Encoding under time pressure: stages and electrophysiological mechanisms in facial expression processing

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Psychology

Background:

• Working memory is crucial for cognitive tasks.
• Understanding how time constraints affect memory encoding is important.

Purpose of the Study:

• Investigate mechanisms of accelerated working memory encoding under time pressure.
• Examine the impact of shortened encoding durations on memory performance and neural activity.

Main Methods:

• Sixty-two participants performed a facial emotion working memory task with manipulated encoding durations (250-1050 ms).
• Event-related potentials (ERPs) and time-frequency analyses were used to assess neural correlates.
• Bayesian analyses validated null effects.

Main Results:

• A two-stage encoding process (establishment and refinement) was identified.
• Shortened time primarily attenuated ERP amplitudes related to attention, representation, and storage, not latencies.
• Reduced ERP amplitudes correlated with lower working memory accuracy.

Conclusions:

• Working memory encoding involves distinct establishment and refinement stages.
• Time pressure accelerates encoding by truncating the refinement stage, compromising quality.
• This acceleration limits attentional capture, representation, and storage, impacting cognitive performance.