Controlling visual cognition with visual working memory and long-term memory

 描述(由申请人提供)：注意力和学习理论对记忆表征的作用有所不同。注意理论几乎普遍认为，在复杂的视觉场景中，视觉工作记忆表征决定了哪些物体是加工的焦点。然而，学习模型提出，在经过几次试验后，视觉认知的控制应该从由视觉工作记忆驱动转向由长期记忆中的表征来驱动。在这个项目中，我们将把学习模型中的这些想法应用到视觉信息的处理上。为了以明确的方式测试这些模型预测，我们将开发测量大脑电活动的方法，我们可以使用这些方法来跟踪视觉工作记忆中活跃的信息，同时还可以独立测量视觉长期记忆中的表征。我们的初步数据表明，这些电生理工具可以提供控制视觉认知的记忆表征的逐次试用指数。我们的集成建模和神经科学方法将使我们能够更快地为理解视觉加工的自上而下控制奠定理论基础。这可以用来了解临床人群缺陷的性质，并改进潜在的治疗方法。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Theories of attention and learning differ in the roles they prescribe to memory representations. Theories of attention almost universally propose that visual working memory representations determine which objects are the focuses of processing in complex visual scenes. However, models of learning propose that after a handful of trials, the control of visual cognition should shift from being driven by visual working memory to representations in long-term memory. In this project we will bring these ideas from models of learning to bear on the processing of visual information. To test these model predictions in a definitive manner, we will develop methods of measuring electrical brain activity that we can use to track what information is being actively held in visual working memory, simultaneously with independent measures of the representations in visual long-term memory. Our preliminary data indicate that these electrophysiological tools can provide trial-by-trial indices of memory representations controlling visual cognition. Our integrated modeling and neuroscientific approach will allow us to more quickly lay a theoretical foundation for understanding the top-down control of visual processing. This can then be used to understand the nature of deficits in clinical populations and to refine potential treatments.