scholarly journals Visual working memory load disrupts the space‐based attentional guidance of target selection

2018 ◽  
Vol 110 (2) ◽  
pp. 357-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Berggren ◽  
Martin Eimer
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Target Selection ◽  
Working Memory Load ◽  
Attentional Guidance

scholarly journals Visual working memory load does not eliminate visuomotor repetition effects

2019 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. 1290-1303
Author(s):  
Jason Rajsic ◽  
Matthew D. Hilchey ◽  
Geoffrey F. Woodman ◽  
Jay Pratt
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Repetition Effects ◽  
Working Memory Load

scholarly journals Visual Working Memory Load Disrupts Template-guided Attentional Selection during Visual Search

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (12) ◽  
pp. 1902-1915 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Berggren ◽  
Martin Eimer
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Target Selection ◽  
Target Color ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Single Feature ◽  
Single Target ◽  
Candidate Target

Mental representations of target features (attentional templates) control the selection of candidate target objects in visual search. The question where templates are maintained remains controversial. We employed the N2pc component as an electrophysiological marker of template-guided target selection to investigate whether and under which conditions templates are held in visual working memory (vWM). In two experiments, participants memorized one or four shapes (low vs. high vWM load) before either being tested on their memory or performing a visual search task. When targets were defined by one of two possible colors (e.g., red or green), target N2pcs were delayed with high vWM load. This suggests that the maintenance of multiple shapes in vWM interfered with the activation of color-specific search templates, supporting the hypothesis that these templates are held in vWM. This was the case despite participants always searching for the same two target colors. In contrast, the speed of target selection in a task where a single target color remained relevant throughout was unaffected by concurrent load, indicating that a constant search template for a single feature may be maintained outside vWM in a different store. In addition, early visual N1 components to search and memory test displays were attenuated under high load, suggesting a competition between external and internal attention. The size of this attenuation predicted individual vWM performance. These results provide new electrophysiological evidence for impairment of top–down attentional control mechanisms by high vWM load, demonstrating that vWM is involved in the guidance of attentional target selection during search.

scholarly journals Neural mechanisms underlying the precision of visual working memory

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yijie Zhao ◽  
Shuguang Kuai ◽  
Theodore P. Zanto ◽  
Yixuan Ku
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Behavioral Experiment ◽  
Working Memory Load ◽  
Lateral Occipital Complex ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Memory Precision ◽  
The Brain

AbstractThe neural mechanisms associated with the limited capacity of working memory has long been studied, but it is still unclear how the brain maintains the fidelity of representations in working memory. Here, an orientation recall task for estimating the precision of visual working memory was performed both inside and outside an fMRI scanner. Results showed that the trial-by-trial recall error (in radians) was correlated with delay period activity in the lateral occipital complex (LOC) during working memory maintenance, regardless of the memory load. Moreover, delay activity in LOC also correlated with the individual participant’s precision of working memory from a separate behavioral experiment held two weeks prior. Furthermore, a region within the prefrontal cortex, the inferior frontal junction (IFJ), exhibited greater functional connectivity with LOC when the working memory load increased. Together, our findings provide unique evidence that the LOC supports visual working memory precision, while communication between the IFJ and LOC varys with visual working memory load.

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