Attention, Memory and Cognitive Control

注意力、记忆力和认知控制

• 批准号: RGPIN-2014-05003
• 负责人: Milliken, Robert
• 金额: $ 3.57万
• 依托单位: McMaster University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2014-01-01 至 2015-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=566886
• 关键词: Attention; Memory; Cognitive; Control

The human brain supports an astonishing array of cognitive skills. Consider that routine tasks we perform with ease require us to perceive objects in the world around us, to assign meaning to those objects, to place objects into useful categories, to remember objects experienced in the past, and much more. Each of these cognitive skills, and more impressive the co-ordination of all of these skills, is often done with little or no effort on our part, as we focus on broader goals associated with the task at hand. Yet research on brain and behaviour has revealed that the mechanisms underlying these skills are complex. The research program described in this proposal focuses on mechanisms that support three particular cognitive skills, and the co-ordination among them. One of these skills is the ability to perceive and direct actions toward objects in the world around us, while a second skill is the ability to remember particular prior experiences. Both of these cognitive skills are widely known to depend on a third cognitive skill, the ability to pay attention selectively to just a subset of the events that compete for the control of our thought and action. Although the links between attention and perception on the one hand, and between attention and remembering on the other hand, are both well-established, the joint dependence of perception and remembering on attention raises a problem. Apparently, attention has (at least) two masters. Attention is recruited both in the service of perception and in the service of remembering. Without some form of co-ordination of attention for these two purposes, we ought to expect massive amounts of interference from one skill domain (perception) on the other (remembering), and vice versa. Indeed, experimental psychologists have discovered many methods for demonstrating that attention is limited in supply, and that the allocation of attention toward one goal can interfere with ongoing behaviour directed towards another goal. And yet, given this potential for interference, it is surprising that we routinely interleave perceiving and remembering in our everyday activities, as if co-ordinating these two activities is only mildly challenging. The primary aim of the proposed research program is to study the mechanisms that lead to this seemingly effortless co-ordination of attention for perception and attention for remembering. One general solution to this problem assumes that routine activities are supported by an automatic, effortless retrieval of similar experiences from the past. Retrieval of these experiences requires little attention, and indeed allows us to engage in one activity while thinking about another. Driving a car on an empty highway is an example of an activity that is often carried out while the mind wanders to thoughts unrelated to driving. At the same time, if something novel and unexpected occurs, attention is drawn to the unexpected event. This capture of attention seems to up-regulate the processing of details of our experience that would otherwise go unnoticed. Moreover, when asked about the highway trip upon arrival at our destination, we are unlikely to remember stretches of uneventful highway driving, and instead more likely to remember events during which our attention was captured by something out of the ordinary. The proposed research aims to explain this remarkable ability to interact effortlessly with the environment around us, while also adapting rapidly to situations that require additional attention.

人类的大脑支持着一系列惊人的认知技能。考虑到我们轻松完成的日常任务需要我们感知周围世界中的物体，为这些物体赋予意义，将物体放入有用的类别，记住过去经历过的物体，等等。当我们专注于与手头任务相关的更广泛的目标时，这些认知技能中的每一项，以及更令人印象深刻的所有这些技能的协调，通常都是在我们很少或根本不努力的情况下完成的。然而，对大脑和行为的研究表明，这些技能背后的机制是复杂的。本提案中描述的研究计划侧重于支持三种特定认知技能的机制，以及它们之间的协调。这些技能之一是感知和指导我们周围世界中物体的能力，而第二种技能是记住特定先前经验的能力。众所周知，这两种认知技能都依赖于第三种认知技能，即有选择地关注那些争夺我们思想和行动控制权的事件的一个子集的能力。虽然注意力和知觉之间的联系以及注意力和记忆之间的联系都已经很好地建立起来了，但是知觉和记忆对注意力的共同依赖引起了一个问题。显然，注意力（至少）有两个主人。注意力既为感知服务，也为记忆服务。如果没有针对这两个目的的某种形式的注意力协调，我们就应该预料到一个技能领域（感知）对另一个技能领域（记忆）的大量干扰，反之亦然。 事实上，实验心理学家已经发现了许多方法来证明注意力的供应是有限的，并且将注意力分配给一个目标可能会干扰正在进行的针对另一个目标的行为。然而，考虑到这种潜在的干扰，令人惊讶的是，我们在日常活动中经常交错感知和记忆，好像协调这两种活动只是轻微的挑战。这项研究计划的主要目的是研究导致这种看似毫不费力地协调感知注意力和记忆注意力的机制。这个问题的一个普遍解决方案是假设日常活动是由一种自动的、毫不费力的从过去的类似经历中检索出来的支持。回忆这些经历不需要太多的注意力，事实上，它让我们在思考另一件事的同时，还能从事一件事。在空荡荡的高速公路上开车就是一个例子，当大脑漫游到与驾驶无关的想法时，经常会进行这种活动。与此同时，如果发生了一些新奇的和意想不到的事情，注意力就会被吸引到这个意想不到的事件上。这种对注意力的捕捉似乎可以上调我们对经验细节的处理，否则这些细节会被忽视。此外，当我们到达目的地后被问到高速公路旅行时，我们不太可能记得一段平淡无奇的高速公路驾驶，相反，我们更有可能记得我们的注意力被一些不寻常的事情所吸引的事件。这项拟议中的研究旨在解释这种非凡的能力，即毫不费力地与我们周围的环境互动，同时也能迅速适应需要额外注意的情况。