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Published on: January 23, 2017
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Internal selective attention is delayed by competition between endogenous and exogenous factors.
1Department of Psychology and Integrative Neuroscience Program, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA.
Iscience
|July 31, 2023
Summary
Competition between goal-driven and stimulus-driven attention affects internal memory selection differently than external attention. It delays, rather than selects, irrelevant internal information.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- External attention involves competition between endogenous (goal-driven) and exogenous (stimulus-driven) factors.
- Exogenous factors can sometimes override endogenous control, selecting task-irrelevant external stimuli.
- It is unknown if similar competition mechanisms govern the selection of internal representations, such as those in working memory.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how competition between endogenous and exogenous factors influences the selection of internal representations.
- To compare the resolution of competition in internal selective attention versus external attention.
Main Methods:
- Utilized high-temporal-resolution human electroencephalography (EEG).
- Examined the effects of endogenous and exogenous competition on working memory content selection.
Main Results:
- Competition between endogenous and exogenous factors did not lead to the selection of task-irrelevant working memory content.
- Instead, this competition significantly delayed the endogenous selection of task-relevant working memory content by several hundred milliseconds.
Conclusions:
- Competition between endogenous and exogenous factors modulates internal selective attention.
- The resolution of this competition differs between internal and external attention mechanisms.
