视空工作记忆负载对真实场景搜索绩效的影响

采用视空工作记忆任务和真实场景搜索任务相结合的双任务范式, 结合眼动技术将搜索过程划分为起始阶段、扫描阶段和确认阶段, 探究视空工作记忆负载对真实场景搜索绩效的影响机制, 同时考查试次间搜索目标是否变化、目标模板的具体化程度以及搜索场景画面的视觉混乱度所起的调节作用。结果表明, 视空工作记忆负载会降低真实场景搜索的成绩, 在搜索过程中表现为视空负载条件下扫描阶段持续时间的延长、注视点数目的增加和空间负载条件下确认阶段持续时间的延长, 视空负载对搜索过程的影响与目标模板的具体化程度有关; 空间负载会降低真实场景搜索的效率, 且与搜索画面的视觉混乱度有关, 而客体负载则不会。由此可见, 视空工作记忆负载对真实场景搜索绩效的影响不同, 空间负载对搜索过程的影响比客体负载更长久, 二者均受到目标模板具体化程度的调节; 仅空间负载会降低真实场景的搜索效率, 且受到搜索场景画面视觉混乱度的调节。     

The types of stimuli loaded in memory can modulate its effects on visual search

The effects of memory load in visual search (VS) have shown a diversity of results from the absence through beneficial and detrimental effects of a concurrent memory load in VS performance. One of the hypotheses intended to explain the heterogeneity of results follows the idea proposed by certain models in the context of VS that the contents of working memory (WM) can modulate the attentional processes involved in VS (Desimone & Duncan, 1995; Duncan & Humphreys, 1989). In four experiments, we manipulated the similarity of information maintained in WM and those materials playing the role of target and distractors in the VS task. The results showed a beneficial effect in the first two experiments, where the materials in WM matched the target in VS. However, when they matched the distractors in the attentional task there is no effect in the slope of the search function. Present results strengthen those theories supporting that visual working memory is fractionated to allow for maintenance of items not essential to the attentional task (Downing & Dodds, 2004).     

Is verbal–spatial binding in working memory impaired by a concurrent memory load?

Binding processes play a critical role in memory. We investigated whether the binding of (visually presented) verbal and spatial (locations) information involves general attentional resources, as stipulated in the revised working memory model, by comparing measures of binding in the presence and absence of a concurrent memory load. Using an adaptation of a probe recognition task contrasting performance between intact and recombined conditions, we found that the concurrent retention of a sequence of three pure tones eliminated verbal–spatial binding. The present study constitutes the first to directly measure the impact of a concurrent memory load on verbal–spatial binding and suggests that such binding may indeed recruit attentional resources, consistent with some recent findings in the visual–spatial binding literature.     

A secondary task is not always costly: Context‐based guidance of visual search survives interference from a demanding working memory task

Repeatedly encountering a visual search display with the target located at a fixed position relative to the distractors facilitates target detection, relative to novel displays – which is attributed to search guidance by (acquired) long‐term memory (LTM) of the distractor ‘context’ of the target. Previous research has shown that this ‘contextual cueing’ effect is severely impeded during learning when participants have to perform a demanding spatial working memory (WM) task concurrently with the search task, though it does become manifest when the WM task is removed. This has led to the proposal that search guidance by LT context memories critically depends on spatial WM to become ‘expressed’ in behaviour. On this background, this study, of two experiments, asked: (1) Would contextual cueing eventually emerge under dual‐task learning conditions if the practice on the task(s) is extended beyond the short training implemented in previous studies? and given sufficient practice, (2) Would performing the search under dual‐task conditions actually lead to an increased cueing effect compared to performing the visual search task alone? The answer is affirmative to both questions. In particular, Experiment 1 showed that a robust contextual cueing effect emerges within 360–720 dual‐task trials as compared to some 240 single‐task trials. Further, Experiment 2 showed that when dual‐ and single‐task conditions are performed in alternating trials blocks, the cueing effect for the very same set of repeated displays is significantly larger in dual‐task blocks than in single‐task blocks. This pattern of effects suggests that dual‐task practice eventually leads to direct, or ‘automatic’, guidance of visual search by learnt spatial LTM representations, bypassing WM processes. These processes are normally engaged in single‐task performance might actually interfere with direct LTM‐based search guidance.     

