Interference in Immediate Spatial Memory: Shifts of Spatial Attention or Central executive Involvement?

1997 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl Christoph Klauer ◽  
Ralf Stegmaier
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Memory ◽  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Recall Performance ◽  
Central Executive ◽  
Pitch Discrimination ◽  
Interference Condition ◽  
Memory Experiment ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Spatial Interference

Interference in serial spatial memory was investigated in six experiments. Experiment 1 replicated Experiment 2 by Smyth and Scholey (1994) in showing that listening to tones that originated from different directions interfered with spatial memory. Experiment 2 showed, however, that the effect of mere listening was not observed when this was the only interference condition experienced by the subject. In Experiment 3, a binary pitch discrimination task performed on spatially separated tones impaired recall performance to the same extent as did left-right decisions. The same disrupting effect was also observed when the tones were presented from the same direction in the pitch discrimination task (Experiment 4) as well as in a binary loudness discrimination task (Experiment 5). Finally, repeating heard words did not interfere, whereas a pitch discrimination performed on these same words disrupted recall (Experiment 6). It is argued that the disrupting effects reflect not a specifically spatial interference, but a central executive involvement in the rehearsal process in serial spatial memory.

scholarly journals Hemifield-specific control of spatial attention and working memory: Evidence from hemifield crossover costs

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger W. Strong ◽  
George Alvarez
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Conclusive Evidence ◽  
Memory Experiment ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
Spatial Interference ◽  
Visual Hemifields ◽  
Specific Control

Attentional tracking and working memory tasks are often performed better when targets are divided evenly between the left and right visual hemifields, rather than contained within a single hemifield (Alvarez & Cavanagh, 2005; Delvenne, 2005). However, this bilateral field advantage does not provide conclusive evidence of hemifield-specific control of attention and working memory, as it can be explained solely from hemifield-limited spatial interference at early stages of visual processing. If control of attention and working memory is specific to each hemifield, maintaining target information should become more difficult as targets move between the two hemifields. Observers in the present study maintained targets that moved either within or between the left and right hemifields, using either attention (Experiment 1) or working memory (Experiment 2). Maintaining spatial information was more difficult when target items moved between the hemifields compared to when target items moved within their original hemifields, consistent with hemifield-specific control of spatial attention and working memory. However, this pattern was not found for maintaining identity information (e.g., color) in working memory (Experiment 3). Together, these results provide evidence that control of spatial attention and working memory is specific to each hemifield, and that hemifield-specific control is a unique signature of spatial processing.

Alcohol and Speed-Accuracy Tradeoff

1979 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 433-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. H. RUNDELL ◽  
HAROLD L. WILLIAMS
Keyword(s):  
Body Weight ◽  
Reaction Time ◽  
Discrimination Task ◽  
The Other ◽  
Pitch Discrimination ◽  
Alcohol Dose ◽  
Independent Effects ◽  
Speed Accuracy ◽  
Accuracy Tradeoff ◽  
And Task

Performance on two auditory choice reaction time (RT) tasks was studied in a group of 12 subjects under the influence of graded doses of ethyl alcohol ranging from placebo to 1 g/kg body weight. Deadline procedures were employed in a side discrimination and a pitch discrimination task to permit the calculation of speed-accuracy tradeoff functions (accuracy versus RT). Accuracy declined as a function of dose, but alcohol did not significantly influence RT. Conversely, accuracy was not affected by task; but the pitch discrimination task required an average of 88 ms more time than the side task. Alcohol dose and task produced independent effects on the speed-accuracy tradeoff function. As dose increased, the slope of the tradeoff function declined; but slopes were equivalent for the two tasks. On the other hand, the x-intercept (where accuracy equals chance levels) was 90 ms greater for the pitch task than for the side task.

scholarly journals Voluntary Spatial Attention has Different Effects on Voluntary and Reflexive Saccades

2003 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 881-902 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie K. Seidlits ◽  
Tammie Reza ◽  
Kevin A. Briand ◽  
Anne B. Sereno
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Fundamental Issue ◽  
Fixation Condition ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Symbolic Cues ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Reflexive Saccades ◽  
Gap Paradigm

Although numerous studies have investigated the relationship between saccadic eye movements and spatial attention, one fundamental issue remains controversial. Some studies have suggested that spatial attention facilitates saccades, whereas others have claimed that eye movements are actually inhibited when spatial attention is engaged. However, these discrepancies may be because previous research has neglected to separate and specify the effects of attention for two distinct types of saccades, namely reflexive (stimulus-directed) and voluntary (antisaccades). The present study explored the effects of voluntary spatial attention on both voluntary and reflexive saccades. Results indicate that voluntary spatial attention has different effects on the two types of saccades. Antisaccades were always greatly facilitated following the engagement of spatial attention by symbolic cues (arrows) informing the subject where the upcoming saccade should be directed. Reflexive saccades showed little or no cueing effects and exhibited significant facilitation only when these cues were randomly intermixed with uncued trials. In addition, the present study tested the effects of fixation condition (gap, step, and overlap) on attentional modulation. Cueing effects did not vary due to fixation condition. Thus, voluntary spatial attention consistently showed different effects on voluntary and reflexive saccades, and there was no evidence in these studies that voluntary cues inhibit reflexive saccades, even in a gap paradigm.

