Cognitive-behavioral and electrophysiological evidence of the affective consequences of ignoring stimulus representations in working memory

Ignoring visual stimuli in the external environment leads to decreased liking of those items, a phenomenon attributed to the affective consequences of attentional inhibition. Here we investigated the generality of this “distractor devaluation” phenomenon by asking whether ignoring stimuli represente...

Mô tả đầy đủ

Chi tiết về thư mục
Những tác giả chính: De Vito, D, Ferrey, A, Fenske, M, Al-Aidroos, N
Định dạng: Journal article
Được phát hành: Springer US 2018
_version_ 1826278968568840192
author De Vito, D
Ferrey, A
Fenske, M
Al-Aidroos, N
author_facet De Vito, D
Ferrey, A
Fenske, M
Al-Aidroos, N
author_sort De Vito, D
collection OXFORD
description Ignoring visual stimuli in the external environment leads to decreased liking of those items, a phenomenon attributed to the affective consequences of attentional inhibition. Here we investigated the generality of this “distractor devaluation” phenomenon by asking whether ignoring stimuli represented internally within visual working memory has the same affective consequences. In two experiments we presented participants with two or three visual stimuli and then, after the stimuli were no longer visible, provided an attentional cue indicating which item in memory was the target they would have to later recall, and which were task-irrelevant distractors. Participants subsequently judged how much they liked these stimuli. Previously-ignored distractors were consistently rated less favorably than targets, replicating prior findings of distractor devaluation. To gain converging evidence, in Experiment 2, we also examined the electrophysiological processes associated with devaluation by measuring individual differences in attention (N2pc) and working memory (CDA) event-related potentials following the attention cue. Larger amplitude of an N2pc-like component was associated with greater devaluation, suggesting that individuals displaying more effective selection of memory targets—an act aided by distractor inhibition—displayed greater levels of distractor devaluation. Individuals showing a larger post-cue CDA amplitude (but not pre-cue CDA amplitude) also showed greater distractor devaluation, supporting prior evidence that visual working-memory resources have a functional role in effecting devaluation. Together, these findings demonstrate that ignoring working-memory representations has affective consequences, and adds to the growing evidence that the contribution of selective-attention mechanisms to a wide range of human thoughts and behaviors leads to devaluation.
first_indexed 2024-03-06T23:51:50Z
format Journal article
id oxford-uuid:72df72e4-88df-4d9c-8092-afc0bd8d91a7
institution University of Oxford
last_indexed 2024-03-06T23:51:50Z
publishDate 2018
publisher Springer US
record_format dspace
spelling oxford-uuid:72df72e4-88df-4d9c-8092-afc0bd8d91a72022-03-26T19:52:51ZCognitive-behavioral and electrophysiological evidence of the affective consequences of ignoring stimulus representations in working memoryJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:72df72e4-88df-4d9c-8092-afc0bd8d91a7Symplectic Elements at OxfordSpringer US2018De Vito, DFerrey, AFenske, MAl-Aidroos, NIgnoring visual stimuli in the external environment leads to decreased liking of those items, a phenomenon attributed to the affective consequences of attentional inhibition. Here we investigated the generality of this “distractor devaluation” phenomenon by asking whether ignoring stimuli represented internally within visual working memory has the same affective consequences. In two experiments we presented participants with two or three visual stimuli and then, after the stimuli were no longer visible, provided an attentional cue indicating which item in memory was the target they would have to later recall, and which were task-irrelevant distractors. Participants subsequently judged how much they liked these stimuli. Previously-ignored distractors were consistently rated less favorably than targets, replicating prior findings of distractor devaluation. To gain converging evidence, in Experiment 2, we also examined the electrophysiological processes associated with devaluation by measuring individual differences in attention (N2pc) and working memory (CDA) event-related potentials following the attention cue. Larger amplitude of an N2pc-like component was associated with greater devaluation, suggesting that individuals displaying more effective selection of memory targets—an act aided by distractor inhibition—displayed greater levels of distractor devaluation. Individuals showing a larger post-cue CDA amplitude (but not pre-cue CDA amplitude) also showed greater distractor devaluation, supporting prior evidence that visual working-memory resources have a functional role in effecting devaluation. Together, these findings demonstrate that ignoring working-memory representations has affective consequences, and adds to the growing evidence that the contribution of selective-attention mechanisms to a wide range of human thoughts and behaviors leads to devaluation.
spellingShingle De Vito, D
Ferrey, A
Fenske, M
Al-Aidroos, N
Cognitive-behavioral and electrophysiological evidence of the affective consequences of ignoring stimulus representations in working memory
title Cognitive-behavioral and electrophysiological evidence of the affective consequences of ignoring stimulus representations in working memory
title_full Cognitive-behavioral and electrophysiological evidence of the affective consequences of ignoring stimulus representations in working memory
title_fullStr Cognitive-behavioral and electrophysiological evidence of the affective consequences of ignoring stimulus representations in working memory
title_full_unstemmed Cognitive-behavioral and electrophysiological evidence of the affective consequences of ignoring stimulus representations in working memory
title_short Cognitive-behavioral and electrophysiological evidence of the affective consequences of ignoring stimulus representations in working memory
title_sort cognitive behavioral and electrophysiological evidence of the affective consequences of ignoring stimulus representations in working memory
work_keys_str_mv AT devitod cognitivebehavioralandelectrophysiologicalevidenceoftheaffectiveconsequencesofignoringstimulusrepresentationsinworkingmemory
AT ferreya cognitivebehavioralandelectrophysiologicalevidenceoftheaffectiveconsequencesofignoringstimulusrepresentationsinworkingmemory
AT fenskem cognitivebehavioralandelectrophysiologicalevidenceoftheaffectiveconsequencesofignoringstimulusrepresentationsinworkingmemory
AT alaidroosn cognitivebehavioralandelectrophysiologicalevidenceoftheaffectiveconsequencesofignoringstimulusrepresentationsinworkingmemory