Distractor devaluation requires visual working memory

Visual stimuli seen previously as distractors in a visual search task are subsequently evaluated more negatively than those seen as targets. An attentional inhibition account for this distractor-devaluation effect posits that associative links between attentional inhibition and to-be-ignored stimuli are established during search, stored, and then later reinstantiated, implying that distractor devaluation may require visual working memory (WM) resources. To assess this, we measured distractor devaluation with and without a concurrent visual WM load. Participants viewed a memory array, performed a simple search task, evaluated one of the search items (or a novel item), and then viewed a memory test array. Although distractor devaluation was observed with low (and no) WM load, it was absent when WM load was increased. This result supports the notions that active association of current attentional states with stimuli requires WM and that memory for these associations plays a role in affective response.     

工作记忆与知觉负载对工作记忆表征引导注意的调节

本研究采用4个眼动实验探讨不同知觉负载条件下的视觉搜索任务中工作记忆负载对基于工作记忆表征的注意引导效应的影响。实验1和实验3采用低知觉负载的视觉搜索任务,结果在视觉工作记忆负载为1和2时观察到了显著的注意引导效应,但当负载增加到4时注意引导效应消失了;实验2和实验4采用高知觉负载的视觉搜索任务,结果发现注意引导效应在工作记忆负载增加到2时就已经消失了。上述结果表明:工作记忆负载和知觉负载都能够通过调控认知资源的方式来影响工作记忆表征对注意的引导,当认知资源充足时,工作记忆能够同时保持多个记忆表征对视觉注意的引导。     

Cross‐sectional study on the relationship between music training and working memory in adults

Learning to play musical instruments has been shown to enhance a wide variety of cognitive domains. The present study investigated the specific aspects of working memory (WM) that differed between adult musicians and non‐musicians. Twenty‐four musicians and 30 non‐musicians matched for age, gender, years of formal education, and verbal intelligence performed several WM tasks. A multivariate analysis of covariance, wherein family income was controlled, revealed that musicians outperformed non‐musicians in tasks related to visual–motor coordination, visual scanning ability, visual processing speed, and spatial memory. However, no significant differences were found in phonological and visual memory capacity. This study supports the view that music training is associated to specific (and not general) WM skills.     

视觉搜索中基于工作记忆内容的注意捕获与抑制

注意是对有关信息的选择及对无关信息的抑制, 工作记忆是对有关信息的保持以及对无关信息的抑制, 两者在一定程度上都体现了选择性地指向与当前任务有关的刺激并同时抑制无关刺激。在系统地回顾已有研究的基础上结合新近的ERP研究, 从视觉搜索中基于工作记忆内容的注意捕获与注意抑制两个角度综述了视觉工作记忆与视觉选择性注意的相关研究。研究者们主要从两方面对该领域的问题进行了探讨：(1)视觉工作记忆内容对视觉选择性注意的导向作用; (2)视觉工作记忆内容对视觉选择性注意产生导向作用的条件。文章对以往的研究进行了总结, 指出了无论保持在视觉工作记忆的内容是捕获注意还是受到抑制, 都存在着自上而下和自下而上两种加工机制。     

无关长时记忆表征能否引导视觉注意选择?

与任务相关的长时记忆表征在引导视觉注意选择的过程中扮演着重要的角色,它可以使人们在熟悉的视觉情境中快速搜索目标刺激,并偏离干扰刺激。但当长时记忆表征与任务无关时,还能否引导视觉注意选择?目前还不清楚。实验1采用眼动追踪技术直接比较无关工作记忆表征与无关长时记忆表征在视觉搜索阶段对视觉注意的捕获效应,行为反应时与首次注视点百分率的结果都发现,当无关工作记忆表征在视觉搜索中再次出现时能引导视觉注意偏向到与之匹配的干扰刺激,但无关长时记忆表征并没有表现出类似的注意引导效应;实验2探讨记忆表征由工作记忆系统转移到长时记忆系统的过程中对视觉注意的引导效应,结果发现,随着记忆表征的转移,注意引导效应消失了,实验3排除工作记忆表征的干扰后,依然没有发现无关长时记忆表征对注意的引导效应。以上结果表明,无关长时记忆表征并不能像工作记忆表征一样引导视觉注意选择,工作记忆表征和长时记忆表征对视觉注意的引导属于两个不同的认知过程。     

