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Chidharom M, Carlisle NB. Distinct mechanisms of attentional suppression: exploration of trait factors underlying cued- and learned-suppression. Cogn Res Princ Implic 2024; 9:26. [PMID: 38691325 PMCID: PMC11063026 DOI: 10.1186/s41235-024-00554-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2023] [Accepted: 04/17/2024] [Indexed: 05/03/2024] Open
Abstract
Attention allows us to focus on relevant information while ignoring distractions. Effective suppression of distracting information is crucial for efficient visual search. Recent studies have developed two paradigms to investigate attentional suppression: cued-suppression which is based on top-down control, and learned-suppression which is based on selection history. While both types of suppression reportedly engage proactive control, it remains unclear whether they rely on shared mechanisms. This study aimed to determine the relationship between cued- and learned-suppression. In a within-subjects design, 54 participants performed a cued-suppression task where pre-cues indicated upcoming target or distractor colors, and a learned-suppression task where a salient color distractor was present or absent. No significant correlation emerged between performance in the two tasks, suggesting distinct suppression mechanisms. Cued-suppression correlated with visual working memory capacity, indicating reliance on explicit control. In contrast, learned-suppression correlated with everyday distractibility, suggesting implicit control based on regularities. These results provide evidence for heterogeneous proactive control mechanisms underlying cued- and learned-suppression. While both engage inhibition, cued-suppression relies on deliberate top-down control modulated by working memory, whereas learned-suppression involves implicit suppression shaped by selection history and distractibility traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthieu Chidharom
- Department of Psychology, Lehigh University, 17 Memorial Drive, Bethlehem, PA, 18015, USA
| | - Nancy B Carlisle
- Department of Psychology, Lehigh University, 17 Memorial Drive, Bethlehem, PA, 18015, USA.
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2
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Tong X, Xie H, Wu W, Keller CJ, Fonzo GA, Chidharom M, Carlisle NB, Etkin A, Zhang Y. Individual deviations from normative electroencephalographic connectivity predict antidepressant response. J Affect Disord 2024; 351:220-230. [PMID: 38281595 PMCID: PMC10923099 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2024.01.177] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2023] [Revised: 01/15/2024] [Accepted: 01/18/2024] [Indexed: 01/30/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Antidepressant medications yield unsatisfactory treatment outcomes in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) with modest advantages over the placebo, partly due to the elusive mechanisms of antidepressant responses and unexplained heterogeneity in patient's response to treatment. Here we develop a novel normative modeling framework to quantify individual deviations in psychopathological dimensions that offers a promising avenue for the personalized treatment for psychiatric disorders. METHODS We built a normative model with resting-state electroencephalography (EEG) connectivity data from healthy controls of three independent cohorts. We characterized the individual deviation of MDD patients from the healthy norms, based on which we trained sparse predictive models for treatment responses of MDD patients (102 sertraline-medicated and 119 placebo-medicated). Hamilton depression rating scale (HAMD-17) was assessed at both baseline and after the eight-week antidepressant treatment. RESULTS We successfully predicted treatment outcomes for patients receiving sertraline (r = 0.43, p < 0.001) and placebo (r = 0.33, p < 0.001). We also showed that the normative modeling framework successfully distinguished subclinical and diagnostic variabilities among subjects. From the predictive models, we identified key connectivity signatures in resting-state EEG for antidepressant treatment, suggesting differences in neural circuit involvement between sertraline and placebo responses. CONCLUSIONS Our findings and highly generalizable framework advance the neurobiological understanding in the potential pathways of antidepressant responses, enabling more targeted and effective personalized MDD treatment. TRIAL REGISTRATION Establishing Moderators and Biosignatures of Antidepressant Response for Clinical Care for Depression (EMBARC), NCT#01407094.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoyu Tong
- Department of Bioengineering, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA
| | - Hua Xie
- Center for Neuroscience Research, Children's National Hospital, Washington, DC, USA; George Washington University School of Medicine, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Wei Wu
- Alto Neuroscience, Inc., Los Altos, CA, USA
| | - Corey J Keller
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, CA, USA; Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Healthcare System, Sierra Pacific Mental Illness, Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC), Palo Alto, CA, USA
| | - Gregory A Fonzo
- Center for Psychedelic Research and Therapy, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, TX, USA
| | | | | | - Amit Etkin
- Alto Neuroscience, Inc., Los Altos, CA, USA
| | - Yu Zhang
- Department of Bioengineering, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA; Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA.
