The role of working memory representations in the control of attention
The role of working memory representations in the control of attention
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DOI：
10.1093/cercor/bhm065
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发表时间：
2007-09-01
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Schall, Jeffrey D.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Woodman, Geoffrey F.;Luck, Steven J.;Schall, Jeffrey D.
先前的研究表明，目标模板存储在视觉工作记忆中，用于在视觉搜索过程中引导注意力。然而，即使工作记忆被并发任务填满，观察者也可以有效地搜索。目标模板储存在工作记忆中的观点主要得到了对非人类灵长类动物的研究的支持，在这些研究中，目标在每次试验中都是不同的，当目标身份保持不变时，工作记忆模板可能是不必要的，就像大多数人类视觉搜索的研究一样。为了验证这一假设，我们要求受试者在视觉工作记忆任务的延迟时间内执行视觉搜索任务。当搜索目标不同时，这两个任务相互干扰，但当目标身份保持不变时，这两个任务不相互干扰。因此，只有当目标在每次试验中变化时，搜索模板才存储在视觉工作记忆中。这些发现表明，在视觉搜索任务中参与转移注意力的大脑区域网络可能基本上独立于执行物体视觉工作记忆维护的解剖区域，但前提是视觉搜索目标的身份在时间上是稳定的。
Previous research suggests that target templates are stored visual working memory and used to guide attention during visual search. However, observers can search efficiently even if working memory is filled to capacity by a concurrent task. The idea that target templates are stored in working memory receives support primarily from studies of nonhuman primates in which the target varies from trial to trial, and it is possible that working memory templates are not necessary when target identity remains constant, as in most studies of visual search in humans. To test this hypothesis, we asked subjects to perform a visual search task during the delay interval of a visual working memory task. The 2 tasks were found to interfere with each other when the search targets changed from trial to trial, but not when target identity remained constant. Thus, a search template is stored in visual working memory only when the target varies from trial to trial. These findings suggest that the network of brain areas involved in shifting attention during visual search tasks may be able to operate essentially independently of the anatomical areas that perform visual working memory maintenance of objects, but only if the identity of the visual search target is stable across time.