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Competition between items in working memory leads to forgetting

Switching attention from one thought to the next propels our mental lives forward. However, it is unclear how this thought-juggling affects our ability to remember these thoughts. Here we show that competition between the neural representations of pictures in working memory can impair subsequent rec...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Lewis-Peacock, Jarrod A., Norman, Kenneth A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Pub. Group 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4284654/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25519874
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms6768
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author Lewis-Peacock, Jarrod A.
Norman, Kenneth A.
author_facet Lewis-Peacock, Jarrod A.
Norman, Kenneth A.
author_sort Lewis-Peacock, Jarrod A.
collection PubMed
description Switching attention from one thought to the next propels our mental lives forward. However, it is unclear how this thought-juggling affects our ability to remember these thoughts. Here we show that competition between the neural representations of pictures in working memory can impair subsequent recognition of those pictures. We use pattern classifiers to decode functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from a retro-cueing task where participants juggle two pictures in working memory. Trial-by-trial fluctuations in neural dynamics are predictive of performance on a surprise recognition memory test: trials that elicit similar levels of classifier evidence for both pictures (indicating close competition) are associated with worse memory performance than trials where participants switch decisively from thinking about one picture to the other. This result is consistent with the non-monotonic plasticity hypothesis, which predicts that close competition can trigger weakening of memories that lose the competition, leading to subsequent forgetting.
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spelling pubmed-42846542015-01-13 Competition between items in working memory leads to forgetting Lewis-Peacock, Jarrod A. Norman, Kenneth A. Nat Commun Article Switching attention from one thought to the next propels our mental lives forward. However, it is unclear how this thought-juggling affects our ability to remember these thoughts. Here we show that competition between the neural representations of pictures in working memory can impair subsequent recognition of those pictures. We use pattern classifiers to decode functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from a retro-cueing task where participants juggle two pictures in working memory. Trial-by-trial fluctuations in neural dynamics are predictive of performance on a surprise recognition memory test: trials that elicit similar levels of classifier evidence for both pictures (indicating close competition) are associated with worse memory performance than trials where participants switch decisively from thinking about one picture to the other. This result is consistent with the non-monotonic plasticity hypothesis, which predicts that close competition can trigger weakening of memories that lose the competition, leading to subsequent forgetting. Nature Pub. Group 2014-12-18 /pmc/articles/PMC4284654/ /pubmed/25519874 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms6768 Text en Copyright © 2014, Nature Publishing Group, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited. All Rights Reserved. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
spellingShingle Article
Lewis-Peacock, Jarrod A.
Norman, Kenneth A.
Competition between items in working memory leads to forgetting
title Competition between items in working memory leads to forgetting
title_full Competition between items in working memory leads to forgetting
title_fullStr Competition between items in working memory leads to forgetting
title_full_unstemmed Competition between items in working memory leads to forgetting
title_short Competition between items in working memory leads to forgetting
title_sort competition between items in working memory leads to forgetting
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4284654/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25519874
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms6768
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