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3
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Tong X, Zhao K, Fonzo GA, Xie H, Carlisle NB, Keller CJ, Oathes DJ, Sheline Y, Nemeroff CB, Williams LM, Trivedi M, Etkin A, Zhang Y. Optimizing Antidepressant Efficacy: Multimodal Neuroimaging Biomarkers for Prediction of Treatment Response. medRxiv 2024:2024.04.11.24305583. [PMID: 38645124 PMCID: PMC11030479 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.11.24305583] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/23/2024]
Abstract
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common and often severe condition that profoundly diminishes quality of life for individuals across ages and demographic groups. Unfortunately, current antidepressant and psychotherapeutic treatments exhibit limited efficacy and unsatisfactory response rates in a substantial number of patients. The development of effective therapies for MDD is hindered by the insufficiently understood heterogeneity within the disorder and its elusive underlying mechanisms. To address these challenges, we present a target-oriented multimodal fusion framework that robustly predicts antidepressant response by integrating structural and functional connectivity data (sertraline: R2 = 0.31; placebo: R2 = 0.22). Through the model, we identify multimodal neuroimaging biomarkers of antidepressant response and observe that sertraline and placebo show distinct predictive patterns. We further decompose the overall predictive patterns into constitutive network constellations with generalizable structural-functional co-variation, which exhibit treatment-specific association with personality traits and behavioral/cognitive task performance. Our innovative and interpretable multimodal framework provides novel insights into the intricate neuropsychopharmacology of antidepressant treatment and paves the way for advances in precision medicine and development of more targeted antidepressant therapeutics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoyu Tong
- Department of Bioengineering, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA
| | - Kanhao Zhao
- Department of Bioengineering, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA
| | - Gregory A. Fonzo
- Center for Psychedelic Research and Therapy, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Hua Xie
- Center for Neuroscience Research, Children’s National Hospital, Washington, DC, USA
| | | | - Corey J. Keller
- Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
- Sierra-Pacific Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC), Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA, USA
| | - Desmond J. Oathes
- Center for Brain Imaging and Stimulation, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Center for Neuromodulation in Depression and Stress, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Yvette Sheline
- Center for Neuromodulation in Depression and Stress, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Charles B. Nemeroff
- Center for Psychedelic Research and Therapy, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Leanne M. Williams
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
- Sierra-Pacific Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC), Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA, USA
| | - Madhukar Trivedi
- Department of Psychiatry, Center for Depression Research and Clinical Care, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA
| | - Amit Etkin
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
- Alto Neuroscience, Inc., Los Altos, CA, USA
| | - Yu Zhang
- Department of Bioengineering, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA
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4
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Liesefeld HR, Lamy D, Gaspelin N, Geng JJ, Kerzel D, Schall JD, Allen HA, Anderson BA, Boettcher S, Busch NA, Carlisle NB, Colonius H, Draschkow D, Egeth H, Leber AB, Müller HJ, Röer JP, Schubö A, Slagter HA, Theeuwes J, Wolfe J. Terms of debate: Consensus definitions to guide the scientific discourse on visual distraction. Atten Percept Psychophys 2024:10.3758/s13414-023-02820-3. [PMID: 38177944 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-023-02820-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/15/2023] [Indexed: 01/06/2024]
Abstract
Hypothesis-driven research rests on clearly articulated scientific theories. The building blocks for communicating these theories are scientific terms. Obviously, communication - and thus, scientific progress - is hampered if the meaning of these terms varies idiosyncratically across (sub)fields and even across individual researchers within the same subfield. We have formed an international group of experts representing various theoretical stances with the goal to homogenize the use of the terms that are most relevant to fundamental research on visual distraction in visual search. Our discussions revealed striking heterogeneity and we had to invest much time and effort to increase our mutual understanding of each other's use of central terms, which turned out to be strongly related to our respective theoretical positions. We present the outcomes of these discussions in a glossary and provide some context in several essays. Specifically, we explicate how central terms are used in the distraction literature and consensually sharpen their definitions in order to enable communication across theoretical standpoints. Where applicable, we also explain how the respective constructs can be measured. We believe that this novel type of adversarial collaboration can serve as a model for other fields of psychological research that strive to build a solid groundwork for theorizing and communicating by establishing a common language. For the field of visual distraction, the present paper should facilitate communication across theoretical standpoints and may serve as an introduction and reference text for newcomers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heinrich R Liesefeld
- Department of Psychology, University of Bremen, Hochschulring 18, D-28359, Bremen, Germany.
