Preparing for the unknown: How working memory provides a link between perception and anticipated action

Rösner, Marlene; Sabo, Melinda; Klatt, Laura‐Isabelle; Wascher, Edmund; Schneider, Daniel

doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119466

Cited by 12 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Accordingly, the overall amplitudes in the response-locked ERLs appeared to be larger. This observation is consistent with previous work in the visual domain, illustrating that the SPCN co-varies with response time (Schneider et al, 2014) and in a broader context, also corroborates the newly emerging perspective on working memory that emphasizes its role for guiding actions (Heuer et al, 2020; Rösner et al, 2022; Schneider et al, 2017; van Ede, 2020). The response-locked analysis further revealed an additional cluster related to larger SACN amplitudes in the audiovisual-congruent compared to the auditory-only condition shortly before response onset.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Cross-modal interactions at the audiovisual cocktail-party revealed by behavior, ERPs, and neural oscillations

Klatt

Begau

Schneider

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Theories of attention argue that objects are the units of attentional selection. In real-word environments such objects can contain visual and auditory features. To understand how mechanisms of selective attention operate in multisensory environments, we created an audiovisual cocktail-party situation, in which two speakers (left and right of fixation) simultaneously articulated brief numerals. In three separate blocks, informative auditory speech was presented (a) alone or paired with (b) congruent or (c) uninformative visual speech. In all blocks, subjects localized a pre-defined numeral. While audiovisual-congruent and uninformative speech improved response times and speed of information uptake according to diffusion modeling, an ERP analysis revealed that this did not coincide with enhanced attentional engagement. Yet, consistent with object-based attentional selection, the deployment of auditory spatial attention (N2ac) was accompanied by visuo-spatial attentional orienting (N2pc) irrespective of the informational content of visual speech. Notably, an N2pc component was absent in the auditory-only condition, demonstrating that a sound-induced shift of visuo-spatial attention relies on the availability of audio-visual features evolving coherently in time. Additional analyses revealed cross-modal interactions in working memory and modulations of cognitive control. The preregistered methods and hypotheses of this study can be found at https://osf.io/vh38g.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Cross-modal interactions at the audiovisual cocktail-party revealed by behavior, ERPs, and neural oscillations

Klatt

Begau

Schneider

et al. 2022

Preprint

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“…This pattern of action encoding -or "output planning at the input stage" -occurred even in the face of an intervening task and predicted performance several seconds later (Boettcher et al, 2021). We build upon this finding, and upon complementary recent findings demonstrating manual action planning alongside visual working memory (Ester & Weese, 2022;Henderson et al, 2022;Nasrawi & van Ede, 2022;Rösner et al, 2022;Schneider et al, 2017;van Ede et al, 2019). Specifically, we address three important questions left unaddressed by previous research.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 60%

“…First, we show that action planning -as reflected by the pattern of action encoding during the memory delay -truly reflects the early prospection of a future required task, as it flexibly adapts to different visual-motor mappings. Similar to previous studies (Boettcher et al, 2021;Henderson et al, 2022;Rösner et al, 2022;Schneider et al, 2017;van Ede et al, 2019), we linked visual tilt (left-or rightward) to specific manual responses. Critically, however, in the current study we additionally varied the mapping between tilt and response hand, such that any specific tilt required reproduction with a left hand in some blocks, and with the right hand in other blocks.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…The data from the load-one condition alone already provide an important advance over previous studies that linked visual features of memory content to manual actions (Boettcher et al, 2021;Ester & Weese, 2022;Henderson et al, 2022;Nasrawi & van Ede, 2022;Rösner et al, 2022;Schneider et al, 2017;van Ede et al, 2019). By varying the tilt-response mapping we could isolate action planning signatures from signatures associated with specific visual tilts because in half the blocks the same visual tilt would be associated with the opposite response hand (see Methods for details).…”

Section: Action Encoding Flexibly Codes For the Anticipated Taskmentioning

confidence: 90%

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Flexible early prospection of potential behavior in working memory

Nasrawi

Boettcher

Ede

2023

Preprint

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For visual working memory to serve upcoming behavior, it is crucial that we prepare for the potential use of working-memory contents ahead of time. Recent studies have demonstrated how the prospection and planning for an upcoming manual action starts early after visual encoding, and occurs alongside visual retention. Here, we address whether such ‘output planning’ in visual working memory flexibly adapts to different visual-motor mappings, and occurs even when an upcoming action will only potentially become relevant for behavior. Participants performed a visual-motor working memory task in which they remembered one or two visual items for later (potential) use. We tracked planning of upcoming behavior through contralateral attenuation of beta-band activity – a canonical motor-cortical EEG signature of manual-action planning. This revealed how action encoding and subsequent planning alongside visual working memory (1) reflects anticipated task demands rather than specific visual-motor mappings, (2) occurs even for actions that will only potentially become relevant for behavior, and (3) is associated with better performance for the encoded item, at the expense of performance to other working-memory content. This reveals how the potential prospective use of visual working memory content is flexibly planned early on, with consequences for later performance.

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“…Therefore, even if effects of salience on attentional processes and eye movements are short-lived, their repercussions at later processing stages, such as VWM, might affect behavior much more deeply than would be expected based on the findings from the attention community alone. In fact, VWM is considered the major cognitive bottleneck of visual processing with effects on even later stages such as object recognition, long-term memory formation, and action control (Liesefeld et al, 2020; Liesefeld & Müller, 2019; Rösner et al, 2022; van Ede & Nobre, 2023), so that any effect on VWM processing has strong implications for many cognitive functions and applied settings.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of salience are long-lived and stubborn.

Constant¹,

Liesefeld²

2023

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

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Salience is a core determinant of attentional processing. Although information on salience has been shown to dissipate within a few hundred milliseconds, we recently observed massive effects of salience on the delayed recall from visual working memory more than 1,300 ms after stimulus onset. Here, we manipulated presentation duration of the memory display and found that effects of salience, albeit decreasing over time, were still markedly present after 3,000 ms (2,000 ms presentation; Experiment 1). In an attempt to overrule this persistent influence of salience, we made less salient stimuli more relevant (by rewarding their prioritized processing in Experiment 2 or by probing them more often in Experiment 3). Participants were unable to reliably prioritize low-salience stimuli. Thus, our results demonstrate that effects of salience or their repercussions have surprisingly long-lasting effects on cognitive performance that reach even relatively late processing stages and are difficult to overrule by volition.

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Preparing for the unknown: How working memory provides a link between perception and anticipated action

Cited by 12 publications

References 38 publications

Cross-modal interactions at the audiovisual cocktail-party revealed by behavior, ERPs, and neural oscillations

Cross-modal interactions at the audiovisual cocktail-party revealed by behavior, ERPs, and neural oscillations

Flexible early prospection of potential behavior in working memory

Effects of salience are long-lived and stubborn.

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