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Available processing resources influence encoding-related brain activity before an event.

Giulia Galli¹, A Dorothea Gebert, Leun J Otten

¹Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London (UCL), London, UK.

Cortex; a Journal Devoted to the Study of the Nervous System and Behavior

|December 11, 2012

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Anticipatory brain activity aids memory encoding, but only when sufficient cognitive resources are available. Dividing attention between tasks limits these preparatory brain influences on long-term memory formation.

Keywords:

Divided attention Encoding Long-term memory Prestimulus brain activity Processing resources

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Neuroscience
Neuroscience of Memory

Background:

Effective cognitive functioning relies on both event-elicited and prestimulus brain activity.
Previous research indicates anticipatory activity influences various cognitive domains, including memory.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether prestimulus brain activity predicting memory encoding depends on processing resource availability.
To determine if attentional demands affect the relationship between anticipatory brain activity and long-term memory.

Main Methods:

Recorded scalp electroencephalography (EEG) from healthy adults memorizing visual and auditory words.
Manipulated processing resource availability by varying the difficulty of a perceptual discrimination task cued before word presentation.
Correlated prestimulus brain activity with subsequent word recall accuracy.

Main Results:

Prestimulus brain activity predicted later word recall, but only when participants performed an easy discrimination task on the cue.
Difficult perceptual discrimination, requiring divided attention, abolished the predictive relationship between prestimulus activity and memory encoding.
Findings suggest anticipatory influences on memory are capacity-limited and sensitive to attentional load.

Conclusions:

Prestimulus neural activity influencing long-term memory encoding is constrained by the availability of cognitive resources.
Effective allocation of attention to preparatory processes is crucial for anticipatory influences on memory to impact encoding.
These results highlight the limited capacity of attentional mechanisms in modulating memory formation through prestimulus brain activity.