| | - Dominique Lamy
- The School of Psychology Sciences and The Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv 69978, POB 39040, Tel Aviv, Israel.
| | | | - Joy J Geng
- University of California Davis, Daivs, CA, USA
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Hans Colonius
- Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Anna Schubö
- Philipps University Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | | | | | - Jeremy Wolfe
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Brigham & Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
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5
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Chidharom M, Carlisle NB. Neurophysiological Measures of Proactive and Reactive Control in Negative Template Use. J Cogn Neurosci 2023; 35:1063-1074. [PMID: 37052508 PMCID: PMC10580290 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01996] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/14/2023]
Abstract
In a visual search task, knowing features of distractors in advance leads to a more efficient visual search. Although previous studies suggested that the benefits of these negative cues rely on attentional control, it is unclear whether proactive or reactive control is involved. In this study, we analyzed the EEG data of participants performing a visual search task (n = 14). Participants searched for a shape-defined target after receiving a positive cue (target color), negative cue (distractor color), or neutral cue (non-informative). To examine proactive control, we measured EEG after the cue onset but before visual search. Our time-frequency analysis revealed a higher power of theta oscillations over frontoparietal regions after the negative cues compared with the positive and neutral cues, as well as higher theta phase synchronization within the prefrontal region, demonstrating negative cues rely more heavily on proactive control compared with other cue types. To examine reactive control, we measured EEG after the search onset. We found a lateralization of posterior alpha power toward the target side in both positive and negative cues conditions, with a later lateralization observed after negative cues. Interestingly, we observed a significant relationship between the increase of proactive theta power after negative cues and the decrease of reactive alpha power after the search. This suggests the coordination of proactive and reactive mechanisms lead to the most efficient search.
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6
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Abstract
People can quickly learn spatial distributions of targets and direct attention to likely regions of targets. These implicitly learned spatial biases have been shown to be persistent, transferring to other similar visual search tasks. However, a persistent attentional bias is incompatible with frequently changing goals in our typical daily environment. We propose a flexible goal-specific probability cueing mechanism to address this discrepancy. We examined whether participants could learn and utilize target-specific spatial priority maps across five experiments (each N = 24). In Experiment 1, participants were faster to find the target at the target-specific high-probability location, in line with a goal-specific probability cueing effect. This demonstrated that separate spatial priorities derived from statistical learning can be flexibly activated based on the current goal. In Experiment 2, we ensured the results were not driven solely by intertrial priming. In Experiment 3, we ensured the results were driven by early attentional guidance effects. In Experiment 4, we extended our findings to a complex spatial distribution including four locations, supporting a sophisticated representation of target likelihood in the activated spatial priority maps. Finally, in Experiment 5, we confirmed that the effect was driven by the activation of an attentional template and not associative learning between the target cue and a spatial location. Our findings demonstrate a previously unrecognized mechanism for flexibility within statistical learning. The goal-specific probability cueing effect relies on coordination of feature-based and location-based attention, utilizing information that crosses traditional boundaries between top-down control and selection history. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
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7
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Zhang Z, Carlisle NB. Assessing recoding accounts of negative attentional templates using behavior and eye tracking. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 2023; 49:509-532. [PMID: 36548091 PMCID: PMC10580292 DOI: 10.1037/xlm0001183] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Can we use attentional control to ignore known distractor features? Providing cues before a visual search trial about an upcoming distractor color (negative cue) can lead to reaction time benefits compared with no cue trials. This suggests top-down control may use negative templates to actively suppress distractor features, a notion that challenges the mechanisms of top-down control provided in many theories of attention. However, there is currently mixed support for this mechanism in the literature. Alternative explanations have been proposed, which do not require suppression within top-down control but instead involve recoding the negative cue into a positive template based on color or spatial layouts. In three experiments, we contrasted the predictions of active suppression and the recoding strategies. Across experiments, we found consistent evidence against a color recoding account. We also found evidence of accuracy, reaction time, and eye movement benefits when location recoding was not possible. These results suggest that prior benefits from negative cues cannot be explained exclusively by spatial or color recoding. The results indicate that active suppression likely plays a role in the attentional benefits following negative cues. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
- Ziyao Zhang
- Department of Psychology, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 18015, USA
- Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, 78712, USA
| | - Nancy B. Carlisle
- Department of Psychology, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 18015, USA
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8
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Rajsic J, Carlisle NB, Woodman GF. What not to look for: Electrophysiological evidence that searchers prefer positive templates. Neuropsychologia 2020; 140:107376. [PMID: 32032582 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107376] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2019] [Revised: 02/02/2020] [Accepted: 02/03/2020] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
To-be-attended information can be specified either with positive cues (I'll be wearing a blue shirt) or with negative cues (I won't be wearing a red shirt). Numerous experiments have found that positive cues help search more than negative cues. Given that negative cues produce smaller benefits compared to positive cues, it stands to reason that searchers may choose to use positive templates instead of negative templates if given the opportunity. Here, we evaluate this possibility with behavioral measures as well as by directly measuring the formation of positive and negative templates with event-related potentials. Analysis of the contralateral delay activity (CDA) elicited by cues revealed that positive and negative templates relied on working memory to the same extent, even when negative working memory templates could have been circumvented by relying on long-term memories of target colors. Whereas the CDA did not discriminate positive and negative templates, a CNV-like potential did, suggesting cognitive differences between positive and negative templates beyond visual working memory. However, when both positive and negative information were presented in each cue, participants preferred to make use of the positive cues, as indicated by a CDA contralateral to the positive color in negative cue blocks, and a lack of search benefits for positive- and negative-color cues relative to positive-color cues alone. Our results show that searchers elect to selectively encode only positive information into visual working memory when both positive and negative information are available.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jason Rajsic
- Department of Psychology, Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, NE1 8SG, UK.
