scholarly journals No effect of monetary reward in a visual working memory task

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald van den Berg ◽  
Qijia Zou ◽  
Wei Ji Ma
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Resource Allocation ◽  
Intrinsic Motivation ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Monetary Reward ◽  
Monetary Incentives ◽  
Estimation Task ◽  
Bonus Payment

ABSTRACTPrevious work has shown that humans distribute their visual working memory (VWM) resources flexibly across items: the higher the importance of an item, the better it is remembered. A related, but much less studied question is whether people also have control over the total amount of VWM resource allocated to a task. Here, we approach this question by testing whether increasing monetary incentives results in better overall VWM performance. In two experiments, subjects performed a delayed-estimation task on the Amazon Turk platform. In both experiments, four groups of subjects received a bonus payment based on their performance, with the maximum bonus ranging from $0 to $10 between groups. We found no effect of the amount of bonus on intrinsic motivation or on VWM performance in either experiment. These results suggest that resource allocation in visual working memory is insensitive to monetary reward, which has implications for resource-rational theories of VWM.

scholarly journals Are visual working memory and episodic memory distinct processes? Insight from stroke patients by lesion-symptom mapping

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Selma Lugtmeijer ◽  
◽  
Linda Geerligs ◽  
Frank Erik de Leeuw ◽  
Edward H. F. de Haan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Visual Memory ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Stroke Patients ◽  
Lesion Symptom Mapping ◽  
Criterion Setting ◽  
The Right

AbstractWorking memory and episodic memory are two different processes, although the nature of their interrelationship is debated. As these processes are predominantly studied in isolation, it is unclear whether they crucially rely on different neural substrates. To obtain more insight in this, 81 adults with sub-acute ischemic stroke and 29 elderly controls were assessed on a visual working memory task, followed by a surprise subsequent memory test for the same stimuli. Multivariate, atlas- and track-based lesion-symptom mapping (LSM) analyses were performed to identify anatomical correlates of visual memory. Behavioral results gave moderate evidence for independence between discriminability in working memory and subsequent memory, and strong evidence for a correlation in response bias on the two tasks in stroke patients. LSM analyses suggested there might be independent regions associated with working memory and episodic memory. Lesions in the right arcuate fasciculus were more strongly associated with discriminability in working memory than in subsequent memory, while lesions in the frontal operculum in the right hemisphere were more strongly associated with criterion setting in subsequent memory. These findings support the view that some processes involved in working memory and episodic memory rely on separate mechanisms, while acknowledging that there might also be shared processes.

A direct neural measure of variable precision representations in visual working memory

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Merkel ◽  
Mandy Viktoria Bartsch ◽  
Mircea A Schoenfeld ◽  
Anne-Katrin Vellage ◽  
Notger G Müller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Recall Performance ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Item Information ◽  
Estimation Task ◽  
Active Representation ◽  
Contralateral Delay Activity ◽  
Memory Representations ◽  
Precision Estimation

Visual working memory (VWM) is an active representation enabling the manipulation of item information even in the absence of visual input. A common way to investigate VWM is to analyze the performance at later recall. This approach, however, leaves uncertainties about whether the variation of recall performance is attributable to item encoding and maintenance or to the testing of memorized information. Here, we record the contralateral delay activity (CDA) - an established electrophysiological measure of item storage and maintenance - in human subjects performing a delayed orientation precision estimation task. This allows us to link the fluctuation of recall precision directly to the process of item encoding and maintenance. We show that for two sequentially encoded orientation items, the CDA amplitude reflects the precision of orientation recall of both items, with higher precision being associated with a larger amplitude. Furthermore, we show that the CDA amplitude for each item varies independently from each other, suggesting that the precision of memory representations fluctuates independently.

scholarly journals The influence of visual working memory representations on attention bias to threat in individuals with high trait anxiety

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 204380871987614
Author(s):  
Nisha Yao ◽  
Marcus A. Rodriguez ◽  
Mengyao He ◽  
Mingyi Qian
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Attention Bias ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Negative Valence ◽  
Memory Representations ◽  
High Trait Anxiety ◽  
The Relationship

Experimental studies have yielded discrepant results regarding the relationship between anxiety and attention bias to threat. Cognitive factors modulating the presence of threat-related attention bias in anxiety have drawn growing attention. Previous research demonstrated that visual working memory (WM) representations can guide attention allocation in a top-down manner. Whether threat-related WM representations affected the presence of attention bias in anxiety awaits examination. Combining a memory task and a dot-probe task, this study investigated how WM representations of faces with neutral or negative expressions modulated the attention bias to threat among highly anxious individuals versus controls. Results showed that highly anxious individuals developed more pronounced attention bias to threat when maintaining WM representations of negative faces as compared to the control group. There were no significant between-group effects when the WM representations were neutral. These results suggested that highly anxious individuals were more susceptible to the influence of mental representations with negative valence on attention deployment.

