Attentional Modulation of Object Representations in Working Memory

12 Pages Posted: 4 Apr 2022

See all articles by Jöran Lepsien

Jöran Lepsien

University of Oxford

Anna C Nobre

Yale University; University of Oxford

Date Written: November 10, 2007

Abstract

We investigated the role of object-based attention in modulating the maintenance of faces and scenes held online in working memory (WM). Participants had to remember a face and a scene, while cues presented during the delay instructed them to orient their attention to one or the other item. Event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging revealed that orienting attention in WM modulated the activity in fusiform and parahippocampal gyri, involved in maintaining representations of faces and scenes respectively. Measures from complementary behavioral studies indicated that this increase in activity corresponded to improved WM performance. The results show that directed attention can modulate maintenance of specific representations in WM, and help define the interplay between the domains of attention and WM.

Keywords: attention, fMRI, maintenance, mental representations, working memory

Suggested Citation

Lepsien, Jöran and Nobre, Anna C, Attentional Modulation of Object Representations in Working Memory (November 10, 2007). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4054765 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4054765

Jöran Lepsien

University of Oxford

Mansfield Road
Oxford, Oxfordshire OX1 4AU
United Kingdom

Anna C Nobre (Contact Author)

Yale University ( email )

493 College St
New Haven, CT CT 06520
United States

HOME PAGE: http://brainandcognition.org/

University of Oxford ( email )

Wu Tsai Institute and Psychology Department
Yale University
New Haven, CT 06510
United States

HOME PAGE: http://brainandcognition.org/

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