Neural dynamics underlying working memory maintenance

工作记忆是一种基本的认知能力，它是一种将信息保留在脑海中的能力，即使这些信息在感知上不再可用。该机制允许我们有效地将先验知识应用于当前上下文的处理；使复杂的决策和引导注意力到最相关的环境特征。虽然视觉工作记忆（VWM）与注意之间的联系已被充分研究，但其与知觉加工的直接关系相对不太清楚。该项目将利用支持VWM的神经基质的已知特性，来研究大脑中持有的东西与大脑如何解释视觉刺激之间的相互作用。该项目将确定这种相互作用的时间过程，以了解VWM中维护的内容如何随时间衰减。然后，神经刺激将描述支持感知的皮层区域对工作记忆中信息维持的因果贡献。更好地理解VWM的底层机制可以为交互式显示（例如汽车仪表板和空中交通管制）的设计提供信息，并可以改进许多职业（例如机场行李检查人员和放射科医生）的培训。最近的神经生理学研究表明，VWM招募感觉运动皮层区域，为这一复杂而关键的认知过程提供了一个独特的机会来产生行为预测。该建议利用已知的感觉运动区域的神经生理特性（如调谐曲线和视网膜切除）来生成关于VWM维持的行为预测。首先，如果VWM和感知使用相同的电路，那么每个过程应该相互干扰。此外，这些效果的强度应该与维持刺激和当前刺激之间的相似性成比例，这取决于已知的视觉调节特性（如方向、运动方向和面部空间）。其次，保留的信息应该随着时间的推移而衰减，对感知的影响较小，并且更容易受到干扰，这对VWM的一些模型提出了挑战。第三，VWM的产生和维持依赖于前额叶和知觉皮层之间的动态。经颅磁刺激将用于研究前额叶和知觉区之间的因果相互作用。拟议的研究将为大脑如何实现和限制VWM提供新颖的、因果的和基本的见解。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Working memory, the ability to maintain information in mind even when that information is no longer perceptually available, is a fundamental cognitive ability. The mechanism allows us to efficiently apply prior knowledge to the processing of the current context; enabling complex decision-making and guiding attention towards the most relevant features of the environment. While the link between visual working memory (VWM) and attention is well studied, its direct relation to perceptual processing is relatively less clear. This project will leverage the known properties of the neural substrate that supports VWM, to investigate the interaction between what is held in mind and how the mind interprets visual stimuli. The project will identify the time course of this interaction, to understand how content maintained in VWM decays over time. Neural stimulation will then characterize the causal contribution, of cortical areas which support perception, to the maintenance of information in working memory. A better understanding of the mechanisms underlying VWM can inform the design of interactive displays (car dashboards and air traffic controls, for example), and can improve training for numerous professions (such as airport baggage screeners and radiologists).Recent neurophysiological findings, showing that VWM recruits sensorimotor cortical areas, afford a unique opportunity to generate behavioral predictions about this complex and critical cognitive process. This proposal leverages the known neurophysiological properties of sensorimotor areas (such as tuning curves and retinotopy) to generate behavioral predictions about VWM maintenance. First, if the same circuits are utilized by VWM and perception, then each process should interfere with the other. Further, the strength of these effects should scale with the similarity between the maintained and current stimulus, dependent on known visual tuning properties (such as orientation, motion direction, and face spaces). Second, maintained information should decay over time, having less of an effect on perception and becoming more prone to interference, which challenges some models of VWM. Third, initiation and maintenance of VWM depends on dynamics between prefrontal and perceptual cortices. Transcranial magnetic stimulation will be used to investigate the causal interaction between prefrontal and perceptual areas. The proposed research will provide novel, causal, and fundamental insights into how the brain enables and constrains VWM.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.