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How are Memory and Attention related in Working Memory?Elke Lange, Christian Starzynski,
Ralf EngbertUniversity of Potsdam
Memory and Attention
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
• Current models of Working Memory include a strong attentional component (e.g., Focus of attention in the WM model of Cowan, 2005, or Oberauer, 2002)
• Attention serves as a component for a) keeping information available b) selecting information from either the
environment (=encoding into memory) or from memory (=memory access)
c) manipulation of memory representations
• Current models of Working Memory include a strong attentional component (e.g., Focus of attention in the WM model of Cowan, 2005, or Oberauer, 2002)
• Attention serves as a component for a) keeping information available b) selecting information from either the
environment (=encoding into memory) or from memory (=memory access)
c) manipulation of memory representations
Memory Encoding
• Targets need to be selected• Usually: Selection of targets out
of non-target information• Non-targets = distractors to some
extend• Investigating selection processes
by manipulate and control distraction by irrelevant information
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
Background music instead of narcotic drugs
Distraction is helpful
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
Distraction can hinder and help
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
Why are irrelevant stimuli disturbing?
1. Similarity-based interference
2. Problem of limited attentional capacity
relevant irrelevant
relevant
relevant
irrelevant
e.g., Baddeley, 1986; Neath, 2000
e.g. Page & Norris, 2003
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
Long-term memory
The working-memory model of Cowan (1995)
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
Long-term memory
The working-memory model of Cowan (1995)
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
Long-term memory
Activated part of
long-term memory
The working-memory model of Cowan (1995)
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
Long-term memory
Activated part of
long-term memory
The working-memory model of Cowan (1995)
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
Long-term memory
Activated part of
long-term memory
The working-memory model of Cowan (1995)
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
Long-term memory
Activated part of
long-term memory
Focus of
attention
The working-memory model of Cowan (1995)
Focus of attention:• Limited to four units
(Cowan, 2001)
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
Long-term memory
Activated part oflong-term memory
Focus ofattention
Central Executive
The working-memory model of Cowan (1995)
Focus of attention:• Limited to four units
(Cowan, 2001)
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
Long-term memory
Activated part oflong-term memory
Focus ofattention
Central Executive
voluntarilyFocus of attention:• Limited to four units
(Cowan, 2001)• Voluntary selection
The working-memory model of Cowan (1995)
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
Long-term memory
Activated part oflong-term memory
Focus ofattention
Central Executive
voluntarilyFocus of attention:• Limited to four units
(Cowan, 2001)• Voluntary selection• Automatic recruitment:
The working-memory model of Cowan (1995)
a) Change in physical properties (e.g. loud noise, sudden movement)
b) Personal relevance (e.g. own name)
automatically
Short sensory storeElke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
automatically
Central Executive
voluntarilyFocus of attention:• Limited to four units
(Cowan, 2001)• Voluntary selection• Automatic recruitment:
The working-memory model of Cowan (1995)
a) Change in physical properties (e.g. loud noise, sudden movement)
b) Personal relevance (e.g. own name)
Short sensory storeElke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
automatically
Central Executive
voluntarilyFocus of attention:• Limited to four units
(Cowan, 2001)• Voluntary selection• Automatic recruitment:
The working-memory model of Cowan (1995)
a) Change in physical properties (e.g. loud noise, sudden movement)
b) Personal relevance (e.g. own name)
Short sensory storeElke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
Focus of attention:• Limited to four units
(Cowan, 2001)• Voluntary selection• Automatic recruitment:
The working-memory model of Cowan (1995)
a) Change in physical properties (e.g. loud noise, sudden movement)
b) Personal relevance (e.g. own name)
Central Executive
Short sensory storeElke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
Predictions of the Cowan Model
change in physical properties
items in the focus loose their activation benefit
leading to memory impairment for these items
deviation of the focus
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
• Relevant task: verbal or spatial serial recall
• Irrelevant stimuli (synchronized with the relevant stimuli):– Auditory: Tones – Visual: Color stripes beside the relevant
frame
Experiment 1: Auditory vs. Visual
distractor
5
17
38
Tone distractor Color distractor
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
Results: Experiment 1
40
50
60
70
80
90
verbal spatial%
co
rre
ct
silencerepetitionchange
Irrelevant colors
Verbal Spatial
40
50
60
70
80
90
verbal spatial
% c
orr
ec
t
silencerepetitionchange
Irrelevant tones
Verbal Spatial
♬?
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
• Domain-specific effect of distraction?– Distraction effect in the verbal task with
tone change– No distraction effect in the spatial task
with color change• Possible problems with the choice of the
irrelevant visual stimuli: – Maybe similarity plays a role in the visuo-
spatial domain (contingent capture: Folk, Remington, & Johnston, 1992)?
– Irrelevant stimuli outside of the visual relevant region might be not distractive (Eriksen & Eriksen, 1974; Awh & Pashler, 2000) ?
