How are Memory and Attention related in Working Memory? Elke Lange, Christian Starzynski, Ralf Engbert University 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

Why: Distraction? Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam

Distraction is dangerous 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

Classic Paradigm 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 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 of long-term memory Focus of attention 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 of long-term memory Focus of attention Central Executive voluntarily Focus 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 of long-term memory Focus of attention Central Executive voluntarily 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) automatically Short sensory store Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam

automatically Central Executive voluntarily 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) Short sensory store Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam

automatically Central Executive voluntarily 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) Short sensory store Elke 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 store Elke 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 benefitleading 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 Tone distractorColor distractor Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam

Results: Experiment 1 Irrelevant colors VerbalSpatial Irrelevant tones VerbalSpatial ♬ ? 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

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 changes b)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 of Discrepancy Signal Threshold A3 Threshold A2 t1 t2t3 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

Memory Task: Serial Recall

Verbal Task: Digit identity 8 items Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam 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) Repetition of distractor position Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam Change of distractor position 36 trials 9 trials 5 K

Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam No feature overlap in color/shape Feature overlap in color/shape Different category (object) Same category (verbal) Same category (verbal- numeric) SalientNot salient 5 K 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 5 K

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 Research Sample 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 y

Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam Categorization of eye movements Velocity x Velocity y Time / ms saccade Fixational eye movements Fixational eye movements

Eye Movements Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam Verbal

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 Repetition of distractor position Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam Change of distractor position 40 trials 8 trials

Timing of Item Cycle Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam off 1000 delay 1200 end of cycle

Change Locked Positions Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam Change Change - 1 Change + 1 Control - 1 Control Control Repetition of distractor position Change of distractor position

Memory & Attenion: verbal Distractor Rel. Item Control Change Distractor changes position Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam

Memory & Attention: verbal Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam 5 Control Change DistractorRel. Item

Verbal Task Error Types Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam 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 ControlChange Alternative Intrusion Intrusion of Digit 5 Order 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

Thanks for your attention! Elke B. Lange - Christian Starzynski - Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam