On the fate of non-cued mental representations in visuo-spatial working memory: Evidence by a retro-cuing paradigm

By means of a visual retro-cuing paradigm, we investigated the influence of working memory representations that are not required for an ongoing task. A retro-cue reliably indicated the items on the left or right side of a memory array that remained relevant for a subsequent recognition task. On ERP level, the attentional selection of cued memory contents was reflected by a contralateral negativity that appeared at temporal sites in an interval following retro-cue presentation (i.e., 200-400ms). Additionally, the retro-cue caused a suppression of posterior induced alpha power contralateral to the relevant memory items reflecting the release of non-cued information from active maintenance in visuo-spatial working memory. Following the retro-cue, a central probe item was presented and participants had to state whether this stimulus was previously shown on the relevant side of the memory array. The probe was either a cued memory item (cued probe), non-cued memory item (non-cued probe) or was not shown in the previous memory array (new probe). While the same response was required, the non-cued probe condition featured slower response times referred to the new probe condition. In line with these results, a comparison of the probe-locked ERPs pointed toward additional memory retrieval and conflict control mechanisms when processing non-cued probes compared to new probes. Thus although retro-cues were used to drop non-cued information from working memory, it still interfered with the processing of new sensory information based on residual spatial representations in a passive and fragile short-term memory store.

[1]  Gareth R Barnes,et al.  Modulation of alpha and gamma oscillations related to retrospectively orienting attention within working memory , 2014, The European journal of neuroscience.

[2]  G. R Mangun,et al.  Shifting visual attention in space: an electrophysiological analysis using high spatial resolution mapping , 2000, Clinical Neurophysiology.

[3]  Steven J. Luck,et al.  ERPLAB: an open-source toolbox for the analysis of event-related potentials , 2014, Front. Hum. Neurosci..

[4]  Thomas Töllner,et al.  Contralateral delay activity reveals dimension-based attentional orienting to locations in visual working memory , 2014, Attention, perception & psychophysics.

[5]  P. Roelfsema,et al.  Different States in Visual Working Memory: When It Guides Attention and When It Does Not , 2022 .

[6]  R. West,et al.  Neural correlates of cognitive control and conflict detection in the Stroop and digit-location tasks , 2003, Neuropsychologia.

[7]  A. Nobre,et al.  The dynamics of shifting visuospatial attention revealed by event-related potentials , 2000, Neuropsychologia.

[8]  P. Jolicoeur,et al.  Fundamental properties of the N2pc as an index of spatial attention: effects of masking. , 2006, Canadian journal of experimental psychology = Revue canadienne de psychologie experimentale.

[9]  D Friedman,et al.  Event‐related potential (ERP) studies of memory encoding and retrieval: A selective review , 2000, Microscopy research and technique.

[10]  Joel L. Voss,et al.  Validating neural correlates of familiarity , 2007, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[11]  A. Mognon,et al.  ADJUST: An automatic EEG artifact detector based on the joint use of spatial and temporal features. , 2011, Psychophysiology.

[12]  S. Luck,et al.  Attention effects during visual short-term memory maintenance: Protection or prioritization? , 2007 .

[13]  Paul M. Bays,et al.  Rapid Forgetting Prevented by Retrospective Attention Cues , 2012, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[14]  A. Baddeley.  Exploring the Central Executive , 1996 .

[15]  R. Ratcliff,et al.  Speed and accuracy of same and different responses in perceptual matching , 1981, Perception & psychophysics.

[16]  Bradley R. Postle,et al.  Prefrontal Control of Familiarity and Recollection in Working Memory , 2010, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[17]  A. Nobre,et al.  Attentional modulation of object representations in working memory. , 2007, Cerebral cortex.

[18]  Anna Christina Nobre,et al.  Orienting attention to locations in mental representations , 2012, Attention, perception & psychophysics.

[19]  C Alain,et al.  Event-related neural activity associated with the Stroop task. , 1999, Brain research. Cognitive brain research.

[20]  Sven Hoffmann,et al.  Sustained posterior contralateral activity indicates re-entrant target processing in visual change detection: an EEG study , 2014, Front. Hum. Neurosci..

[21]  Victor A. F. Lamme,et al.  Are There Multiple Visual Short-Term Memory Stores? , 2008, PloS one.

[22]  Rachel S. Sussman,et al.  Orienting attention in visual working memory reduces interference from memory probes. , 2008, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[23]  Yuhong Jiang,et al.  Distributing versus focusing attention in visual short-term memory , 2007, Psychonomic bulletin & review.

[24]  Jeff Miller,et al.  Measurement of ERP latency differences: a comparison of single-participant and jackknife-based scoring methods. , 2008, Psychophysiology.

[25]  Michael Falkenstein,et al.  A new method for the estimation of the onset of the lateralized readiness potential (LRP) , 1998 .

[26]  K. Oberauer,et al.  The integration of familiarity and recollection information in short-term recognition: modeling speed-accuracy trade-off functions , 2008, Psychological research.

[27]  Mark G. Stokes,et al.  Attention Modulates Maintenance of Representations in Visual Short-term Memory , 2012, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[28]  A. Baddeley.  Working memory: theories, models, and controversies. , 2012, Annual review of psychology.

