Neural basis of distractor resistance during visual working memory maintenance

Hermann, Petra; Weiss, Béla; Knakker, Balázs; Madurka, Petra; Manga, Annamária; Nárai, Ádám; Vidnyánszky, Zoltán

doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118650

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 101 publications

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“…Moreover, the utilisation of temporal expectations for memory-guided behaviour may be further affected by the overlap between intervening and memory items. Prior research has found evidence for working-memory performance to be most impaired when perceptual distractors are similar to the memory content ( Clapp, Rubens, & Gazzaley, 2010 ; Hermann et al, 2021 ; Jha, Fabian, & Aguirre, 2004 ; Sreenivasan & Jha, 2007 ; Yoon, Curtis, & D'Esposito, 2006 ). Therefore, a high degree of similarity in the associated objects between tasks may modulate the benefit of temporal expectations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consequences of predictable temporal structure in multi-task situations

et al. 2022

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consequences of predictable temporal structure in multi-task situations

et al. 2022

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“…The null results might be driven by the fact that visual perception of distractors lead to disruptions in both persistent neural activity and in synaptic weights in visual cortices, which could disrupt both active and silent representations, respectively. Alternatively, control processes that are typically associated with prioritization, such as top–down inhibition and distraction filtering might protect actively coded representations that are vulnerable to visual distractions (de Vries et al, 2019; Hermann et al, 2021; Suzuki & Gottlieb, 2013; for review, see Lorenc et al, 2021). In other words, the protection effects from control processes might cancel out the vulnerability effects from active coding (for detailed discussion, see Lorenc et al, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prioritization sharpens working memories but does not protect them from distraction.

Zhang¹,

Lewis-Peacock²

2023

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

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Perceptual distraction distorts visual working memory representations. Previous research has shown that memory responses are systematically biased toward visual distractors that are similar to the memoranda. However, it remains unclear whether the prioritization of one working memory representation over another reduces the impact of perceptual distractors. In five behavioral experiments, we used different forms of retrospective cues (indicating the likelihood of testing each item and/or the reward for responding correctly to each item) to manipulate the prioritization of items in working memory before visual distraction. We examined the effects of distraction with nonparametric analyses and a novel distractor intrusion model. We found that memory responses were more precise (lower absolute response errors and stronger memory signals) for items that were prioritized. However, these prioritized items were not immune to distraction, and their memory responses were biased toward the visual distractors to the same degree as were unprioritized items. Our findings demonstrate that the benefits associated with prioritization in working memory do not include protection from distraction biases.

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“…Moreover, the utilisation of temporal expectations for memoryguided behaviour may be further affected by the sensorimotor overlap between intervening and memory items. Prior research has found evidence for working-memory performance to be most impaired when perceptual distractors are similar to the memory content (Clapp et al, 2010;Hermann et al, 2021;Jha et al, 2004;Sreenivasan & Jha, 2007;Yoon et al, 2006). If 'time' is part of (visual and motor) working-memory representations (Heuer & Rolfs, 2021;D.…”

Section: Temporal Expectations Benefit Working-memory Guided Behaviour Despite Intervening-task Demandsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consequences of predictable temporal structure in multi-task situations

Gresch¹,

Boettcher²,

Nobre³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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In everyday life, we often anticipate the timing of one upcoming task or event while actively engaging in another. Here, we investigated temporal expectations within such a multi-task scenario. In a visual working-memory task, we manipulated whether the onset of a working-memory probe could be predicted in time, while also embedding a simple intervening task within the delay period. We first show that working-memory performance benefitted from temporal predictability, even though an intervening task had to be completed in the interim. Moreover, temporal expectations regarding the upcoming working-memory probe additionally affected performance on the intervening task, resulting in faster responses when the memory probe was anticipated early, and slower responses when the memory probe was expected late, as compared to when it was temporally unpredictable. Because the intervening task always occurred at the same time during the memory delay, differences in performance on this intervening task are attributed to a between-task consequence of temporal expectation. Thus, we show that within multi-task settings, knowing when working-memory contents will be required for an upcoming task not only facilitates performance on the associated working-memory task, but can also influence the performance of other, intervening tasks.

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Neural basis of distractor resistance during visual working memory maintenance

Cited by 5 publications

References 101 publications

Consequences of predictable temporal structure in multi-task situations

Consequences of predictable temporal structure in multi-task situations

Prioritization sharpens working memories but does not protect them from distraction.

Consequences of predictable temporal structure in multi-task situations

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