Memory load modulates graded changes in distracter filtering
Our ability to maintain small amounts of information in mind is critical for successful performance on a wide range of tasks. However, it remains unclear exactly how this maintenance is achieved. One possibility is that it is brought about using mechanisms that overlap with those used for attentiona...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2015-01-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Human Neuroscience |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2014.01025/full |
| _version_ | 1819168337328865280 |
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| author | Andria eShimi Mark William Woolrich Dante eMantini Duncan E Astle |
| author_facet | Andria eShimi Mark William Woolrich Dante eMantini Duncan E Astle |
| author_sort | Andria eShimi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Our ability to maintain small amounts of information in mind is critical for successful performance on a wide range of tasks. However, it remains unclear exactly how this maintenance is achieved. One possibility is that it is brought about using mechanisms that overlap with those used for attentional control. That is, the same mechanisms that we use to regulate and optimise our sensory processing may be recruited when we maintain information in visual short-term memory (VSTM). We aimed to test this hypothesis by exploring how distracter filtering is modified by concurrent VSTM load. We presented participants with sequences of target items, the order and location of which had to be maintained in VSTM. We also presented distracter items alongside the targets, and these distracters were graded such that they could be either very similar or dissimilar to the targets. We analysed scalp potentials using a novel multiple regression approach, which enabled us to explore the neural mechanisms by which the participants accommodated these variable distracters on a trial-to-trial basis. Critically, the effect of distracter filtering interacted with VSTM load; the same graded changes in perceptual similarity exerted effects of a different magnitude depending upon how many items participants were already maintaining in VSTM. These data provide compelling evidence that maintaining information in VSTM recruits an overlapping set of attentional control mechanisms that are otherwise used for distracter filtering. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T19:02:00Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-89ebb7b1854e474cbe6b9f540f7a0360 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1662-5161 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T19:02:00Z |
| publishDate | 2015-01-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Human Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-89ebb7b1854e474cbe6b9f540f7a03602022-12-21T18:15:54ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Human Neuroscience1662-51612015-01-01810.3389/fnhum.2014.01025122920Memory load modulates graded changes in distracter filteringAndria eShimi0Mark William Woolrich1Dante eMantini2Duncan E Astle3University of OxfordUniversity of OxfordUniversity of OxfordMedical Research CouncilOur ability to maintain small amounts of information in mind is critical for successful performance on a wide range of tasks. However, it remains unclear exactly how this maintenance is achieved. One possibility is that it is brought about using mechanisms that overlap with those used for attentional control. That is, the same mechanisms that we use to regulate and optimise our sensory processing may be recruited when we maintain information in visual short-term memory (VSTM). We aimed to test this hypothesis by exploring how distracter filtering is modified by concurrent VSTM load. We presented participants with sequences of target items, the order and location of which had to be maintained in VSTM. We also presented distracter items alongside the targets, and these distracters were graded such that they could be either very similar or dissimilar to the targets. We analysed scalp potentials using a novel multiple regression approach, which enabled us to explore the neural mechanisms by which the participants accommodated these variable distracters on a trial-to-trial basis. Critically, the effect of distracter filtering interacted with VSTM load; the same graded changes in perceptual similarity exerted effects of a different magnitude depending upon how many items participants were already maintaining in VSTM. These data provide compelling evidence that maintaining information in VSTM recruits an overlapping set of attentional control mechanisms that are otherwise used for distracter filtering.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2014.01025/fullAttentionEEGworking memoryvisual short term memoryCognitive Control Mechanisms |
| spellingShingle | Andria eShimi Mark William Woolrich Dante eMantini Duncan E Astle Memory load modulates graded changes in distracter filtering Frontiers in Human Neuroscience Attention EEG working memory visual short term memory Cognitive Control Mechanisms |
| title | Memory load modulates graded changes in distracter filtering |
| title_full | Memory load modulates graded changes in distracter filtering |
| title_fullStr | Memory load modulates graded changes in distracter filtering |
| title_full_unstemmed | Memory load modulates graded changes in distracter filtering |
| title_short | Memory load modulates graded changes in distracter filtering |
| title_sort | memory load modulates graded changes in distracter filtering |
| topic | Attention EEG working memory visual short term memory Cognitive Control Mechanisms |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2014.01025/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT andriaeshimi memoryloadmodulatesgradedchangesindistracterfiltering AT markwilliamwoolrich memoryloadmodulatesgradedchangesindistracterfiltering AT danteemantini memoryloadmodulatesgradedchangesindistracterfiltering AT duncaneastle memoryloadmodulatesgradedchangesindistracterfiltering |