scholarly journals Independent mechanisms of spatial attention in visual and tactile working memory

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (10) ◽  
pp. 679
Author(s):  
Tobias Katus ◽  
Martin Eimer
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Tactile Working Memory

scholarly journals Shifts of Spatial Attention in Visual and Tactile Working Memory are Controlled by Independent Modality-Specific Mechanisms

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 296-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Katus ◽  
Martin Eimer
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Attentional Control ◽  
Dynamic Control ◽  
Sensory Modalities ◽  
Reversed Polarity ◽  
Tactile Working Memory ◽  
Sample Set ◽  
Somatosensory Areas ◽  
Attention Shifts

Abstract The question whether the attentional control of working memory (WM) is shared across sensory modalities remains controversial. Here, we investigated whether attention shifts in visual and tactile WM are regulated independently. Participants memorized visual and tactile targets in a first memory sample set (S1) before encoding targets in a second sample set (S2). Importantly, visual or tactile S2 targets could appear on the same side as the corresponding S1 targets, or on opposite sides, thus, requiring shifts of spatial attention in visual or tactile WM. The activation of WM representations in modality-specific visual and somatosensory areas was tracked by recording visual and tactile contralateral delay activity (CDA/tCDA). CDA/tCDA components emerged contralateral to the side of visual or tactile S1 targets, and reversed polarity when S2 targets in the same modality appeared on the opposite side. Critically, the visual CDA was unaffected by the presence versus absence of concurrent attention shifts in tactile WM, and the tactile CDA remained insensitive to visual attention shifts. Visual and tactile WM performance was also not modulated by attention shifts in the other modality. These results show that the dynamic control of visual and tactile WM activation processes operates in an independent modality-specific fashion.

scholarly journals The neural correlations of spatial attention and working memory deficits in adults with ADHD

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 101728 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiangsheng Luo ◽  
Jialiang Guo ◽  
Lu Liu ◽  
Xixi Zhao ◽  
Dongwei Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Memory Deficits

scholarly journals Spatial Attention Interacts With Serial-Order Retrieval From Verbal Working Memory

2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (9) ◽  
pp. 1854-1859 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Philippe van Dijck ◽  
Elger L. Abrahamse ◽  
Steve Majerus ◽  
Wim Fias
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Serial Order ◽  
Verbal Working Memory

scholarly journals Visual spatial attention and spatial working memory do not draw on shared capacity-limited core processes

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (5) ◽  
pp. 799-818 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina J Howard ◽  
Rebekah Pole ◽  
Paulina Montgomery ◽  
Amanda Woodward ◽  
Duncan Guest ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Underlying Mechanism ◽  
Spatial Task ◽  
Monitoring Task ◽  
Visual Spatial ◽  
Location Binding ◽  
Load Types ◽  
Position Monitoring

The extent to which similar capacity limits in visual attention and visual working memory indicate a common shared underlying mechanism is currently still debated. In the spatial domain, the multiple object tracking (MOT) task has been used to assess the relationship between spatial attention and spatial working memory though existing results have been inconclusive. In three dual task experiments, we examined the extent of interference between attention to spatial positions and memory for spatial positions. When the position monitoring task required keeping track of target identities through colour-location binding, we found a moderate detrimental effect of position monitoring on spatial working memory and an ambiguous interaction effect. However, when this task requirement was removed, load increases in neither task were detrimental to the other. The only very moderate interference effect that remained resided in an interaction between load types but was not consistent with shared capacity between tasks—rather it was consistent with content-related crosstalk between spatial representations. Contrary to propositions that spatial attention and spatial working memory may draw on a common shared set of core processes, these findings indicate that for a purely spatial task, perceptual attention and working memory appear to recruit separate core capacity-limited processes.

scholarly journals Dissecting the Neural Focus of Attention Reveals Distinct Processes for Spatial Attention and Object-Based Storage in Visual Working Memory

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 526-540 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Hakim ◽  
Kirsten C. S. Adam ◽  
Eren Gunseli ◽  
Edward Awh ◽  
Edward K. Vogel
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Focus Of Attention ◽  
Neural Signals ◽  
Attention Task ◽  
Spatial Orienting ◽  
Object Based ◽  
Object Storage ◽  
On Line

Complex cognition relies on both on-line representations in working memory (WM), said to reside in the focus of attention, and passive off-line representations of related information. Here, we dissected the focus of attention by showing that distinct neural signals index the on-line storage of objects and sustained spatial attention. We recorded electroencephalogram (EEG) activity during two tasks that employed identical stimulus displays but varied the relative demands for object storage and spatial attention. We found distinct delay-period signatures for an attention task (which required only spatial attention) and a WM task (which invoked both spatial attention and object storage). Although both tasks required active maintenance of spatial information, only the WM task elicited robust contralateral delay activity that was sensitive to mnemonic load. Thus, we argue that the focus of attention is maintained via a collaboration between distinct processes for covert spatial orienting and object-based storage.

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