scholarly journals Priority of items in working memory affects attentional capture in visual search

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. 63
Author(s):  
Anna Schubö ◽  
Tobias Feldmann-Wüstefeld
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Attentional Capture

scholarly journals Neural Dynamics of Cognitive Control over Working Memory Capture of Attention

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (7) ◽  
pp. 1079-1090 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter S. Whitehead ◽  
Mathilde M. Ooi ◽  
Tobias Egner ◽  
Marty G. Woldorff
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Attentional Capture ◽  
Search Display ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
High Temporal Resolution ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Attentional Orienting ◽  
Behavioral Studies

The contents of working memory (WM) guide visual attention toward matching features, with visual search being faster when the target and a feature of an item held in WM spatially overlap (validly cued) than when they occur at different locations (invalidly cued). Recent behavioral studies have indicated that attentional capture by WM content can be modulated by cognitive control: When WM cues are reliably helpful to visual search (predictably valid), capture is enhanced, but when reliably detrimental (predictably invalid), capture is attenuated. The neural mechanisms underlying this effect are not well understood, however. Here, we leveraged the high temporal resolution of ERPs time-locked to the onset of the search display to determine how and at what processing stage cognitive control modulates the search process. We manipulated predictability by grouping trials into unpredictable (50% valid/invalid) and predictable (100% valid, 100% invalid) blocks. Behavioral results confirmed that predictability modulated WM-related capture. Comparison of ERPs to the search arrays showed that the N2pc, a posteriorly distributed signature of initial attentional orienting toward a lateralized target, was not impacted by target validity predictability. However, a longer latency, more anterior, lateralized effect—here, termed the “contralateral attention-related negativity”—was reduced under predictable conditions. This reduction interacted with validity, with substantially greater reduction for invalid than valid trials. These data suggest cognitive control over attentional capture by WM content does not affect the initial attentional-orienting process but can reduce the need to marshal later control mechanisms for processing relevant items in the visual world.

scholarly journals Capture and Control: Working Memory Modulates Attentional Capture by Reward-Related Stimuli

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (8) ◽  
pp. 1174-1185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Poppy Watson ◽  
Daniel Pearson ◽  
Michelle Chow ◽  
Jan Theeuwes ◽  
Reinout W. Wiers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Attentional Capture ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Control Processes ◽  
High Reward ◽  
Irrelevant Distractors ◽  
And Control

Physically salient but task-irrelevant distractors can capture attention in visual search, but resource-dependent, executive-control processes can help reduce this distraction. However, it is not only physically salient stimuli that grab our attention: Recent research has shown that reward history also influences the likelihood that stimuli will capture attention. Here, we investigated whether resource-dependent control processes modulate the effect of reward on attentional capture, much as for the effect of physical salience. To this end, we used eye tracking with a rewarded visual search task and compared performance under conditions of high and low working memory load. In two experiments, we demonstrated that oculomotor capture by high-reward distractor stimuli is enhanced under high memory load. These results highlight the role of executive-control processes in modulating distraction by reward-related stimuli. Our findings have implications for understanding the neurocognitive processes involved in real-life conditions in which reward-related stimuli may influence behavior, such as addiction.

scholarly journals Action Planning Mediates Guidance of Visual Attention from Working Memory

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Feldmann-Wüstefeld ◽  
Anna Schubö
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Visual Attention ◽  
Attentional Capture ◽  
Action Planning ◽  
Irrelevant Stimulus ◽  
Memory Content ◽  
Salient Stimulus ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Task Irrelevant

Visual search is impaired when a salient task-irrelevant stimulus is presented together with the target. Recent research has shown that this attentional capture effect is enhanced when the salient stimulus matches working memory (WM) content, arguing in favor of attention guidance from WM. Visual attention was also shown to be closely coupled with action planning. Preparing a movement renders action-relevant perceptual dimensions more salient and thus increases search efficiency for stimuli sharing that dimension. The present study aimed at revealing common underlying mechanisms for selective attention, WM, and action planning. Participants both prepared a specific movement (grasping or pointing) and memorized a color hue. Before the movement was executed towards an object of the memorized color, a visual search task (additional singleton) was performed. Results showed that distraction from target was more pronounced when the additional singleton had a memorized color. This WM-guided attention deployment was more pronounced when participants prepared a grasping movement. We argue that preparing a grasping movement mediates attention guidance from WM content by enhancing representations of memory content that matches the distractor shape (i.e., circles), thus encouraging attentional capture by circle distractors of the memorized color. We conclude that templates for visual search, action planning, and WM compete for resources and thus cause interferences.

Visual Search Facilitation in Repeated Displays Depends on Visuospatial Working Memory

2012 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela A. Manginelli ◽  
Franziska Geringswald ◽  
Stefan Pollmann
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Control Experiment ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Contextual Cueing ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Visuospatial Working Memory ◽  
Working Memory Load ◽  
Memory Resources

When distractor configurations are repeated over time, visual search becomes more efficient, even if participants are unaware of the repetition. This contextual cueing is a form of incidental, implicit learning. One might therefore expect that contextual cueing does not (or only minimally) rely on working memory resources. This, however, is debated in the literature. We investigated contextual cueing under either a visuospatial or a nonspatial (color) visual working memory load. We found that contextual cueing was disrupted by the concurrent visuospatial, but not by the color working memory load. A control experiment ruled out that unspecific attentional factors of the dual-task situation disrupted contextual cueing. Visuospatial working memory may be needed to match current display items with long-term memory traces of previously learned displays.

Visual search within working memory.

2019 ◽  
Vol 148 (10) ◽  
pp. 1688-1700 ◽  
Author(s):  
Garry Kong ◽  
Daryl Fougnie
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Search
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