Summary Exp. 1
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
• Conditions: Repetition or location change• Hypotheses:
Distraction effect spatial task
No distraction effect verbal task
7
Experiment 2: Distraction by
irrelevant objects?• Relevant task: verbal or spatial• Irrelevant stimuli: visual-spatial
– Object-like– High perceptual similarity to the relevant stimuli– Inside the relevant visual-spatial region– Change has a spatial dimension
demo
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
40
50
60
70
80
90
verbal spatial
% c
orr
ec
t
repetition
change
Results: Experiment 2
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
automatically
Central Executive
Short sensory memory
voluntary
Focus of
attention
Criterion for distraction:Change in physical properties?
Not any changes but a)specific changesb)domain-specific effects
Distraction of verbal task by tone change
Distraction of spatial task by object location change
Cowan Model
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
Thresholds: Effected by Task Set
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
Time
Strength ofDiscrepancy Signal
Threshold A3
Threshold A2
t1 t2 t3
Threshold A1
Modified Model
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
automatically
Central Executive
Short sensory memory
voluntary
Focus of
attention
Modified Model
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
automatically
Central Executive
Short sensory memory
voluntary
Focus of
attention
Modified Model
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
automatically
Central Executive
Short sensory memory
voluntary
Focus of
attention
Threshold
Modified Model
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
automatically
Central Executive
Short sensory memory
voluntary
Focus of
attention
Threshold
Modulated by voluntary control
Experiment 3: Contingent Capture
• What is the role of similarity?• Visual Search: Target has to be
selected top-down, location-changing distractor captures attention bottom-up
• The more similar a distractor is, the more likely he is attended to
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
4
9
2
70
3
Memory Task: Serial Recall
Memory Task: Serial Recall
Verbal Task: • Digit identity• 8 items
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 90
Spatial Task: • Digit location• 5 items
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
4
Memory Task with Distractors
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
9
Memory Task with Distractors
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
Memory Task with Distractors
Distractors (Exp.3)
2
4
0
3
79
Repetition of distractor position
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
2
4
0
3
79Change of distractor position
36 trials
9 trials
5K
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
No feature overlap in color/shape
Feature overlap in color/shape
Feature overlap in color/shape
Feature overlap in color/shape
Different category (object)
Different category (object)
Same category (verbal)
Same category (verbal-numeric)
Salient Not salient
Not salient
Not salient
5K
Distractors (Exp.3)
Repetition versus Change Trials
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
K 5
Repetition versus Change (collapsed across
tasks)
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
5K
Results Experiment 3
• Distraction of verbal task by object location change, if object is verbal
• Effect of distractor similarity ➜ Top-down modulated attentional
capture ➜ Contingent capture
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
Experiment 4• Target needs to be selected from
non target items (visual search)
• Target needs to be encoded into and retrieved from memory
➜Can we dissociate effects due to attentional selection and memory processes?
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
Record of Eye Movements
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
EL 1000 from SR ResearchSample Rate 1000 Hz
Why eye movements?• Usually the gaze indicates where
attention and information processing is located
• Information that is more difficult is fixated longer
• Information that captures attention captures the gaze
• Eye movements as indicators for attentional capture and information processing
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
Monitoring
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
x
y
Time x y1 534 487
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
Categorization of eye movements
Vel
ocity
xV
eloc
ity y
Time / ms
saccade
saccade
Fixational eye movements
Fixational eye movements
Example Trial: Verbal Task
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
Distractors
• No overlap of visual features (color/shape)• Categorically different• Salient
5• High feature overlap (color/shape)• Categorically identical• Highly similar distractor
2
4
0
3
79
Repetition of distractor position
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
2
4
0
3
79Change of distractor position
40 trials
8 trials
Timing of Item Cycle
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
0 200
7
off
off
1000
delay
1200
end of cycle
Change Locked Positions
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
ChangeChange - 1
Change + 1
Control - 1Control
Control + 15
2
9
3
41 Repetition of
distractor position
2
4
0
3
79Change of distractor position
Memory & Attenion: verbal
Distractor Rel. Item
ControlChange
Distractor changesposition
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
Memory & Attention: verbal
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
5
ControlChange
Distractor Rel. Item
Verbal Task Error Types
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 90
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 90
5
8 correct items
Digit 5
Alternative item
➜ Order errors
➜ Item error: distractor intrusion
➜ Item error: control intrusion
Verbal Task Error Proportions
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
5
Control Change
Alternative IntrusionIntrusion of Digit 5Order errors
Verbal Task: Proportion of Answers
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
5
Summary Exp. 4• Change of distractor position affects saccade
rate attentional capture• BUT:
– Attentional capture does not necessarily affect memory performance (verbal task, triangle, change locked position)
– Attentional capture can affect memory for events prior to capture (verbal task, digit 5, pre-change position)
– Attentional capture can be controlled for relatively fast (verbal task, triangle, change+1 position)
– Control for attentional capture varies for different distractors
• Dissociation of visual (overt) attention and memory processes
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam
Summary
• A location-changing object captures the gaze (=attention) in both tasks
• But the distraction effect is top-down modulated and contingent on task properties
• If attention is directed to verbal properties verbal distractors are effective
• If attention is directed to spatial properties spatial information is distractive
Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam