Selective Working Memory
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2022-08-04
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en
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Abstract
Information that is temporarily stored in working memory enters our awareness. Capacity limits of this temporal storage require selectivity. This filter ensures that only goal-relevant information is actively maintained and can therefore influence our actions and thoughts. Current theories of working memory gating, such as the prefrontal cortex basal-ganglia working memory (PBWM) model, predict a critical role for the striatum in this selective gating process. The present study investigates neural mechanisms of two types of working memory gating processes: input-gating, i.e., the filtering of information that enters WM, as well as output-gating, i.e., the selection among stimuli within WM for guidance of action and attention. To this end, we employed a cued delayed response task with pre-cues (presented prior to encoding) or retro-cues (presented post encoding), which instructed participants to attend selectively to either faces or scenes or to attend globally to both faces and scenes. Analyses of behavioural data demonstrate that performance on selective gating trials was better than performance on global trials that did not require gating, probably because the selective cues enabled load reduction. The success of the gating manipulation was substantiated by functional magnetic resonance imaging analyses, which revealed increased stimulus-selectivity of BOLD signals in visual association cortex during both input- and output gating. Critically, BOLD signal in the striatum was enhanced during output-gating but not during input-gating. These data strengthen the hypothesis that the striatum contributes to the output-gating of working memory representations but raise the question whether the paradigm was optimised for capturing the selective nature of the putative striatal input-gating process.
Keywords: working memory gating; PBWM model; striatum; basal ganglia
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Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen