Dataset Information

The time course of visuo-spatial working memory updating revealed by a retro-cuing paradigm.

ABSTRACT: We investigated the influence of non-cued working memory representations on further information processing. A retro-cue indicated if items on the left or right side of a previous memory array remained relevant. Subsequently, a central probe item was presented with a varying stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA: 300, 400, 600, 1,000, 1,800?ms). Participants had to state whether this stimulus was shown on the cued side of the memory array. The probe was either a cued, non-cued or new item. Non-cued probes were associated with delayed response times and an increased frontal negativity from 400-600?ms indicating a higher processing conflict compared to new probes. These effects were strongest for the 300 and 400?ms SOAs and decreased in longer SOA conditions, pointing toward a benefit when there was sufficient time for working memory updating. Furthermore, contralateral negativities at posterior (PCN) and anterior sites (ADAN) reflected the attentional orienting toward cued information while selective retention was associated with a sustained suppression of posterior induced alpha power contralateral to retro-cue direction. Results suggest that retro-cue induced updating of visuo-spatial working memory requires about 500?ms to transfer the non-cued contents into a passive and fragile short-term memory state with less impact on ongoing information processing.

SUBMITTER: Schneider D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4751472 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The time course of visuo-spatial working memory updating revealed by a retro-cuing paradigm.

Schneider Daniel D Mertes Christine C Wascher Edmund E

Scientific reports 20160212

We investigated the influence of non-cued working memory representations on further information processing. A retro-cue indicated if items on the left or right side of a previous memory array remained relevant. Subsequently, a central probe item was presented with a varying stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA: 300, 400, 600, 1,000, 1,800 ms). Participants had to state whether this stimulus was shown on the cued side of the memory array. The probe was either a cued, non-cued or new item. Non-cued prob ...[more]

PMID: 26869057

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Project description:Humans can quickly approximate how many objects are in a visual image, but no clear consensus has been achieved on the cognitive resources underlying this ability. Previous work has lent support to the notion that mechanisms which explicitly represent the locations of multiple objects in the visual scene within a mental map are critical for both visuo-spatial working memory and enumeration (at least for relatively small numbers of items). Regarding the cognitive underpinnings of large numerosity perception, an issue currently subject to much controversy is why numerosity estimates are often non-veridical (i.e., susceptible to biases from non-numerical quantities). Such biases have been found to be particularly pronounced in individuals with developmental dyscalculia (DD), a learning disability affecting the acquisition of arithmetic skills. Motivated by findings showing that DD individuals are also often impaired in visuo-spatial working memory, we hypothesized that resources supporting this type of working memory, which allow for the simultaneous identification of multiple objects, might also be critical for precise and unbiased perception of larger numerosities. We therefore tested whether loading working memory of healthy adult participants during discrimination of large numerosities would lead to increased interference from non-numerical quantities. Participants performed a numerosity discrimination task on multi-item arrays in which numerical and non-numerical stimulus dimensions varied congruently or incongruently relative to each other, either in isolation or in the context of a concurrent visuo-spatial or verbal working memory task. During performance of the visuo-spatial, but not verbal, working memory task, precision in numerosity discrimination decreased, participants' choices became strongly biased by item size, and the strength of this bias correlated with measures of arithmetical skills. Moreover, the interference between numerosity and working memory tasks was bidirectional, with number discrimination impacting visuo-spatial (but not verbal) performance. Overall, these results suggest that representing visual numerosity in a way that is unbiased by non-numerical quantities relies on processes which explicitly segregate/identify the locations of multiple objects that are shared with visuo-spatial (but not verbal) working memory. This shared resource may potentially be impaired in DD, explaining the observed co-occurrence of working memory and numerosity discrimination deficits in this clinical population.

Project description:Visual-spatial working memory (VSWM) helps us to maintain and manipulate visual information in the absence of sensory input. It has been proposed that VSWM is an emergent property of the oculomotor system. In the present study we investigated the role of the oculomotor system in updating of spatial working memory representations across saccades. Participants had to maintain a location in memory while making a saccade to a different location. During the saccade the target was displaced, which went unnoticed by the participants. After executing the saccade, participants had to indicate the memorized location. If memory updating fully relies on cancellation driven by extraretinal oculomotor signals, the displacement should have no effect on the perceived location of the memorized stimulus. However, if postsaccadic retinal information about the location of the saccade target is used, the perceived location will be shifted according to the target displacement. As it has been suggested that maintenance of accurate spatial representations across saccades is especially important for action control, we used different ways of reporting the location held in memory; a match-to-sample task, a mouse click or by making another saccade. The results showed a small systematic target displacement bias in all response modalities. Parametric manipulation of the distance between the to-be-memorized stimulus and saccade target revealed that target displacement bias increased over time and changed its spatial profile from being initially centered on locations around the saccade target to becoming spatially global. Taken together results suggest that we neither rely exclusively on extraretinal nor on retinal information in updating working memory representations across saccades. The relative contribution of retinal signals is not fixed but depends on both the time available to integrate these signals as well as the distance between the saccade target and the remembered location.

Dataset Information

The time course of visuo-spatial working memory updating revealed by a retro-cuing paradigm.

Publications

The time course of visuo-spatial working memory updating revealed by a retro-cuing paradigm.

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