaneously. The current study was designed to test these two hypotheses. Participants memorized two colors, prior to a visual-search task in which the target and the distractor could match or not match the colors held in VWM. Robust attentional guidance was observed when one of the memory colors was presented as the target (reduced response times (RTs) on target-match trials) or the distractor (increased RTs on distractor-match trials). We constructed two drift-diffusion models that implemented the MIT and SIT hypotheses, which are similar in their predictions about overall RTs, but differ in their predictions about RTs on individual trials. Critically, simulated RT distributions and error rates revealed a better match of the MIT hypothesis to the observed data than the SIT hypothesis. Taken together, our findings provide behavioral and computational evidence for the concurrent guidance of attention by multiple items in VWM.
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Abstract
Working memory bridges perception to action over extended delays, enabling flexible goal-directed behaviour. To date, studies of visual working memory – concerned with detailed visual representations such as shape and colour – have considered visual memory predominantly in the context of visual task demands, such as visual identification and search. Another key purpose of visual working memory is to directly inform and guide upcoming actions. Taking this as a starting point, I review emerging evidence for the pervasive bi-directional links between visual working memory and (planned) action, and discuss these links from the perspective of their common goal of enabling flexible and precise behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Freek van Ede
- Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
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40
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Prior target locations attract overt attention during search. Cognition 2020; 201:104282. [PMID: 32387723 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104282] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2019] [Revised: 03/25/2020] [Accepted: 03/27/2020] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
A key question about visual search is how we guide attention to objects that are relevant to our goals. Traditionally, theories of visual attention have emphasized guidance by explicit knowledge of the target feature. But there is growing evidence that attention is also implicitly guided by prior experience. One such example is the phenomenon of location priming, whereby attention is automatically allocated to the location where the search target was previously found. Problematically, much of the previous evidence for location priming has been disputed because it relies exclusively on manual response time, making unclear the relative contribution of location priming on attentional allocation and later cognitive processes. The current study addressed this issue by measuring shifts of gaze, which provide a more direct measure of attentional orienting. In five experiments, first saccades were strongly attracted to the target location from the previous trial, even though this location was not predictive of the target location on the current trial. This oculomotor priming effect was so strong that it effectively disrupted attentional guidance to the search target. The results suggest that memories of recent experience can powerfully influence attentional allocation.
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Bahle B, Thayer DD, Mordkoff JT, Hollingworth A. The architecture of working memory: Features from multiple remembered objects produce parallel, coactive guidance of attention in visual search. J Exp Psychol Gen 2020; 149:967-983. [PMID: 31589068 PMCID: PMC7136148 DOI: 10.1037/xge0000694] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Theories of working memory (WM) differ in their claims about the number of items that can be maintained in a state that directly interacts with other, ongoing cognitive operations (termed the focus of attention). A similar debate has arisen in the literature on visual working memory (VWM), focused on the number of items that can simultaneously interact with attentional priority. In 3 experiments, we used a redundancy-gain paradigm to provide a comprehensive test of the latter question. Participants searched for 2 cued features (e.g., a color and a shape) within a search array. The cued feature values changed on a trial-by-trial basis, requiring VWM. The target (when present) could match 1 of the cued features (single-target trials) or both cued features (redundant-target trials). We tested whether response time distributions contained a substantial proportion of trials with redundant-target responses that were faster than predicted by 2 independent guidance processes operating in parallel (i.e., violations of the race-model inequality). Violations are consistent with a coactive architecture in which both cued values guide attention in parallel and sum on the priority map. Robust violations were observed in all cases predicted by the hypothesis that multiple items in VWM can guide attention simultaneously, and these results were inconsistent with the hypothesis that guidance is limited to a single item simultaneously. When considered in the larger context of the literature on VWM and attention, the present results are consistent with a model of WM architecture in which the focus of attention can maintain multiple, independent representations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
- Brett Bahle
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
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42
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Grubert A, Eimer M. Preparatory Template Activation during Search for Alternating Targets. J Cogn Neurosci 2020; 32:1525-1535. [PMID: 32319869 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01565] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Visual search is guided by representations of target-defining features (attentional templates). We tracked the time course of template activation processes during the preparation for search in a task where the identity of color-defined search targets switched across successive trials (ABAB). Task-irrelevant color probes that matched either the upcoming relevant target color or the previous now-irrelevant target color were presented every 200 msec during the interval between search displays. N2pc components (markers of attentional capture) were measured for both types of probes at each time point. A reliable probe N2pc indicates that the corresponding color template is active at the time when the probe appears. N2pcs of equal size emerged from 1000 msec before search display onset for both relevant-color and irrelevant-color probes, demonstrating that both color templates were activated concurrently. Evidence for color-selective attentional control was found only immediately before the arrival of the search display, where N2pcs were larger for relevant-color probes. These results reveal important limitations in the executive control of search preparation in tasks where two targets alternate across trials. Although the identity of the upcoming target is fully predictable, both task-relevant and task-irrelevant target templates are coactivated. Knowledge about target identity selectively biases these template activation processes in a temporally discrete fashion, guided by temporal expectations about when the target template will become relevant.
