Biology subjects

Draschkow, D.

Publications and source records attributed to Draschkow, D..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2023

Focusing attention in human working memory and long-term memory: benefits through dissociable processes

We developed a new experimental approach to compare how attentional orienting facilitates retrieval from working memory (WM) and long-term memory (LTM), and how selective attention within these two memory types impacts incoming sensory information processing. In three experiments with healthy young adults, retrospective attention cues prioritized an item represented in WM or LTM. Participants then retrieved a memory item or performed a perceptual task. The retrocue was informative for the retrieval task but not for the perceptual task. Attentional orienting benefited performance for both WM and LTM, with stronger effects for WM. Eye-tracking revealed significant gaze shifts and microsaccades correlated with attention in WM but not LTM. Visual discrimination of unrelated visual stimuli was consistently improved for items matching attended WM locations. Similar effects occurred at LTM locations but less consistently. The findings suggest potent and at least partly dissociable attention-orienting processes for different memory types.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2022

Viewpoint-Dependence and Scene Context Effects Generalize to Depth Rotated 3D Objects.

Viewpoint effects on object recognition interact with object-scene consistency effects. While recognition of objects seen from "accidental" viewpoints (e.g., a cup from below) is typically impeded compared to processing of objects seen from canonical viewpoints (e.g., the string-side of a guitar), this effect is reduced by meaningful scene context information. In the present study we investigated if these findings established by using photographic images, generalise to 3D models of objects. Using 3D models further allowed us to probe a broad range of viewpoints and empirically establish accidental and canonical viewpoints. In Experiment 1, we presented 3D models of objects from six different viewpoints (0{degrees}, 60{degrees}, 120{degrees}, 180{degrees} 240{degrees}, 300{degrees}) in colour (1a) and grayscaled (1b) in a sequential matching task. Viewpoint had a significant effect on accuracy and response times. Based on the performance in Experiments 1a and 1b, we determined canonical (0{degrees}-rotation) and non-canonical (120{degrees}-rotation) viewpoints for the stimuli. In Experiment 2, participants again performed a sequential matching task, however now the objects were paired with scene backgrounds which could be either consistent (e.g., a cup in the kitchen) or inconsistent (e.g., a guitar in the bathroom) to the object. Viewpoint interacted significantly with scene consistency in that object recognition was less affected by viewpoint when consistent scene information was provided, compared to inconsistent information. Our results show that viewpoint-dependence and scene context effects generalize to depth rotated 3D objects. This supports the important role object-scene processing plays for object constancy.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2022

Semantic object processing is modulated by prior scene context

Objects that are congruent with a scene are recognised more efficiently than objects that are incongruent. Further, semantic integration of incongruent objects elicits a stronger N300/N400 EEG component. Yet, the time course and mechanisms of how contextual information supports access to semantic object information is unclear. We used computational modelling and EEG to test how context influences semantic object processing. Using representational similarity analysis, we established that EEG patterns dissociated between objects in congruent or incongruent scenes from around 300 ms. By modelling semantic processing of objects using independently normed properties, we confirm that the onset of semantic processing of both congruent and incongruent objects is similar ([~]150 ms). Critically, after [~]275 ms, we discover a difference in the duration of semantic integration, lasting longer for incongruent compared to congruent objects. These results constrain our understanding of how contextual information supports access to semantic object information.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2022

Head-direction tracks internally directed selective attention in visual working memory

We shift our gaze even when we orient attention internally to visual representations in working memory. Here, we show the bodily orienting response associated with internal selective attention is widespread as it also includes the head. In three virtual reality (VR) experiments, participants remembered two visual items. After a working memory delay, a central colour cue indicated which item needed to be reproduced from memory. After the cue, head movements became biased in the direction of the memorised location of the cued memory item - despite there being no items to orient towards in the external environment. The heading-direction bias had a distinct temporal profile from the gaze bias. Our findings reveal that directing attention within the spatial layout of visual working memory bears a strong relation to the overt head orienting response we engage when directing attention to sensory information in the external environment. The heading-direction bias further demonstrates common neural circuitry is engaged during external and internal orienting of attention.

animal behavior and cognition↗