工作记忆表征精度加工需求对注意引导的影响

采用注意捕获范式, 通过行为和事件相关脑电位(ERP)实验, 探讨工作记忆表征精度加工需求对注意引导的影响, 行为结果发现, 在低精度加工需求条件下, 只有一个工作记忆表征引导注意, 且处于高激活状态的工作记忆表征产生的注意捕获大于低激活状态; 而在高精度加工需求条件下, 有两个工作记忆表征引导注意, 且处于高、低激活状态的工作记忆表征产生的注意捕获没有差异。ERP结果显示, 高精度加工需求条件下诱发的NSW和LPC大于低精度加工需求条件; 在高精度加工需求条件下, 干扰项与记忆项匹配比不匹配时, 诱发更大的N2和更小的N2pc, 而在低精度加工需求条件下, 干扰项与记忆项匹配和不匹配时诱发的N2、N2pc没有差异。研究表明, 工作记忆表征精度加工需求影响注意引导的机制可能是高精度加工需求下, 工作记忆表征消耗的认知资源增加, 搜索目标获得的资源减少, 干扰项捕获的注意增加。     

The time course of working memory effects on visual attention

Previous work has generated inconsistent results with regard to what extent working memory (WM) content guides visual attention. Some studies found effects of easy to verbalize stimuli, whereas others only found an influence of visual memory content. To resolve this, we compared the time courses of memory-based attentional guidance for different memory types. Participants first memorized a colour, which was either easy or difficult to verbalize. They then looked for an unrelated target in a visual search display and finally completed a memory test. One of the distractors in the search display could have the memorized colour. We varied the time between the to-be-remembered colour and the search display, as well as the ease with which the colours could be verbalized. We found that the influence of easy to verbalize WM content on visual search decreased with increasing time, whereas the influence of visual WM content was sustained. However, visual working memory effects on attention also decreased when the duration of visual encoding was limited by an additional task or when the memory item was presented only briefly. We propose that for working memory effects on visual attention to be sustained, a sufficiently strong visual representation is necessary.     

工作记忆表征引导视觉注意选择的眼动研究

工作记忆表征能否引导视觉注意选择？目前实验结果尚不一致。有研究者认为能否观察到注意引导效应取决于视觉搜索类型。研究采用工作记忆任务与视觉搜索任务相结合的双任务范式, 结合眼动追踪技术, 对不同视觉搜索类型下的注意引导效应进行验证。实验1结果发现, 不管视觉搜索任务的靶子是否变化, 在早期的眼动指标上都发现了显著的注意引导效应, 但注意引导效应在靶子固定的视觉搜索任务下表现得更强。实验2在平衡两种视觉搜索任务中的工作记忆负载后发现, 两种视觉搜索任务下都出现了显著的注意引导效应, 但没有发现实验1中所出现的任务间差异。实验结果否定了视觉搜索类型对注意引导效应的决定性影响, 同时也提示工作记忆负载可能在注意引导效应中起重要作用。     

视觉工作记忆在视觉搜索中的作用

视觉工作记忆在视觉搜索中的作用远比偏向竞争模型所描述的要复杂,个体能根据当前任务要求灵活地利用工作记忆来引导注意选择。在系统回顾已有研究的基础上,从客体工作记忆、空间工作记忆和执行工作记忆3个方面探讨了视觉工作记忆在视觉搜索中的作用。根据近期的研究,文章在最后对视觉工作记忆在视觉搜索中的作用做了7点总结,并对已往研究中存在的若干问题给予了解释,指出未来应该从前瞻记忆和内隐记忆等角度对视觉搜索中所涉及的视觉记忆进行深入研究     

视觉工作记忆中注意模板的表征—来自EROS的证据

采用事件相关光信号技术,分析再认任务和搜索任务下脑区的动态激活,探讨视觉工作记忆中注意模板的表征机制。实验要求被试在记忆项目后,分别完成再认任务和搜索任务。结果发现,与再认任务相比,视觉搜索任务下记忆项诱发前额叶、枕叶更高程度的激活,且前额叶的激活增强早于枕叶。研究表明,与用于再认任务的普通记忆项相比,用于视觉搜索任务的注意模板的潜在表征机制可能是：先激活前额叶以增强注意控制,并对枕叶的活动加以调节,增强注意模板表征的复述。     

Independent operation of implicit working memory under cognitive load

Implicit working memory (WM) has been known to operate non-consciously and unintentionally. The current study investigated whether implicit WM is a discrete mechanism from explicit WM in terms of cognitive resource. To induce cognitive resource competition, we used a conjunction search task (Experiment 1) and imposed spatial WM load (Experiment 2a and 2b). Each trial was composed of a set of five consecutive search displays. The location of the first four displays appeared as per pre-determined patterns, but the fifth display could follow the same pattern or not. If implicit WM can extract the moving pattern of stimuli, response times for the fifth target would be faster when it followed the pattern compared to when it did not. Our results showed implicit WM can operate when participants are searching for the conjunction target and even while maintaining spatial WM information. These results suggest that implicit WM is independent from explicit spatial WM.     

视觉与言语工作记忆表征对视觉注意的引导

通过三个实验,探讨不同时间进程下视觉和言语工作记忆表征对视觉注意的引导。实验1采用注意引导与注意探测任务同时呈现的范式,探讨不同记忆项与注意项时间间隔(SOA)条件下言语工作记忆表征对视觉注意的引导。结果发现,当SOA较短时言语工作记忆表征对视觉注意有引导效应,而SOA较长时未观察到引导效应;实验2、3采用注意引导任务与注意探测任务分离范式,分别探讨在不同SOA条件下言语和视觉工作记忆表征对视觉注意的引导。结果发现,不同SOA条件下言语和视觉工作记忆表征均能引导视觉注意。研究表明,不同实验范式对言语工作记忆表征对视觉注意的引导有明显影响,视觉比言语工作记忆表征能在更广泛条件下引导视觉注意。     

Dissociating effects of stimulus identity and load on working memory attentional guidance: Lengthening encoding time eliminates the effect of load but not identity

Effects of the identity and load of items in working memory (WM) on visual attention were examined. With a short interval between the WM item and a subsequent search task, there were effects of both load (slowed overall reaction times, RTs, in a WM condition relative to a mere repetition baseline) and identity (search RTs were affected by re-presentation of the item in WM in the search display). As the time to encode the initial display increased, the effects of load decreased while the effect of identity remained. The data indicate that the identity of stimuli in WM can affect the subsequent deployment of attention even when time is allowed for consolidation of the stimuli in WM, and that the WM effects are not causally related to the presence of cognitive load. The results are consistent with the identity of stimuli in WM modulating attention post the memory consolidation stage.     

颜色凸显条件下基于工作记忆内容的视觉注意

采用记忆任务与视觉搜索任务相结合的实验范式,通过操纵背景颜色与刺激颜色,考察了工作记忆内容对视觉注意的引导是否存在强自动性。实验一通过操作背景颜色以突显记忆项目,结果发现即使工作记忆内容在匹配分心物的情况下仍然自动地捕获视觉注意。实验二通过操作背景颜色以突显目标项目,结果发现工作记忆内容对视觉注意的自动引导作用消失。说明了与工作记忆内容匹配的刺激能够自动地引导视觉注意,但是这种引导并非完全自动化,具有一定的条件性。     

工作记忆内容对空间返回抑制的影响

工作记忆内容能够以相对自动化的方式引导视觉选择性注意。研究的目的在于考察工作记忆内容对空间返回抑制的影响。实验一要求被试在客体工作记忆保持阶段完成返回抑制任务,结果发现无论返回抑制任务目标是否与工作记忆内容匹配都出现了返回抑制效应。实验二要求被试在空间工作记忆保持阶段完成返回抑制任务,结果发现当目标落在记忆空间上时返回抑制效应消失。因此,空间返回抑制仅会受到基于空间工作记忆的视觉注意引导的影响。     

视觉工作记忆内容对视觉搜索的影响

采用记忆任务与视觉搜索任务相结合的范式,以二维对称图形为材料,探讨视觉工作记忆内容对视觉搜索的影响。结果发现：（1）不同视觉工作记忆内容条件下的反应时存在显著差异,无效信息条件下的反应时显著长于有效信息条件下的反应时。（2）不同搜索序列条件下反应时差异显著,复杂序列条件下的反应时显著长于简单序列条件。结果表明,视觉工作记忆中的信息内容影响视觉搜索效率,其变化趋势不受序列大小的影响,结果支持偏向竞争模型。