ROC Studies of Visual Working Memory

描述（由申请人提供）：在视觉工作记忆中短时间内维持信息是自然视觉和各种认知功能的关键功能。然而，在许多精神病患者中，工作记忆可以选择性受损（例如，精神分裂症和抑郁症）和神经学（例如，自闭症、多动症和自闭症）的情况。拟议的研究重点是一个更好的表征存储在VWM的信息，通过整合健康参与者的数量和质量的措施，并通过分解出选择性障碍的项目和关联信息的健忘症和精神分裂症患者。工作记忆通常被认为与长期记忆不同，因为它反映了由有限数量的项目组成的有限容量系统。然而，最近的工作表明，视觉工作记忆可能能够存储丰富的信息量从视觉场景，因此工作记忆的容量可能是几乎无限的。拟议中的研究旨在通过使用从长期记忆研究中借用的定量心理物理学方法来对比这两种对立的观点。定量模型的基础上，这两个相反的观点将测试对一个新提出的模型，独立测量工作记忆表征的数量和质量。然后，这种方法将被应用于健忘症和精神分裂症患者，以解决工作记忆中另一个主要的开放问题。具体而言，是简单的特征（例如，草莓的形状）和关系信息（例如，盒子里草莓的位置和颜色）在工作记忆中的作用机制不同吗？这两个研究目标的建议是基于和整合两个培训目标。第一，将长时记忆研究的理论框架和定量方法应用到工作记忆研究中。第二种是接受记忆的神经心理学研究的培训，并将其应用于工作记忆的拟议工作。该奖学金对于申请人的长期职业发展至关重要，申请人寻求开发一个独立的研究项目，将定量心理物理学和转化方法结合起来，研究正常和异常的记忆功能。 公共卫生相关性：在视觉工作记忆中短时间内维持信息不仅支持自然视觉（例如，保持跨越眼球运动的扫视目标）和各种认知功能（例如，语言理解和一般智力），但也遭受严重损害，在许多精神（例如，精神分裂症）和神经学（例如，自闭症和ADHD）病症。拟议的研究评估了一种新的方式来表征工作记忆，通过整合工作记忆的两个不同方面的措施-数量和质量-这一直是两个主要的对立的假设工作记忆的限制的基础。这种方法的重要性是具体的，通过应用所提出的模型，探讨对象和联想信息在工作记忆中的健忘症患者谁遭受内侧颞叶损伤和精神分裂症患者可能的损害。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Maintenance of information over a short period of time in visual working memory is a critical function for natural vision and various cognitive functions. However, working memory can be selectively impaired in many psychiatric (e.g., schizophrenia and depression) and neurological (e.g., Autism, ADHD, and Amnesic) conditions. The proposed research focuses on a better characterization of information stored in VWM by integrating both measures of quantity and quality in healthy participants, and by factoring out selective impairments in item and associative information on amnesic and schizophrenia patients. Working memory is typically assumed to differ from long-term memory in the sense that it reflects a limited capacity system consisting of a limited number of items. However, recent work has suggested that visual working memory may be able to store a rich amount of information from visual scenes and thus the capacity of working memory may be virtually unlimited. The proposed research aims to contrast these two opposing views by using quantitative psychophysical methods borrowed from research on long-term memory. Quantitative models that underlie these two opposing views will be tested against a newly proposed model that independently measures the quantity and quality of working memory representations. This approach will then be applied to amnesic and schizophrenia patients to address another major open issue in working memory. Specifically, are simple features (e.g., the shape of a strawberry) and relational information (e.g., the location and color of a strawberry in a box) in working memory supported by different mechanisms? Both research aims of this proposal are grounded on and integrated with two training goals. The first is to apply the theoretical constructs and quantitative methods from long-term memory studies to the proposed study on working memory. The second is to receive training in neuropsychological studies of memory and to apply that to the proposed work in working memory. This fellowship is vital for the long-term career development of the applicant, who seeks to develop an independent research program that combines quantitative psychophysics and translational approaches to study normal and abnormal memory functioning. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Maintenance of information over a short period of time in visual working memory not only supports natural vision (e.g., maintaining saccade targets across eye movements) and various cognitive functions (e.g., language comprehension and general intelligence), but also suffers severe impairment in many psychiatric (e.g., schizophrenia) and neurological (e.g., autism and ADHD) conditions. The proposed research assesses a novel way of characterizing working memory by integrating measures of two different aspects of working memory--quantity and quality--which have been the foundations for two major opposing hypotheses about limitations in working memory. The importance of this approach is made concrete by applying the proposed model to explore the possible impairment in object and associative information in working memory in amnesic patients who have suffered medial temporal lobe damage and schizophrenia patients.