Expectation creates something out of nothing: The role of attention in iconic memory reconsidered

Aru, Jaan; Bachmann, Talis

doi:10.1016/j.concog.2017.06.017

Cited by 32 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…In other words, artificially activating the AIZ caused the animal to respond as if a whisker stimulus would have been present. Hence, it might have been that the animal "dreamt up" a stimulus that was not there, causing a vivid illusion, just like humans have been shown to do when expecting a stimulus that in reality is not there on the screen (Aru and Bachmann, 2017;Aru et al, 2018). This research offers strong support for the claim that input to AIZ can activate the cells and can lead to the animal reporting the presence of a sensory signal.…”

Section: Direct Empirical Support For Apical Drivesupporting

confidence: 54%

Apical drive—A cellular mechanism of dreaming?

Aru

Siclari

Phillips

et al. 2020

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

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Dreams are internally generated experiences that occur independently of current sensory input. Here we argue, based on cortical anatomy and function, that dream experiences are tightly related to the workings of a specific part of cortical pyramidal neurons, the apical integration zone (AIZ). The AIZ receives and processes contextual information from diverse sources and could constitute a major switch point for transitioning from externally to internally generated experiences such as dreams. We propose that during dreams the output of certain pyramidal neurons is mainly driven by input into the AIZ. We call this mode of functioning "apical drive". Our hypothesis is based on the evidence that the cholinergic and adrenergic arousal systems, which show different dynamics between waking, slow wave sleep, and rapid eye movement sleep, have specific effects on the AIZ. We suggest that apical drive may also contribute to waking experiences, such as mental imagery. Future studies, investigating the different modes of apical function and their regulation during sleep and wakefulness are likely to be richly rewarded.

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Section: Direct Empirical Support For Apical Drivesupporting

confidence: 54%

Apical drive—A cellular mechanism of dreaming?

Aru

Siclari

Phillips

et al. 2020

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

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“…Our results let us also draw some conclusions on the relation between iconic memory and stimulus-driven attention. Some researchers support the idea that attention is necessary for creating iconic memory representations ( Mack et al, 2015 , 2016 , 2019 ), whereas others see them as independent processes ( Bachmann and Aru, 2015 , 2016 ; Aru and Bachmann, 2017a , b ). As the four relevant stimuli we used in our experiments were within the capacity span found by Sperling (1960) , and the timepoint of the target report was earlier than the onset of memory decay (300 ms; cf.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, Mack and colleagues’ conclusion that awareness requires attention has been subject to critique: Aru and Bachmann (2017a ; see also Bachmann and Aru, 2015 , 2016 ) found evidence for the existence of autonomous awareness; their results show that attention is a different process, even if it has an effect on awareness. In addition, to prove attention-independent effects, the choice of letters as items for iconic-memory report is not ideal, as processing of letters is—depending on their context—a conjunction task, and thus, a special type of visual awareness (i.e., for conjunctions of features within one object) is required (cf.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Awareness and Stimulus-Driven Spatial Attention as Independent Processes

Baier

Goller

Ansorge

2020

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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To investigate the relation between attention and awareness, we manipulated visibility/awareness and stimulus-driven attention capture among metacontrast-masked visual stimuli. By varying the time interval between target and mask, we manipulated target visibility measured as target discrimination accuracies (ACCs; Experiments 1 and 2) and as subjective awareness ratings (Experiment 3). To modulate stimulus-driven attention capture, we presented the masked target either as a color-singleton (the target stands out by its unique color among homogeneously colored non-singletons), as a non-singleton together with a distractor singleton elsewhere (an irrelevant distractor has a unique color, whereas the target is colored like the other stimuli) or without a singleton (no stimulus stands out; only in Experiment 1). As color singletons capture attention in a stimulus-driven way, we expected target visibility/discrimination performance to be best for target singletons and worst with distractor singletons. In Experiments 1 and 2, we confirmed that the masking interval and the singleton manipulation influenced ACCs in an independent way and that attention capture by the singletons, with facilitated performance in target-singleton compared to distractor-singleton conditions, was found regardless of the interval-induced (in-)visibility of the targets. In Experiment 1, we also confirmed that attention capture was the same among participants with worse and better visibility/discrimination performance. In Experiment 2, we confirmed attention capture by color singletons with better discrimination performance for probes presented at singleton position, compared to other positions. Finally, in Experiment 3, we found that attention capture by target singletons also increased target awareness and that this capture effect on subjective awareness was independent of the effect of the masking interval, too. Together, results provide new evidence that stimulus-driven attention and awareness operate independently from one another and that stimulus-driven attention capture can precede awareness.

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“…Visual memory systems can store information for a few hundred milliseconds, which can then be transferred to the limited capacity of the working memory system. Although controversial [ 10 , 11 , 12 ], this visual sensory (iconic) memory system is thought to heavily rely on cognitive attention [ 13 , 14 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental Effects of Acute Exercise on Iconic Memory, Short-Term Episodic, and Long-Term Episodic Memory

Yanes

Loprinzi

2018

JCM

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The present experiment evaluated the effects of acute exercise on iconic memory and short- and long-term episodic memory. A two-arm, parallel-group randomized experiment was employed (n = 20 per group; Mage = 21 year). The experimental group engaged in an acute bout of moderate-intensity treadmill exercise for 15 min, while the control group engaged in a seated, time-matched computer task. Afterwards, the participants engaged in a paragraph-level episodic memory task (20 min delay and 24 h delay recall) as well as an iconic memory task, which involved 10 trials (at various speeds from 100 ms to 800 ms) of recalling letters from a 3 × 3 array matrix. For iconic memory, there was a significant main effect for time (F = 42.9, p < 0.001, η2p = 0.53) and a trend towards a group × time interaction (F = 2.90, p = 0.09, η2p = 0.07), but no main effect for group (F = 0.82, p = 0.37, η2p = 0.02). The experimental group had higher episodic memory scores at both the baseline (19.22 vs. 17.20) and follow-up (18.15 vs. 15.77), but these results were not statistically significant. These findings provide some suggestive evidence hinting towards an iconic memory and episodic benefit from acute exercise engagement.

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Expectation creates something out of nothing: The role of attention in iconic memory reconsidered

Cited by 32 publications

References 23 publications

Apical drive—A cellular mechanism of dreaming?

Apical drive—A cellular mechanism of dreaming?

Awareness and Stimulus-Driven Spatial Attention as Independent Processes

Experimental Effects of Acute Exercise on Iconic Memory, Short-Term Episodic, and Long-Term Episodic Memory

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