| | - Nancy B Carlisle
- Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, 18015, USA
| | - Geoffrey F Woodman
- Department of Psychology, Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience, and Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37235, USA
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9
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Carlisle NB, Zhang Z. Eye tracking supports active attentional suppression from negative templates. J Vis 2019. [DOI: 10.1167/19.10.53d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
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10
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Zhang Z, Gaspelin N, Carlisle NB. Probing the early attentional benefits of negative templates. J Vis 2019. [DOI: 10.1167/19.10.315] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
| | - Nicholas Gaspelin
- Psychology department, Binghamton University, State University of New York
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11
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Carlisle NB. Flexibility in Attentional Control: Multiple Sources and Suppression. Yale J Biol Med 2019; 92:103-113. [PMID: 30923477 PMCID: PMC6430179] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
In daily life, it is critical that we are able to direct our visual attention to information that is important for our tasks while avoiding distracting information. To control our attention, we engage "attentional templates" that reconfigure how incoming visual signals are processed in our brains. But what are these attentional templates and how do they work? Much of our understanding of the nature of attentional templates has been driven by the proposed mechanism linking attentional templates and working memory from the biased competition model [1] (Desimone and Duncan, 1995). Over the past 20 years, research inspired by this proposal has vastly increased our understanding of attentional control. This work has highlighted flexibility in attentional control, with multiple sources of control and flexible enhancement or suppression based on task demands.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nancy B. Carlisle
- To whom all correspondence should be addressed: Nancy B. Carlisle, 17 Memorial Drive West, Department of Psychology, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA;
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12
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Affiliation(s)
- Nancy B. Carlisle
- Department of Psychology, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA
- School of Psychology, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
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13
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Abstract
Various theoretical proposals have been put forward to explain how memory representations control attention during visual search. In this study, we use the first saccade on each trial as away to quantify the attentional impact of multiple types of representations held in working memory. Across two experiments, we found that a search target maintained in working memory was attended over 20 times more frequently than a non-memory-matching distractor. In addition, an item matching an additional object represented in working memory was attended 2 times more frequently than a non-memory matching distractor. These findings show that there is a measurable attentional impact of items maintained in working memory for a future task, however, such representations have a much weaker attentional impact than working memory representations of search targets.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Geoffrey F Woodman
- Vanderbilt University Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience, Nashville, TN, USA
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14
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Carlisle NB, Kristjánsson Á. How visual working memory contents influence priming of visual attention. Psychol Res 2017; 82:833-839. [PMID: 28405777 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-017-0866-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2017] [Accepted: 04/06/2017] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Recent evidence shows that when the contents of visual working memory overlap with targets and distractors in a pop-out search task, intertrial priming is inhibited (Kristjánsson, Sævarsson & Driver, Psychon Bull Rev 20(3):514-521, 2013, Experiment 2, Psychonomic Bulletin and Review). This may reflect an interesting interaction between implicit short-term memory-thought to underlie intertrial priming-and explicit visual working memory. Evidence from a non-pop-out search task suggests that it may specifically be holding distractors in visual working memory that disrupts intertrial priming (Cunningham & Egeth, Psychol Sci 27(4):476-485, 2016, Experiment 2, Psychological Science). We examined whether the inhibition of priming depends on whether feature values in visual working memory overlap with targets or distractors in the pop-out search, and we found that the inhibition of priming resulted from holding distractors in visual working memory. These results are consistent with separate mechanisms of target and distractor effects in intertrial priming, and support the notion that the impact of implicit short-term memory and explicit visual working memory can interact when each provides conflicting attentional signals.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Árni Kristjánsson
- Department of Psychology, University of Iceland, Gimli v. Sturlugötu 101, Reykjavik, Iceland.
