Interactions Between Visual Working Memory Representations and Mechanisms of Perceptual Selection

范德比尔特大学的杰弗里·伍德曼将研究长期存在的理论问题，即工作记忆和注意力如何相互作用，以确定我们从复杂的视觉场景中处理哪些信息。 越来越多的理论认为，在场景加工过程中，注意网络通过视觉工作记忆中的模板表征施加自上而下的控制来引导任务相关信息的加工。通过这种方式，在视觉工作记忆中保持一个表征就足以引导知觉注意机制选择传入的信息。此外，一些理论认为，注意项目的表征需要通过视觉工作记忆才能被分类。但是，视觉工作记忆储存和注意力引导之间的直接联系的证据是混合的，也许是因为理论并不总是考虑长期记忆对注意力机制的额外影响。 本研究将运用行为学和电生理学的方法，系统地探讨工作记忆和长时记忆在自上而下的注意控制中的相对作用。 通过解决这些关于记忆系统和知觉注意之间的相互作用的重要问题，本项目的实验结果将有助于限制和塑造下一代注意力和信息处理控制模型。我们复杂的环境使我们的视觉系统不堪重负，有大量的物体和表面，其中只有一些与我们手头的任务有关。 例如，开车时，我们需要注意周围的汽车和进入道路的潜在危险，而道路两旁的树木和房屋与我们的任务无关，不应该成为注意力的焦点。 考虑到这种复杂的处理任务的注意力模型建议，我们通过在工作记忆中保持这些汽车的表征来优化与任务相关的对象（如道路上的其他汽车）的信息处理。 更好地了解我们的注意力是如何被控制的，将使我们能够预测关键任务的执行，例如驾驶或控制空中交通，何时会面临潜在的危险处理限制。此外，一些认知障碍似乎是由于控制注意力的能力受损。 注意力缺陷障碍、阅读障碍和精神分裂症似乎都有选择性处理输入和暂时记住相关信息的能力受损的潜在原因。 该项目中提出的研究将使我们了解注意力是如何正常控制的，这里开发的方法将为更好地理解由于异常注意力控制和选择性记忆存储而导致的缺陷提供工具。

Geoffrey Woodman at Vanderbilt University will examine the long-standing theoretical issue of how working memory and attention interact to determine what subset of information we process from complex visual scenes. A growing number of theories propose that during scene processing attention networks are guided to process task-relevant information through top-down control exerted by template representations in visual working memory. In this way, holding a representation in visual working memory is sufficient to guide perceptual attention mechanisms to select incoming information. In addition, some theories propose that representations of attended items need to pass through visual working memory for them to be categorized. But, the evidence for this direct linkage between visual working memory storage and attentional guidance is mixed, perhaps because the theories do not always consider the additional influence of long-term memory on mechanisms of attention. This project will use behavioral and electrophysiological methods to systematically explore the relative contributions of working memory and long-term memory to the top-down control of attention. By addressing these important questions regarding the interactions between memory systems and perceptual attention, the findings of the experiments in this project, will serve to constrain and shape the next generation of models of attention and control of information processing.Our complex environment overloads our visual systems with a multitude of objects and surfaces, only some of which are relevant for our task at hand. For example, when driving we need to be attending to the cars that surround us and potential hazards entering the roadway, while the trees and houses lining the road are irrelevant for our task and should not be the focus of attention. Models of attention accounting for such complex processing tasks propose that we optimize information processing for task-relevant objects, like other cars on the roadway, by maintaining a representation of these cars in working memory. A better understanding of how our attention is controlled will allow us to predict when the performance of critical tasks, such as driving or controlling air traffic, will face potentially hazardous processing limitations. In addition, a number of cognitive disorders appear to be due to a compromised ability to control attention. Attention deficit disorder, reading disorders, and schizophrenia all appear to have underlying causes in an impaired ability to selectively process inputs and temporarily remember relevant information. The research proposed in this project will allow us to understand how attention is normally controlled and the methods developed here will provide tools for better understanding the deficits that are due to abnormal attentional control and selective memory storage.