Cargando…

Does spatial attention modulate sensory memory?

According to some theoretical models, information contained in visual short-term memory (VSTM) consists of two main memory stages/storages: sensory memory, a system wherein information is stored for a brief time with high detail and low resistance to visual interference, and visual working memory, a...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Botta, Fabiano, Martín-Arévalo, Elisa, Lupiáñez, Juan, Bartolomeo, Paolo
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6622531/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31295296
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0219504
_version_ 1783434170820722688
author Botta, Fabiano
Martín-Arévalo, Elisa
Lupiáñez, Juan
Bartolomeo, Paolo
author_facet Botta, Fabiano
Martín-Arévalo, Elisa
Lupiáñez, Juan
Bartolomeo, Paolo
author_sort Botta, Fabiano
collection PubMed
description According to some theoretical models, information contained in visual short-term memory (VSTM) consists of two main memory stages/storages: sensory memory, a system wherein information is stored for a brief time with high detail and low resistance to visual interference, and visual working memory, a low-capacity system wherein information is protected from visual interference and maintained for longer delays. Previous studies have consistently shown a strong relationship between attention and visual working memory. However, evidence is contradictory on whether or not attention modulates the construction and maintenance of visual representations in sensory memory. Here, we examined whether and how spatial attention differentially affects sensory and working memory contents, by separately analysing attentional costs and attentional benefits. Results showed that both sensory memory and visual working memory were reliably affected by the distribution of spatial attention, suggesting that spatial attention modulates the VSTM content starting from very early stages of memory storage. Moreover, endogenously attending a specific location led to similar performance in sensory and working memory, and therefore to larger attentional benefits in working memory (where there was more room for improvement than in sensory memory, because of worse performance in unattended locations). On the other hand, exogenous attentional capture by peripheral unpredictive cues produced invariant attentional costs and invariant attentional benefits regardless of the memory type, with performance being higher in sensory memory than in working memory even at the attended location.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-6622531
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2019
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-66225312019-07-25 Does spatial attention modulate sensory memory? Botta, Fabiano Martín-Arévalo, Elisa Lupiáñez, Juan Bartolomeo, Paolo PLoS One Research Article According to some theoretical models, information contained in visual short-term memory (VSTM) consists of two main memory stages/storages: sensory memory, a system wherein information is stored for a brief time with high detail and low resistance to visual interference, and visual working memory, a low-capacity system wherein information is protected from visual interference and maintained for longer delays. Previous studies have consistently shown a strong relationship between attention and visual working memory. However, evidence is contradictory on whether or not attention modulates the construction and maintenance of visual representations in sensory memory. Here, we examined whether and how spatial attention differentially affects sensory and working memory contents, by separately analysing attentional costs and attentional benefits. Results showed that both sensory memory and visual working memory were reliably affected by the distribution of spatial attention, suggesting that spatial attention modulates the VSTM content starting from very early stages of memory storage. Moreover, endogenously attending a specific location led to similar performance in sensory and working memory, and therefore to larger attentional benefits in working memory (where there was more room for improvement than in sensory memory, because of worse performance in unattended locations). On the other hand, exogenous attentional capture by peripheral unpredictive cues produced invariant attentional costs and invariant attentional benefits regardless of the memory type, with performance being higher in sensory memory than in working memory even at the attended location. Public Library of Science 2019-07-11 /pmc/articles/PMC6622531/ /pubmed/31295296 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0219504 Text en © 2019 Botta et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Botta, Fabiano
Martín-Arévalo, Elisa
Lupiáñez, Juan
Bartolomeo, Paolo
Does spatial attention modulate sensory memory?
title Does spatial attention modulate sensory memory?
title_full Does spatial attention modulate sensory memory?
title_fullStr Does spatial attention modulate sensory memory?
title_full_unstemmed Does spatial attention modulate sensory memory?
title_short Does spatial attention modulate sensory memory?
title_sort does spatial attention modulate sensory memory?
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6622531/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31295296
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0219504
work_keys_str_mv AT bottafabiano doesspatialattentionmodulatesensorymemory
AT martinarevaloelisa doesspatialattentionmodulatesensorymemory
AT lupianezjuan doesspatialattentionmodulatesensorymemory
AT bartolomeopaolo doesspatialattentionmodulatesensorymemory