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15
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Grubert A, Carlisle NB, Eimer M. The Control of Single-color and Multiple-color Visual Search by Attentional Templates in Working Memory and in Long-term Memory. J Cogn Neurosci 2016; 28:1947-1963. [DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
The question whether target selection in visual search can be effectively controlled by simultaneous attentional templates for multiple features is still under dispute. We investigated whether multiple-color attentional guidance is possible when target colors remain constant and can thus be represented in long-term memory but not when they change frequently and have to be held in working memory. Participants searched for one, two, or three possible target colors that were specified by cue displays at the start of each trial. In constant-color blocks, the same colors remained task-relevant throughout. In variable-color blocks, target colors changed between trials. The contralateral delay activity (CDA) to cue displays increased in amplitude as a function of color memory load in variable-color blocks, which indicates that cued target colors were held in working memory. In constant-color blocks, the CDA was much smaller, suggesting that color representations were primarily stored in long-term memory. N2pc components to targets were measured as a marker of attentional target selection. Target N2pcs were attenuated and delayed during multiple-color search, demonstrating less efficient attentional deployment to color-defined target objects relative to single-color search. Importantly, these costs were the same in constant-color and variable-color blocks. These results demonstrate that attentional guidance by multiple-feature as compared with single-feature templates is less efficient both when target features remain constant and can be represented in long-term memory and when they change across trials and therefore have to be maintained in working memory.
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16
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Reinhart RMG, Carlisle NB, Woodman GF. Visual working memory gives up attentional control early in learning: ruling out interhemispheric cancellation. Psychophysiology 2014; 51:800-4. [PMID: 24708027 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.12217] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2013] [Accepted: 01/25/2014] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Current research suggests that we can watch visual working memory surrender the control of attention early in the process of learning to search for a specific object. This inference is based on the observation that the contralateral delay activity (CDA) rapidly decreases in amplitude across trials when subjects search for the same target object. Here, we tested the alternative explanation that the role of visual working memory does not actually decline across learning, but instead lateralized representations accumulate in both hemispheres across trials and wash out the lateralized CDA. We show that the decline in CDA amplitude occurred even when the target objects were consistently lateralized to a single visual hemifield. Our findings demonstrate that reductions in the amplitude of the CDA during learning are not simply due to the dilution of the CDA from interhemispheric cancellation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert M G Reinhart
- Department of Psychology, Center for Cognitive and Integrative Neuroscience, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
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17
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Abstract
Recent research using change-detection tasks has shown that a directed-forgetting cue, indicating that a subset of the information stored in memory can be forgotten, significantly benefits the other information stored in visual working memory. How do these directed-forgetting cues aid the memory representations that are retained? We addressed this question in the present study by using a recall paradigm to measure the nature of the retained memory representations. Our results demonstrated that a directed-forgetting cue leads to higher-fidelity representations of the remaining items and a lower probability of dropping these representations from memory. Next, we showed that this is made possible by the to-be-forgotten item being expelled from visual working memory following the cue, allowing maintenance mechanisms to be focused on only the items that remain in visual working memory. Thus, the present findings show that cues to forget benefit the remaining information in visual working memory by fundamentally improving their quality relative to conditions in which just as many items are encoded but no cue is provided.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melonie Williams
- Vanderbilt University, Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience
| | - Sang W. Hong
- Florida Atlantic University, Department of Psychology
| | - Min-Suk Kang
- Vanderbilt University, Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience
- Sungkyunkwan University, Department of Psychology
| | | | - Geoffrey F. Woodman
- Vanderbilt University, Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience
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18
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Abstract
During the last decade one of the most contentious and heavily studied topics in the attention literature has been the role that working memory representations play in controlling perceptual selection. The hypothesis has been advanced that to have attention select a certain perceptual input from the environment, we only need to represent that item in working memory. Here we summarize the work indicating that the relationship between what representations are maintained in working memory and what perceptual inputs are selected is not so simple. First, it appears that attentional selection is also determined by high-level task goals that mediate the relationship between working memory storage and attentional selection. Second, much of the recent work from our laboratory has focused on the role of long-term memory in controlling attentional selection. We review recent evidence supporting the proposal that working memory representations are critical during the initial configuration of attentional control settings, but that after those settings are established long-term memory representations play an important role in controlling which perceptual inputs are selected by mechanisms of attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Geoffrey F Woodman
