Neural Mechanisms for the Benefits of Stimulus-Driven Attention

Katelyn M Wills; Jingtai Liu; Jonathan Hakun; David C Zhu; Eliot Hazeltine; Susan M Ravizza

doi:10.1093/cercor/bhw308

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Neural Mechanisms for the Benefits of Stimulus-Driven Attention

Journal article

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Neural Mechanisms for the Benefits of Stimulus-Driven Attention

Katelyn M Wills, Jingtai Liu, Jonathan Hakun, David C Zhu, Eliot Hazeltine and Susan M Ravizza

Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. 1991), Vol.27(11), pp.5294-5302

11/01/2017

DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhw308

PMID: 28334189

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Abstract

Stimulus-driven attention can improve working memory (WM) when drawn to behaviorally relevant information, but the neural mechanisms underlying this effect are unclear. The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to test competing hypotheses regarding the nature of the benefits of stimulus-driven attention to WM: that stimulus-driven attention benefits WM directly via salience detection, that stimulus-driven attention benefits WM incidentally via cognitive control mechanisms recruited to reduce interference from salient features, or that both mechanisms are co-involved in enhancing WM for salient information. To test these hypotheses, we observed activation in brain regions associated with cognitive control and salience detection. We found 2 cognitive control regions that were associated with enhanced memory for salient stimuli: a region in the right superior parietal lobule and a region in the right inferior frontal junction. No regions associated with salience detection were found to show this effect. These fMRI results support the hypothesis that benefits to WM from stimulus-driven attention occur primarily as a result of cognitive control and top-down factors rather than pure bottom-up aspects of stimulus-driven attention.

Brain - diagnostic imaging

Humans

Male

Memory, Short-Term - physiology

Brain - physiology

Executive Function - physiology

Neuropsychological Tests

Young Adult

Attention - physiology

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Adolescent

Brain Mapping

Adult

Female

Details

Title: Subtitle: Neural Mechanisms for the Benefits of Stimulus-Driven Attention
Creators: Katelyn M Wills - Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
Jingtai Liu - Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
Jonathan Hakun - Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA 16801, USA
David C Zhu - Department of Radiology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
Eliot Hazeltine - Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
Susan M Ravizza - Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. 1991), Vol.27(11), pp.5294-5302
DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhw308
PMID: 28334189
NLM abbreviation: Cereb Cortex
ISSN: 1047-3211
eISSN: 1460-2199
Publisher: United States
Language: English
Date published: 11/01/2017
Academic Unit: Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute
Record Identifier: 9984065375302771

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