[29]  Arnaud Delorme,et al.  EEGLAB: an open source toolbox for analysis of single-trial EEG dynamics including independent component analysis , 2004, Journal of Neuroscience Methods.

[30]  A. Nobre,et al.  Orienting Attention to Locations in Internal Representations , 2003, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[31]  E E Smith,et al.  The neural substrate and temporal dynamics of interference effects in working memory as revealed by event-related functional MRI. , 1999, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[32]  Martin Eimer,et al.  An electrophysiological measure of access to representations in visual working memory. , 2010, Psychophysiology.

[33]  Jarrod A. Lewis-Peacock,et al.  Multiple neural states of representation in short-term memory? It’s a matter of attention , 2014, Front. Hum. Neurosci..

[34]  H. Spekreijse,et al.  Large capacity storage of integrated objects before change blindness , 2003, Vision Research.

[35]  John J. Foxe,et al.  Increases in alpha oscillatory power reflect an active retinotopic mechanism for distracter suppression during sustained visuospatial attention. , 2006, Journal of neurophysiology.

[36]  Steven L. Miller,et al.  Neural Processes Involved in Directing Attention , 1989, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[37]  Ole Jensen,et al.  Alpha Oscillations Correlate with the Successful Inhibition of Unattended Stimuli , 2011, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[38]  K. Oberauer,et al.  Focused, unfocused, and defocused information in working memory. , 2013, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[39]  E. Vogel,et al.  Contralateral delay activity provides a neural measure of the number of representations in visual working memory. , 2010, Journal of neurophysiology.

[40]  Roy Luria,et al.  Orienting attention to objects in visual short-term memory , 2009, Neuropsychologia.

[41]  W. Klimesch,et al.  EEG alpha oscillations: The inhibition–timing hypothesis , 2007, Brain Research Reviews.

[42]  Klaus Oberauer,et al.  Neural Evidence for a Distinction between Short-term Memory and the Focus of Attention , 2012, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[43]  Y. Benjamini,et al.  Controlling the false discovery rate: a practical and powerful approach to multiple testing , 1995 .

[44]  T. Curran,et al.  The electrophysiology of incidental and intentionalretrieval: erp old⧸new effects in lexical decision andrecognition memory , 1999, Neuropsychologia.

[45]  Y. Benjamini,et al.  THE CONTROL OF THE FALSE DISCOVERY RATE IN MULTIPLE TESTING UNDER DEPENDENCY , 2001 .

[46]  R. T. Pivik,et al.  Guidelines for the recording and quantitative analysis of electroencephalographic activity in research contexts. , 1993, Psychophysiology.

[47]  M. Mesulam.  A cortical network for directed attention and unilateral neglect , 1981, Annals of neurology.

[48]  Benoit Brisson,et al.  Dissociation of the N2pc and sustained posterior contralateral negativity in a choice response task , 2008, Brain Research.

[49]  D Friedman,et al.  Cognitive event-related potential components during continuous recognition memory for pictures. , 1990, Psychophysiology.

[50]  K. Paller,et al.  Distinguishing source memory and item memory: Brain potentials at encoding and retrieval , 2006, Brain Research.

[51]  J. Jonides,et al.  Brain mechanisms of proactive interference in working memory , 2006, Neuroscience.

[52]  Melonie Williams,et al.  Directed forgetting and directed remembering in visual working memory. , 2012, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[53]  V. Lamme,et al.  Forgotten but not gone: Retro-cue costs and benefits in a double-cueing paradigm suggest multiple states in visual short-term memory. , 2015, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[54]  J. Schoffelen,et al.  Dissociated α-band modulations in the dorsal and ventral visual pathways in visuospatial attention and perception. , 2014, Cerebral cortex.

[55]  J. Theeuwes,et al.  The time course of protecting a visual memory representation from perceptual interference , 2015, Front. Hum. Neurosci..

[56]  V. Lamme,et al.  Fragile visual short-term memory is an object-based and location-specific store , 2013, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review.

[57]  C. Olivers,et al.  The reliability of retro-cues determines the fate of noncued visual working memory representations , 2015, Psychonomic bulletin & review.

[58]  Maro G. Machizawa,et al.  Neural activity predicts individual differences in visual working memory capacity , 2004, Nature.

[59]  Paul Verhaeghen,et al.  Retrospective attention enhances visual working memory in the young but not the old: an ERP study. , 2013, Psychophysiology.

[60]  John J. Foxe,et al.  Anticipatory Attentional Suppression of Visual Features Indexed by Oscillatory Alpha-Band Power Increases:A High-Density Electrical Mapping Study , 2010, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[61]  Christoph M. Michel,et al.  A bias for posterior α-band power suppression versus enhancement during shifting versus maintenance of spatial attention , 2009, NeuroImage.

[62]  Klaus Oberauer,et al.  Decoding Attended Information in Short-term Memory: An EEG Study , 2013, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[63]  Manuel Schabus,et al.  A shift of visual spatial attention is selectively associated with human EEG alpha activity , 2005, The European journal of neuroscience.