scholarly journals Auditory and Visual Working Memory Are Differentially Related to Carotenoid Status in Preadolescent Children

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. 98-98
Author(s):  
Corinne Cannavale ◽  
Caitlyn Edwards ◽  
Ruyu Liu ◽  
Samantha Iwinski ◽  
Anne Walk ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Memory Function ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Set Size ◽  
Preadolescent Children ◽  
Central Illinois ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Objectives Carotenoids are plant pigments known to deposit in neural tissues including the hippocampus, a brain substrate that supports several memory forms. However, there is a dearth of knowledge regarding carotenoid status and working memory function in children. Accordingly, this study aimed to understand the relationship between macular and skin carotenoids to visual and auditory working memory (WM) function. Methods Seventy preadolescent children (7–12 years, 32 males) were recruited from the East-Central Illinois area. Auditory working memory was assessed using the story recall subtest of the Woodcock-Johnson IV Test of Cognitive Abilities. A subsample (N = 61, 27 males) completed a visual working memory task and reaction time was quantified to determine speed of memory processing at set sizes of 1 to 4 items. Macular pigment optical density (MPOD) was assessed using customized heterochromatic flicker photometry. Skin carotenoids were assessed using reflection spectroscopy (Veggie Meter). Hierarchical linear regressions were conducted to assess the relationship between carotenoid status and WM function, while controlling for age, sex, income, and whole-body % fat (DXA). Results Auditory WM was positively associated with skin carotenoids (b = 0.263, P = 0.039) but not MPOD (b = −0.044, P = 0.380). In contrast, MPOD was significantly associated with faster visual WM speed at set size 3 (b = −0.253, P = 0.039) and trending at set sizes of 1 (b = −0.225, P = 0.051), 2 (b = −0.171, P = 0.121), and 4 (b = −0.230, P = 0.055). Interestingly, skin carotenoids were not related to visual WM performance at either set size (all P’s > 0.300). Conclusions These results indicate that auditory and visual WM may be differentially related to carotenoids. While skin carotenoids encompass all carotenoids consumed in diet, lutein and zeaxanthin are the only carotenoids which deposit in the macula. Given that MPOD was only related to visual WM, this suggests lutein plays a larger role in these neural functions relative to auditory WM. Interestingly, MPOD's relationship with visual WM increased in strength with the more difficult trial type (i.e., increasing set size), indicating MPOD is related at higher levels of WM capacity. Funding Sources This study was funded by the Egg Nutrition Center.

scholarly journals Tracking stimulus representation across a 2-back visual working memory task

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (8) ◽  
pp. 190228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quan Wan ◽  
Ying Cai ◽  
Jason Samaha ◽  
Bradley R. Postle
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Memory Item ◽  
Neural Representation ◽  
Stimulus Representation ◽  
Representational Format ◽  
The Status ◽  
Memory Content ◽  
Default Assumption

How does the neural representation of visual working memory content vary with behavioural priority? To address this, we recorded electroencephalography (EEG) while subjects performed a continuous-performance 2-back working memory task with oriented-grating stimuli. We tracked the transition of the neural representation of an item ( n ) from its initial encoding, to the status of ‘unprioritized memory item' (UMI), and back to ‘prioritized memory item', with multivariate inverted encoding modelling. Results showed that the representational format was remapped from its initially encoded format into a distinctive ‘opposite' representational format when it became a UMI and then mapped back into its initial format when subsequently prioritized in anticipation of its comparison with item n + 2. Thus, contrary to the default assumption that the activity representing an item in working memory might simply get weaker when it is deprioritized, it may be that a process of priority-based remapping helps to protect remembered information when it is not in the focus of attention.

T202. Atypically Larger Variability of Resource Allocation Accounts for Visual Working Memory Deficits in Schizophrenia

2019 ◽  
Vol 85 (10) ◽  
pp. S208-S209
Author(s):  
Yijie Zhao ◽  
Xuemei Ran ◽  
Li Zhang ◽  
Ruyuan Zhang ◽  
Yixuan Ku
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Resource Allocation ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Memory Deficits

Brain oscillation and connectivity during a chemistry visual working memory task

2013 ◽  
Vol 90 (2) ◽  
pp. 172-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li-Yu Huang ◽  
Hsiao-Ching She ◽  
Wen-Chi Chou ◽  
Ming-Hua Chuang ◽  
Jeng-Ren Duann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Memory Task
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document