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A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions
Published on: July 16, 2015
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Trying harder: how cognitive effort sculpts neural representations during working memory
Sarah L Master1, Shanshan Li1,2, Clayton E Curtis1,3
1Department of Psychology, New York University.
Biorxiv : the Preprint Server for Biology
|December 18, 2023
Summary
Motivational factors enhance cognitive effort in working memory (WM). Increased frontal cortex activity during demanding tasks improves memory representation quality in visual cortex.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Cognitive Neuroscience
Background:
- The neural basis of how motivation influences cognitive functions like working memory (WM) is not well understood.
- Investigating the role of cognitive effort in modulating WM performance is crucial for understanding brain function.
Approach:
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was employed to examine the impact of cognitive effort on WM.
- Participants were cued to perform either high-effort or low-effort WM tasks, with effort manipulated by varying mnemonic precision demands.
Key Points:
- Behavioral measures (pupil size, response time) confirmed successful manipulation of cognitive effort.
- Increased persistent activity was observed in the prefrontal cortex during high-effort trials.
- Enhanced accuracy in visual cortex for location decoding correlated with increased prefrontal cortex activity.
Conclusions:
- Persistent activity in the frontal cortex may serve as an effort-related feedback signal.
- This signal appears to enhance the quality of working memory representations within the visual cortex.
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