scholarly journals Brain signals for spatial attention predict performance in a motion discrimination task

2005 ◽  
Vol 102 (49) ◽  
pp. 17810-17815 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Sapir ◽  
G. d'Avossa ◽  
M. McAvoy ◽  
G. L. Shulman ◽  
M. Corbetta
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Motion Discrimination ◽  
Brain Signals

Cortical Activation during a Pitch Discrimination Task in Tinnitus Patients and Controls – An fMRI Study

2010 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 137-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur Peter Wunderlich ◽  
Carlos Schönfeldt-Lecuona ◽  
Robert Christian Wolf ◽  
Kristina Dorn ◽  
Edgar Bachor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Cortical Activation ◽  
Pitch Discrimination ◽  
Fmri Study

Tonal Expectations Influence Early Pitch Processing

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (10) ◽  
pp. 3095-3104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frédéric Marmel ◽  
Fabien Perrin ◽  
Barbara Tillmann
Keyword(s):  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Pitch Perception ◽  
Attentional Selection ◽  
Pitch Discrimination ◽  
Musical Note ◽  
Pitch Processing ◽  
Selection Of

The present study investigated the ERP correlates of the influence of tonal expectations on pitch processing. Participants performed a pitch discrimination task between penultimate and final tones of melodies. These last two tones were a repetition of the same musical note, but penultimate tones were always in tune whereas final tones were slightly out of tune in half of the trials. The pitch discrimination task allowed us to investigate the influence of tonal expectations in attentive listening and, for penultimate tones, without being confounded by decisional processes (occurring on final tones). Tonal expectations were manipulated by a tone change in the first half of the melodies that changed their tonality, hence changing the tonal expectedness of penultimate and final tones without modifying them acoustically. Manipulating tonal expectations with minimal acoustic changes allowed us to focus on the cognitive expectations based on listeners' knowledge of tonal structures. For penultimate tones, tonal expectations modulated processing within the first 100 msec after onset resulting in an Nb/P1 complex that differed in amplitude between tonally related and less related conditions. For final tones, out-of-tune tones elicited an N2/P3 complex and, on in-tune tones only, tonal manipulation elicited an ERAN/RATN-like negativity overlapping with the N2. Our results suggest that cognitive tonal expectations can influence pitch perception at several steps of processing, starting with early attentional selection of pitch.

scholarly journals Improvement of administrative and legal support of preparation of citizens for military service

2021 ◽  
pp. 205-208
Author(s):  
V.O. Volovik
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Military Service ◽  
Central Executive ◽  
Local State ◽  
Hierarchical System ◽  
Administrative Legislation ◽  
The Subject ◽  
State Secrets

The purpose of the article is to determine the directions for improving the administrative and legal support for the preparation of citizens for military service.The article substantiates that the preparation of citizens for military service is a special type of activity of the de-fense forces and other subjects, aimed at developing a complex of motivational, emotional-volitional and cognitive qualities, knowledge, skills and abilities necessary for successful military service in a civilian. It has been deter-mined that the subject of preparing citizens for military service is. Such a subject is not a serviceman, but a person who, with a certain degree of probability, can enter military service. This makes the procedure for organizing this training fundamentally different from the traditional hierarchical system of subordination with the observance of the principle of one-man command. Considering that the subjects of training are the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, other central executive bodies, local state administrations, local self-government bodies, bodies of the Society for the Assistance to the Defense of Ukraine, as well as other associations of citizens are involved with their consent in accordance with their charters, a set of rights and obligations of subjects training is determined by legal acts regu-lating their legal status.Based on the analysis of legal acts, the author concluded that the competence of these subjects is not specific: many of them are indicated that they “contribute to the preparation of young people for military service,” and what is such assistance, goals, objectives, principles of such training, how are those responsible for her face remains uncertain. This contributes to the formalization of the activities of some entities for which the activity to ensure the state’s defense is not the main one. This necessitates the delimitation of the competence of the subjects of prepara-tion for military service, assigning specific areas of work to each of them, increasing the transparency of these types of activities, if this is not related to the observance of state secrets, creating objective criteria for assessing such activities and fixing the relevant provisions in acts of administrative legislation.

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