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Rajsic J, Carlisle NB, Woodman GF. What not to look for: Electrophysiological evidence that searchers prefer positive templates. Neuropsychologia 2020; 140:107376. [PMID: 32032582 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107376] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2019] [Revised: 02/02/2020] [Accepted: 02/03/2020] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
To-be-attended information can be specified either with positive cues (I'll be wearing a blue shirt) or with negative cues (I won't be wearing a red shirt). Numerous experiments have found that positive cues help search more than negative cues. Given that negative cues produce smaller benefits compared to positive cues, it stands to reason that searchers may choose to use positive templates instead of negative templates if given the opportunity. Here, we evaluate this possibility with behavioral measures as well as by directly measuring the formation of positive and negative templates with event-related potentials. Analysis of the contralateral delay activity (CDA) elicited by cues revealed that positive and negative templates relied on working memory to the same extent, even when negative working memory templates could have been circumvented by relying on long-term memories of target colors. Whereas the CDA did not discriminate positive and negative templates, a CNV-like potential did, suggesting cognitive differences between positive and negative templates beyond visual working memory. However, when both positive and negative information were presented in each cue, participants preferred to make use of the positive cues, as indicated by a CDA contralateral to the positive color in negative cue blocks, and a lack of search benefits for positive- and negative-color cues relative to positive-color cues alone. Our results show that searchers elect to selectively encode only positive information into visual working memory when both positive and negative information are available.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jason Rajsic
- Department of Psychology, Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, NE1 8SG, UK.
| | - Nancy B Carlisle
- Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, 18015, USA
| | - Geoffrey F Woodman
- Department of Psychology, Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience, and Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37235, USA
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Walenchok SC, Goldinger SD, Hout MC. The confirmation and prevalence biases in visual search reflect separate underlying processes. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 2020; 46:274-291. [PMID: 32077742 PMCID: PMC7185152 DOI: 10.1037/xhp0000714] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Research by Rajsic, Wilson, and Pratt (2015, 2017) suggests that people are biased to use a target-confirming strategy when performing simple visual search. In 3 experiments, we sought to determine whether another stubborn phenomenon in visual search, the low-prevalence effect (Wolfe, Horowitz, & Kenner, 2005), would modulate this confirmatory bias. We varied the reliability of the initial cue: For some people, targets usually occurred in the cued color (high prevalence). For others, targets rarely matched the cues (low prevalence). High cue-target prevalence exacerbated the confirmation bias, indexed via search response times (RTs) and eye-tracking measures. Surprisingly, given low cue-target prevalence, people remained biased to examine cue-colored letters, even though cue-colored targets were exceedingly rare. At the same time, people were more fluent at detecting the more common, cue-mismatching targets. The findings suggest that attention is guided to "confirm" the more available cued target template, but prevalence learning over time determines how fluently objects are perceptually appreciated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
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Can you have multiple attentional templates? Large-scale replications of Van Moorselaar, Theeuwes, and Olivers (2014) and Hollingworth and Beck (2016). Atten Percept Psychophys 2020; 81:2700-2709. [PMID: 31309532 PMCID: PMC6856200 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-019-01791-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Stimuli that resemble the content of visual working memory (VWM) capture attention. However, theories disagree on how many VWM items can bias attention simultaneously. According to some theories, there is a distinction between active and passive states in VWM, such that only items held in an active state can bias attention. The single-item-template hypothesis holds that only one item can be in an active state and thus can bias attention. In contrast, the multiple-item-template hypothesis posits that multiple VWM items can be in an activate state simultaneously, and thus can bias attention. Recently, Van Moorselaar, Theeuwes, and Olivers (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 40(4):1450, 2014) and Hollingworth and Beck (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 42(7):911–917, 2016) tested these accounts, but obtained seemingly contradictory results. Van Moorselaar et al. (2014) found that a distractor in a visual-search task captured attention more when it matched the content of VWM (memory-driven capture). Crucially, memory-driven capture disappeared when more than one item was held in VWM, in line with the single-item-template hypothesis. In contrast, Hollingworth and Beck (2016) found memory-driven capture even when multiple items were kept in VWM, in line with the multiple-item-template hypothesis. Considering these mixed results, we replicated both studies with a larger sample, and found that all key results are reliable. It is unclear to what extent these divergent results are due to paradigm differences between the studies. We conclude that is crucial to our understanding of VWM to determine the boundary conditions under which memory-driven capture occurs.
