The role of working memory representation in visual search: The perspective of non-target template

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1042.2018.01608

Abstract

Abstract:

The contents of visual working memory (VWM) have been repeatedly found to be linked with attention allocation during visual searching. While the target representation in working memory (target template) was found to affect memory-driven attentional capture in a top-down manner, non-target representation in working memory (non-target template) can also affect attentional selection. The present article reviews existing literature on the modulation of attentional selection by non-target template stored in visual working memory. It is concluded that non-target presentations can not only automatically bias attention to information that matches the non-target template, but also benefit visual search performance by strategically suppressing items that matches the non-target template. The suppression functions of non-target template were affected by several factors including experiment paradigm, task difficulty, characteristics of stimuli and level of cognitive control. Future research should be aimed towards further investigation of its properties and promote both basic and applied research.

Key words: selective attention, visual working memory, non-target template, attentional capture, attentional suppression

CLC Number:

B842

Yangzhuo LI, Xucheng YANG, Hong GAO, Xiangping GAO. The role of working memory representation in visual search: The perspective of non-target template[J]. Advances in Psychological Science, 2018, 26(9): 1608-1616.

References

1	胡艳梅, 张明, 徐展, 李毕琴 . ( 2013). 客体工作记忆对注意的导向作用: 抑制动机的影响. 心理学报, 45( 2), 127-138.
2	胡艳梅, 张明 . ( 2016). 基于记忆的注意捕获和注意抑制效应: ERP证据. 心理学报, 48( 1), 12-21.
3	纪丽燕, 陈宁轩, 丁锦红, 魏萍 . ( 2015). 奖赏预期调节局部注意干扰效应. 心理学报, 47( 6), 721-733.
4	于斌, 乐国安, 刘惠军 . ( 2014). 工作记忆能力与自我调控. 心理科学进展, 22( 5), 772-781.
5	张豹, 胡岑楼, 黄赛 . ( 2016). 认知控制在工作记忆表征引导注意中的作用: 来自眼动的证据. 心理学报, 48( 9), 1105-1118.
6	张豹, 黄赛, 候秋霞 . ( 2014). 工作记忆表征捕获眼动中的颜色优先性. 心理学报, 46( 1), 17-26.
7	张明, 张阳 . ( 2007). 工作记忆与选择性注意的交互关系. 心理科学进展, 15( 1), 8-15.
8	Anderson B. A., Laurent P. A., & Yantis S. ( 2013). Reward predictions bias attentional selection. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7: 262.
9	Anderson D. E., Vogel E. K., & Awh E. ( 2013). A common discrete resource for visual working memory and visual search. Psychological Science, 24( 6), 929-938.
10	Arita J. T., Carlisle N. B., & Woodman G. F. ( 2012). Templates for rejection: configuring attention to ignore task-irrelevant features. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 38( 3), 580-584.
11	Beck, V. M., & Hollingworth, A. ( 2015). Evidence for negative feature guidance in visual search is explained by spatial recoding. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 41( 5), 1190-1196.
12	Becker M. W., Hemsteger S., & Peltier C. ( 2015). No templates for rejection: A failure to configure attention to ignore task-irrelevant features. Visual Cognition, 23( 9-10), 1150-1167.
13	Berridge, K. C., & Robinson, T. E. ( 1998). What is the role of dopamine in reward: hedonic impact, reward learning, or incentive salience?. Brain Research Reviews, 28( 3), 309-369.
14	Bucker, B., & Theeuwes, J. ( 2017). Pavlovian reward learning underlies value driven attentional capture. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 79( 2), 415-428.
15	Carlisle, N. B., & Woodman, G. F. ( 2011). When memory is not enough: Electrophysiological evidence for goal-dependent use of working memory representations in guiding visual attention. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 23( 10), 2650-2664.
16	Chelazzi L., Duncan J., Miller E. K., & Desimone R. ( 1998). Responses of neurons in inferior temporal cortex during memory-guided visual search. Journal of Neurophysiology, 80( 6), 2918-2940.
17	Chelazzi L., Perlato A., Santandrea E., & Della Libera C. ( 2013). Rewards teach visual selective attention. Vision research, 85, 58-72.
18	Desimone, R. ( 1998). Visual attention mediated by biased competition in extrastriate visual cortex. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 353( 1373), 1245-1255.
