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High Working Memory Load Impairs Language Processing during a Simulated Piloting Task: An ERP and Pupillometry Study

Given the important amount of visual and auditory linguistic information that pilots have to process, operating an aircraft generates a high working-memory load (WML). In this context, the ability to focus attention on relevant information and to remain responsive to concurrent stimuli might be alte...

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Autores principales: Causse, Mickaël, Peysakhovich, Vsevolod, Fabre, Eve F.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4879132/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27252639
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2016.00240
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author Causse, Mickaël
Peysakhovich, Vsevolod
Fabre, Eve F.
author_facet Causse, Mickaël
Peysakhovich, Vsevolod
Fabre, Eve F.
author_sort Causse, Mickaël
collection PubMed
description Given the important amount of visual and auditory linguistic information that pilots have to process, operating an aircraft generates a high working-memory load (WML). In this context, the ability to focus attention on relevant information and to remain responsive to concurrent stimuli might be altered. Consequently, understanding the effects of WML on the processing of both linguistic targets and distractors is of particular interest in the study of pilot performance. In the present work, participants performed a simplified piloting task in which they had to follow one of three colored aircraft, according to specific written instructions (i.e., the written word for the color corresponding to the color of one of the aircraft) and to ignore either congruent or incongruent concurrent auditory distractors (i.e., a spoken name of color). The WML was manipulated with an n-back sub-task. Participants were instructed to apply the current written instruction in the low WML condition, and the 2-back written instruction in the high WML condition. Electrophysiological results revealed a major effect of WML at behavioral (i.e., decline of piloting performance), electrophysiological, and autonomic levels (i.e., greater pupil diameter). Increased WML consumed resources that could not be allocated to the processing of the linguistic stimuli, as indexed by lower P300/P600 amplitudes. Also, significantly, lower P600 responses were measured in incongruent vs. congruent trials in the low WML condition, showing a higher difficulty reorienting attention toward the written instruction, but this effect was canceled in the high WML condition. This suppression of interference in the high load condition is in line with the engagement/distraction trade-off model. We propose that P300/P600 components could be reliable indicators of WML and that they allow an estimation of its impact on the processing of linguistic stimuli.
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spelling pubmed-48791322016-06-01 High Working Memory Load Impairs Language Processing during a Simulated Piloting Task: An ERP and Pupillometry Study Causse, Mickaël Peysakhovich, Vsevolod Fabre, Eve F. Front Hum Neurosci Neuroscience Given the important amount of visual and auditory linguistic information that pilots have to process, operating an aircraft generates a high working-memory load (WML). In this context, the ability to focus attention on relevant information and to remain responsive to concurrent stimuli might be altered. Consequently, understanding the effects of WML on the processing of both linguistic targets and distractors is of particular interest in the study of pilot performance. In the present work, participants performed a simplified piloting task in which they had to follow one of three colored aircraft, according to specific written instructions (i.e., the written word for the color corresponding to the color of one of the aircraft) and to ignore either congruent or incongruent concurrent auditory distractors (i.e., a spoken name of color). The WML was manipulated with an n-back sub-task. Participants were instructed to apply the current written instruction in the low WML condition, and the 2-back written instruction in the high WML condition. Electrophysiological results revealed a major effect of WML at behavioral (i.e., decline of piloting performance), electrophysiological, and autonomic levels (i.e., greater pupil diameter). Increased WML consumed resources that could not be allocated to the processing of the linguistic stimuli, as indexed by lower P300/P600 amplitudes. Also, significantly, lower P600 responses were measured in incongruent vs. congruent trials in the low WML condition, showing a higher difficulty reorienting attention toward the written instruction, but this effect was canceled in the high WML condition. This suppression of interference in the high load condition is in line with the engagement/distraction trade-off model. We propose that P300/P600 components could be reliable indicators of WML and that they allow an estimation of its impact on the processing of linguistic stimuli. Frontiers Media S.A. 2016-05-25 /pmc/articles/PMC4879132/ /pubmed/27252639 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2016.00240 Text en Copyright © 2016 Causse, Peysakhovich and Fabre. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution and reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Neuroscience
Causse, Mickaël
Peysakhovich, Vsevolod
Fabre, Eve F.
High Working Memory Load Impairs Language Processing during a Simulated Piloting Task: An ERP and Pupillometry Study
title High Working Memory Load Impairs Language Processing during a Simulated Piloting Task: An ERP and Pupillometry Study
title_full High Working Memory Load Impairs Language Processing during a Simulated Piloting Task: An ERP and Pupillometry Study
title_fullStr High Working Memory Load Impairs Language Processing during a Simulated Piloting Task: An ERP and Pupillometry Study
title_full_unstemmed High Working Memory Load Impairs Language Processing during a Simulated Piloting Task: An ERP and Pupillometry Study
title_short High Working Memory Load Impairs Language Processing during a Simulated Piloting Task: An ERP and Pupillometry Study
title_sort high working memory load impairs language processing during a simulated piloting task: an erp and pupillometry study
topic Neuroscience
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4879132/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27252639
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2016.00240
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