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Kerzel D, Andres MKS. Object features reinstated from episodic memory guide attentional selection. Cognition 2020; 197:104158. [PMID: 31986352 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2019.104158] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2019] [Revised: 12/09/2019] [Accepted: 12/14/2019] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
When observers search for an object in the environment, they compare the incoming sensory information to the attentional template, a representation of the target in visual working memory (VWM). Previous studies have shown that visual search is more efficient when the attentional template is precise. We pursued the hypothesis that the attentional template in VWM is automatically complemented by features from long-term memory, possibly to increase its precision. At the beginning of the experiment, observers learned associations between shape and color. Then, we tested whether selecting one of these shapes was influenced by the previously associated color. To this end, we ran a saccadic selection task consisting of a memory and choice display. In the memory display, the target shape was presented at central fixation and participants were instructed to foveate this shape in the subsequent choice display. In the choice display, the target shape appeared together with a distractor shape at eccentric positions. Importantly, the target shape was colorless (gray) in the memory display so that only shape, but not color was loaded into VWM. However, saccades went more frequently to the target shape when it was shown in the learned color than when this color was shown in the distractor. Thus, the color of the target shape was reinstated from episodic memory to complement the attentional template in VWM.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dirk Kerzel
- Faculté de Psychologie et des Sciences de l'Education, Université de Genève, Switzerland.
| | - Maïté Kun-Sook Andres
- Faculté de Psychologie et des Sciences de l'Education, Université de Genève, Switzerland
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Liang T, Chen X, Ye C, Zhang J, Liu Q. Electrophysiological evidence supports the role of sustained visuospatial attention in maintaining visual WM contents. Int J Psychophysiol 2019; 146:54-62. [PMID: 31639381 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2019.09.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2019] [Revised: 08/13/2019] [Accepted: 09/26/2019] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Recent empirical and theoretical work suggests that there is a close relationship between visual working memory (WM) and visuospatial attention. Here, we investigated whether visuospatial attention was involved in maintaining object representations in visual WM. To this end, the alpha lateralization and contralateral delay activity (CDA) were analyzed as neural markers for visuospatial attention and visual WM storage, respectively. In the single-task condition, participants performed a grating change-detection task. To probe the role of visuospatial attention in maintaining WM contents, two color squares were presented above and below the fixation point during the retention interval, which remained visible until the detection display was present. In the dual-task condition, participants were required to maintain lateralized gratings while staring at the center-presented color squares, to detect possible subsequent color change. With this task, sustained visuospatial attention that guided to individual memory representations was disrupted. The behavioral data showed that, the insertion of secondary task significantly deteriorated WM performance. For electrophysiological data, we divided the retention interval into two stages, the early stage and late stage, bounded by the onset of the secondary task. We found that CDA amplitude was lower under the dual-task condition than the single-task condition during the late stage, but not the early stage, and the extent to which CDA reduced tracked the impaired memory performance at the individual level. Also, alpha lateralization only could be observed in the single-task condition of the late stage, and completely disappeared in the dual-task condition, indicating the disruption of visuospatial attention directed to memory representations. Individuals who experienced greater visuospatial attention disruption, as indicated by the alpha lateralization, had lower maintenance-associated neural activity (CDA), and suffered greater impairment of memory performance. These findings confirm that sustained visuospatial attention continues improving visual WM processing after the initial encoding phase, and most likely participates in this process by supporting the maintenance of representations in an active state.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tengfei Liang
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, 610000, China; Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian 116029, China
| | - Xiaoyu Chen
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian 116029, China
| | - Chaoxiong Ye
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, 610000, China; Department of Psychology, University of Jyvaskyla, Jyväskylä 40014, Finland
| | - Jiafeng Zhang
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian 116029, China
| | - Qiang Liu
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, 610000, China; Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian 116029, China.