- Vanderbilt University, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Vanderbilt Center for Cognitive and Integrative Neuroscience, Nashville, TN, USA
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Reinhart RMG, Carlisle NB, Kang MS, Woodman GF. Event-related potentials elicited by errors during the stop-signal task. II: human effector-specific error responses. J Neurophysiol 2012; 107:2794-807. [PMID: 22357790 PMCID: PMC3362284 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00803.2011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2011] [Accepted: 02/16/2012] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Although previous research with human and nonhuman primates has examined the neural correlates of performance monitoring, discrepancies in methodology have limited our ability to make cross-species generalizations. One major obstacle arises from the use of different behavioral responses and tasks across different primate species. Specifically, it is unknown whether performance-monitoring mechanisms rely on different neural circuitry in tasks requiring oculomotor vs. skeletomotor responses. Here, we show that the human error-related negativity (ERN) elicited by a saccadic eye-movement response relative to a manual response differs in several critical ways. The human saccadic ERN exhibits a prolonged duration, a broader frontomedial voltage distribution, and different neural source estimates than the manual ERN in exactly the same stop-signal task. The human saccadic error positivity (Pe) exhibited a frontomedial voltage distribution with estimated electrical sources in supplementary motor area and rostral anterior cingulate cortex for saccadic responses, whereas the manual Pe showed a posterior scalp distribution and potential origins in the superior parietal lobule. These findings constrain models of the cognitive mechanisms indexed by the ERN/Pe complex. Moreover, by paralleling work with nonhuman primates performing the same saccadic stop-signal task (Godlove et al. 2011), we demonstrate a cross-species homology of error event-related potentials (ERPs) and lay the groundwork for definitively localizing the neural sources of performance-monitoring ERPs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert M G Reinhart
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Center for Integrative & Cognitive Neuroscience, Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
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Arita JT, Carlisle NB, Woodman GF. Templates for rejection: configuring attention to ignore task-irrelevant features. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 2012; 38:580-4. [PMID: 22468723 DOI: 10.1037/a0027885] [Citation(s) in RCA: 97] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Theories of attention are compatible with the idea that we can bias attention to avoid selecting objects that have known nontarget features. Although this may underlie several existing phenomena, the explicit guidance of attention away from known nontargets has yet to be demonstrated. Here we show that observers can use feature cues (i.e., color) to bias attention away from nontarget items during visual search. These negative cues were used to quickly instantiate a template for rejection that reliably facilitated search across the cue-to-search stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs), although negative cues were not as potent as cues that guide attention toward target features. Furthermore, by varying the search set size we show a template for rejection is increasingly effective in facilitating search as scene complexity increases. Our findings demonstrate that knowing what not to look for can be used to configure attention to avoid certain features, complimenting what is known about setting attention to select certain target features.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jason T Arita
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37240-7817, USA
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Carlisle NB, Woodman GF. When memory is not enough: electrophysiological evidence for goal-dependent use of working memory representations in guiding visual attention. J Cogn Neurosci 2011; 23:2650-64. [PMID: 21254796 DOI: 10.1162/jocn.2011.21602] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Biased competition theory proposes that representations in working memory drive visual attention to select similar inputs. However, behavioral tests of this hypothesis have led to mixed results. These inconsistent findings could be due to the inability of behavioral measures to reliably detect the early, automatic effects on attentional deployment that the memory representations exert. Alternatively, executive mechanisms may govern how working memory representations influence attention based on higher-level goals. In the present study, we tested these hypotheses using the N2pc component of participants' event-related potentials to directly measure the early deployments of covert attention. Participants searched for a target in an array that sometimes contained a memory-matching distractor. In Experiments 1 to 3, we manipulated the difficulty of the target discrimination and the proximity of distractors, but consistently observed that covert attention was deployed to the search targets and not the memory-matching distractors. In Experiment 4, we showed that when participants' goal involved attending to memory-matching items, these items elicited a large and early N2pc. Our findings demonstrate that working memory representations alone are not sufficient to guide early deployments of visual attention to matching inputs and that goal-dependent executive control mediates the interactions between working memory representations and visual attention.
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