19	Desimone, R., & Duncan, J. ( 1995). Neural mechanisms of selective visual attention. Annual review of neuroscience, 18( 1), 193-222.
20	Dodd, M. D., & Flowers, J. ( Eds.). ( 2012). The influence of attention, learning, and motivation on visual search. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, 59( 1-4).
21	Dowd E. W., Kiyonaga A., Egner T., & Mitroff S. R. ( 2015). Attentional guidance by working memory differs by paradigm: An individual-differences approach. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 77( 3), 704-712.
22	Downing, P. E. ( 2000). Interactions between visual working memory and selective attention. Psychological Science, 11( 6), 467-473.
23	Downing, P., & Dodds, C. M. ( 2004). Competition in visual working memory for control of search. Visual Cognition, 11( 6), 689-703.
24	Gaspar, J. M., & McDonald, J. J. ( 2014). Suppression of salient objects prevents distraction in visual search. Journal of neuroscience, 34( 16), 5658-5666.
25	Geng, J. J. ( 2014). Attentional mechanisms of distractor suppression. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 23( 2), 147-153.
26	Geng, J. J., & DiQuattro, N. E. ( 2010). Attentional capture by a perceptually salient non-target facilitates target processing through inhibition and rapid rejection. Journal of Vision, 10( 6), 5-5.
27	Gong, M. Y., & Li, S. ( 2014). Learned reward association improves visual working memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 40( 2), 841-856.
28	Gong M. Y., Jia K., & Li S. ( 2017). Perceptual competition promotes suppression of reward salience in behavioral selection and neural representation. Journal of Neuroscience, 37( 26), 6242-6252.
29	Gong M. Y., Yang F., & Li S. ( 2016). Reward association facilitates distractor suppression in human visual search. European Journal of Neuroscience, 43( 7), 942-953.
30	Han, S. W., & Kim, M. S. ( 2009). Do the contents of working memory capture attention? Yes, but cognitive control matters. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 35( 5), 1292-1302.
31	Hickey C., Chelazzi L., & Theeuwes J. ( 2010). Reward changes salience in human vision via the anterior cingulate. Journal of Neuroscience, 30( 33), 11096-11103.
32	Hickey C., McDonald J. J., & Theeuwes J. ( 2006). Electrophysiological evidence of the capture of visual attention. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 18( 4), 604-613.
33	Hu Y., Xu Z., & Hitch G. J. ( 2011). Strategic and automatic effects of visual working memory on attention in visual search. Visual Cognition, 19( 6), 799-816.
34	Kiyonaga A., Egner T., & Soto D. ( 2012). Cognitive control over working memory biases of selection. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 19( 4), 639-646.
35	Kumar S., Soto D., & Humphreys G. W. ( 2009). Electrophysiological evidence for attentional guidance by the contents of working memory. European Journal of Neuroscience, 30( 2), 307-317.
36	Mevorach C., Hodsoll J., Allen H., Shalev L., & Humphreys G. ( 2010). Ignoring the elephant in the room: a neural circuit to downregulate salience. Journal of Neuroscience, 30( 17), 6072-6079.
37	Mine, C., & Saiki, J. ( 2015). Task-irrelevant stimulus-reward association induces value-driven attentional capture. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 77( 6), 1896-1907.
38	Olivers, C. N. L. ( 2009). What drives memory-driven attentional capture? The effects of memory type, display type, and search type. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 35( 5), 1275-1291.
39	Olivers, C. N. L., & Humphreys, G. W. ( 2003). Visual marking inhibits singleton capture. Cognitive Psychology, 47( 1), 1-42.
40	Olivers C. N. L., Meijer F., & Theeuwes J. ( 2006). Feature-based memory-driven attentional capture: visual working memory content affects visual attention. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 32( 5), 1243-1265.
41	Olivers C. N. L., Peters J., Houtkamp R., & Roelfsema P. R. ( 2011). Different states in visual working memory: When it guides attention and when it does not. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 15( 7), 327-334.
42	Pessoa, L., & Engelmann, J. B. ( 2010). Embedding reward signals into perception and cognition. Frontiers in neuroscience, 4: 17.