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48
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Liu T. Feature-based attention: effects and control. Curr Opin Psychol 2019; 29:187-192. [PMID: 31015180 PMCID: PMC6756988 DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.03.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2018] [Revised: 03/07/2019] [Accepted: 03/19/2019] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Feature-based attention prioritizes the processing of non-spatial features across the visual field. Classical studies revealed a feature-similarity gain modulation of sensory neuron's activity. While early studies that quantified behavioral performance have provided support for this model, recent studies have revealed a non-monotonic, surround suppression effect in near feature space. The attentional suppression effects may give rise to a highly limited capacity when selecting multiple features, as documented by studies manipulating the number of attended features. These effects of feature-based attention are likely due to attentional control mechanisms exerting top-down modulations, which have been linked to neural signals in the dorsal frontoparietal network. The neural representation of attentional priority at multiple levels of the visual hierarchy thus shape visual perception and behavioral performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Taosheng Liu
- Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States.
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Concurrent evaluation of independently cued features during perceptual decisions and saccadic targeting in visual search. Atten Percept Psychophys 2019; 82:966-984. [PMID: 31502186 PMCID: PMC7303085 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-019-01854-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Simultaneous search for one of two targets is slower and less accurate than search for a single target. Within the Signal Detection Theoretic (SDT) framework, this can be attributed to the division of resources during the comparison of visual input against independently cued targets. The current study used one or two cues to elicit single- and dual-target searches for orientation targets among similar and dissimilar distractors. In Experiment 1, the accuracy of target discrimination in brief displays was compared at setsizes of 1, 2 and 4. Results revealed a reduction in accuracy that scaled with the product of set size and the number of cued targets. In Experiment 2, the accuracy and latency of observers’ saccadic targeting were compared. Fixations on single-target searches were highly selective towards the target. On dual-target searches, the requirement to detect one of two targets produced a significant reduction in target fixations and equivalent rates of fixations to distractors with opposite orientations. For most observers, the dual-target cost was predicted by an SDT model that simulated increases in decision-noise and the distribution of capacity-limited resources during the comparison of selected input against independently cued targets. For others, search accuracy was consistent with a single-item limit on perceptual decisions and saccadic targeting during search. These findings support a flexible account of the dual-target cost based on different strategies to resolve competition between independently cued targets.
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Guevara Pinto JD, Papesh MH. Incidental memory following rapid object processing: The role of attention allocation strategies. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 2019; 45:1174-1190. [PMID: 31219283 PMCID: PMC7202240 DOI: 10.1037/xhp0000664] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
When observers search for multiple (rather than singular) targets, they are slower and less accurate, yet have better incidental memory for nontarget items encountered during the task (Hout & Goldinger, 2010). One explanation for this may be that observers titrate their attention allocation based on the expected difficulty suggested by search cues. Difficult search cues may implicitly encourage observers to narrow their attention, simultaneously enhancing distractor encoding and hindering peripheral processing. Across three experiments, we manipulated the difficulty of search cues preceding passive visual search for real-world objects, using a Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) task to equate item exposure durations. In all experiments, incidental memory was enhanced for distractors encountered while participants monitored for difficult targets. Moreover, in key trials, peripheral shapes appeared at varying eccentricities off center, allowing us to infer the spread and precision of participants' attentional windows. Peripheral item detection and identification decreased when search cues were difficult, even when the peripheral items appeared before targets. These results were not an artifact of sustained vigilance in miss trials, but instead reflect top-down modulation of attention allocation based on task demands. Implications for individual differences are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
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