43	Peters J. C., Goebel R., & Roelfsema P. R. ( 2009). Remembered but unused: the accessory items in working memory that do not guide attention. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 21( 6), 1081-1091.
44	Sawaki R., Geng J. J., & Luck S. J. ( 2012). A common neural mechanism for preventing and terminating the allocation of attention. Journal of Neuroscience, 32( 31), 10725-10736.
45	Sawaki, R., & Luck, S. J. ( 2010). Capture versus suppression of attention by salient singletons: Electrophysiological evidence for an automatic attend-to-me signal. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 72( 6), 1455-1470.
46	Sawaki, R., & Luck, S. J. ( 2011). Active suppression of distractors that match the contents of visual working memory. Visual Cognition, 19( 7), 956-972.
47	Sawaki, R., & Luck, S. J. ( 2013). Active suppression after involuntary capture of attention. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 20( 2), 296-301.
48	Soto D., Greene C. M., Chaudhary A., & Rotshtein P. ( 2011). Competition in working memory reduces frontal guidance of visual selection. Cerebral Cortex, 22( 5), 1159-1169.
49	Soto D., Heinke D., Humphreys G. W., & Blanco M. J. ( 2005). Early, involuntary top-down guidance of attention from working memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 31( 2), 248-261.
50	Soto D., Hodsoll J., Rotshtein P., & Humphreys G. W. ( 2008). Automatic guidance of attention from working memory. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 12( 9), 342-348.
51	Soto D., Llewelyn D., & Silvanto J. ( 2012). Distinct causal mechanisms of attentional guidance by working memory and repetition priming in early visual cortex. Journal of Neuroscience, 32( 10), 3447-3452.
52	Soto D., Mok A. Y. F., McRobbie D., Quest R., Waldman A., & Rotshtein P. ( 2011). Biasing visual selection: functional neuroimaging of the interplay between spatial cueing and feature memory guidance. Neuropsychologia, 49( 6), 1537-1543.
53	Soto D., Rotshtein P., & Kanai R. ( 2014). Parietal structure and function explain human variation in working memory biases of visual attention. Neuroimage, 89, 289-296.
54	Tan J. F., Zhao Y. F., Wang, L. J, Tian, X., Cui Y., Yang Q., .. & Chen A. ( 2015). The competitive influences of perceptual load and working memory guidance on selective attention. PloS One, 10( 6), e0129533. 9
55	Theeuwes, J. ( 1991). Cross-dimensional perceptual selectivity. Perception, & Psychophysics, 50( 2), 184-193.
56	van Moorselaar D., Theeuwes J., & Olivers, C. N. L. ( 2014). In competition for the attentional template: Can multiple items within visual working memory guide attention? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 40( 4), 1450-1464.
57	Wang L. H., Yu H. G., Hu J., Theeuwes J., Gong X. L., Xiang Y., .. & Zhou, X. L. ( 2015). Reward breaks through center‐surround inhibition via anterior insula. Human Brain Mapping, 36( 12), 5233-5251.
58	Watson, D. G., & Humphreys, G. W. ( 1997). Visual marking: prioritizing selection for new objects by top-down attentional inhibition of old objects. Psychological Review, 104( 1), 90-122.
59	Wolfe, J. M. ( 2007). Guided search 4.0. Integrated Models of Cognitive Systems, 99-119.
60	Woodman, G. F. ( 2010). A brief introduction to the use of event-related potentials in studies of perception and attention. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 72( 8), 2031-2046.
61	Woodman, G. F., & Luck, S. J. ( 2007). Do the contents of visual working memory automatically influence attentional selection during visual search? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 33( 2), 363-377.
62	Yantis, S. ( 2000). Goal-directed and stimulus-driven determinants of attentional control. Attention and performance, 18, 73-103.
63	Yantis, S., & Egeth, H. E. ( 1999). On the distinction between visual salience and stimulus-driven attentional capture. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 25( 3), 661-676.
64	Zhang B., Zhang J. X., Kong L. Y., Huang S., Yue Z. Z., & Wang S. ( 2010). Guidance of visual attention from working memory contents depends on stimulus attributes. Neuroscience Letters, 486( 3), 202-206.

[1]	WU Xia, WANG Junzhe, WANG Yun, CHEN Ying, YANG Haibo. The processing mechanism of category-specific attentional control settings in attentional capture [J]. Advances in Psychological Science, 2022, 30(10): 2219-2227.
[2]	HE Jiamei, JIN Lei. Discriminating the concepts of goal and its influence on decision-making [J]. Advances in Psychological Science, 2021, 29(8): 1410-1419.
[3]	ZHANG Zhao, ZHANG Liwei, GONG Ran. The filtering efficiency in visual working memory [J]. Advances in Psychological Science, 2021, 29(4): 635-651.
[4]	ZHANG Fan, CHEN Airui, DONG Bo, WANG Aijun, ZHANG Ming. Rapid disengagement hypothesis and signal suppression hypothesis of visual attentional capture [J]. Advances in Psychological Science, 2021, 29(1): 45-55.
[5]	Yuanyu Shi, Zhentao Zuo. Same category don't blink in selective attention [J]. Advances in Psychological Science, 2019, 27(suppl.): 30-30.
[6]	Keyun Xin, Zhi Li. Visual working memory load does not affect the overall stimulus processing time in visual search [J]. Advances in Psychological Science, 2019, 27(suppl.): 33-33.
[7]	Xiuli Yang, Yanyan Tu, Zhuo Zhang, Huimin Cao, Yanju Ren. Revisiting the components of value-driven attentional capture [J]. Advances in Psychological Science, 2019, 27(suppl.): 68-68.
[8]	Yujie Chen, Ying Wang, Yi Jiang. Pop-out of Crowds Without Awareness: Invisible Fear Captures Attention in High Trait-Anxiety Individuals [J]. Advances in Psychological Science, 2019, 27(suppl.): 78-78.
[9]	LONG Fangfang, LI Yuchen, CHEN Xiaoyu, LI Ziyuan, LIANG Tengfei, LIU Qiang. Consolidation processing of visual working memory: Time course, pattern and mechanism [J]. Advances in Psychological Science, 2019, 27(8): 1404-1416.
[10]	ZANG Xuelian, ZHANG Xiaoxiao, JIA Lina, LI Genqiang, LI Hong. The effect of selective attention in contextual cueing [J]. Advances in Psychological Science, 2017, 25(9): 1503-1511.
[11]	Zhang Haihang; Shen Mowei; Zhou Jifan. High Visual Working Memory Resolution for Cooperation-oriented People [J]. Advances in Psychological Science, 2016, 24(Suppl.): 42-.
[12]	Meirong Sun; Encong Wang; Ye Tao; Jing Huang; Chenguang Zhao; Jialang Guo; Yan Song. Distinct developmental patterns in Attentional Selection and Suppression [J]. Advances in Psychological Science, 2016, 24(Suppl.): 48-.
[13]	Yanan Chen; Feng Du. Two visual working memory representations simultaneously and involuntarily control attention [J]. Advances in Psychological Science, 2016, 24(Suppl.): 80-.
[14]	CAI Wei; WU Song; KOU Yu. Power and prosocial behaviour: How and why power affects prosocial behaviour [J]. Advances in Psychological Science, 2016, 24(1): 120-131.
[15]	HE Xu;GUO Chunyan. Capacity and Resource Allocation of Visual Working Memory [J]. Advances in Psychological Science, 2013, 21(10): 1741-1748.