10 research outputs found
Object-based attentional selection modulates anticipatory alpha oscillations
Visual cortical alpha oscillations are involved in
attentional gating of incoming visual information. It has
been shown that spatial and feature-based attentional
selection result in increased alpha oscillations over the
cortical regions representing sensory input originating from
the unattended visual field and task-irrelevant visual
features, respectively. However, whether attentional gating
in the case of object based selection is also associated with
alpha oscillations has not been investigated before. Here we
measured anticipatory electroencephalography (EEG) alpha
oscillations while participants were cued to attend to foveal
face or word stimuli, the processing of which is known to
have right and left hemispheric lateralization, respectively.
The results revealed that in the case of simultaneously
displayed, overlapping face and word stimuli, attending to
the words led to increased power of parieto-occipital alpha
oscillations over the right hemisphere as compared to when
faces were attended. This object category-specific modulation
of the hemispheric lateralization of anticipatory alpha
oscillations was maintained during sustained attentional
selection of sequentially presented face and word stimuli.
These results imply that in the case of object-based
attentional selection—similarly to spatial and feature-based
attention—gating of visual information processing might
involve visual cortical alpha oscillations
Electrophysiological Correlates of the Interaction of Physical and Numerical Size in Symbolic Number Processing: Insights from a Novel Go/Nogo Numerical Stroop Task
The interaction of physical and numerical size has been investigated and repeatedly demonstrated in the numerical Stroop task, in which participants compare digits of different physical sizes. It is, however, not entirely clear yet what psychological processes contribute to this interaction. The aim of the present study is to investigate the role of inhibition in the interaction of physical and numerical size, by introducing a novel paradigm that is suitable to elicit inhibition-related event-related potential components. To this end, we combined the go/nogo paradigm with the numerical Stroop task while measuring EEG and reaction times. Participants were presented with Arabic number pairs and had to press a button if the number on one side was numerically larger and they had to refrain from responding if the number on the other side was numerically larger. The physical size of the number pairs was also manipulated, in order to create congruent, neutral, and incongruent trials. Behavioural results confirmed the well-established numerical distance and numerical Stroop effects. Analysis of electrophysiological data revealed the classical go/nogo electrophysiological effects with numerical stimuli, and showed that peak amplitudes were larger for nogo than for go trials on the N2, as well as on the P3 component, on frontal and midline electrodes. When analysing the congruency effects, the peak amplitude of N2 was larger in incongruent trials than in neutral and congruent trials, while there was no evidence of a congruency effect on the P3 component peaks. Further analysis of the electrophysiological data revealed an additional facilitatory effect in the go trials, as well as an additional interference effect in the nogo trials. Taken together, it seems that interference effects are probably resolved by inhibitory processes and that facilitatory effects are affected by different cognitive control processes required by go versus nogo trials
The Evolution of Primate Short-Term Memory.
Short-term memory is implicated in a range of cognitive abilities and is critical for understanding primate
cognitive evolution. To investigate the effects of phylogeny, ecology and sociality on short-term memory, we tested the largest and most diverse primate sample to date (421 non-human primates across 41 species) in an experimental delayed-response task. Our results confirm previous findings that longer delays decrease memory performance across species and taxa. Our analyses demonstrate a considerable contribution of phylogeny over ecological and social factors on the distribution of short-term memory performance in primates; closely related species had more similar short-term memory abilities. Overall, individuals in the branch of Hominoidea performed better compared to Cercopithecoidea, who in turn performed above Platyrrhini and Strepsirrhini. Interdependencies between phylogeny and socioecology of a given species presented an obstacle to disentangling the effects of each of these factors on the evolution of short-term memory capacity. However, this study offers an important step forward in understanding the interspecies and individual variation in short-term memory ability by providing the first phylogenetic reconstruction of this trait’s evolutionary history. The dataset constitutes a unique resource for studying the evolution of primate cognition and the role of short-term memory in other cognitive abilities.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
The Evolution of Primate Short-Term Memory
Short-term memory is implicated in a range of cognitive abilities and is critical for understanding primate cognitive evolution. To investigate the effects of phylogeny, ecology and sociality on short-term memory, we tested the largest and most diverse primate sample to date (421 non-human primates across 41 species) in an experimental delayed-response task. Our results confirm previous findings that longer delays decrease memory performance across species and taxa. Our analyses demonstrate a considerable contribution of phylogeny over ecological and social factors on the distribution of short-term memory performance in primates; closely related species had more similar short-term memory abilities. Overall, individuals in the branch of Hominoidea performed better compared to Cercopithecoidea, who in turn performed above Platyrrhini and Strepsirrhini. Interdependencies between phylogeny and socioecology of a given species presented an obstacle to disentangling the effects of each of these factors on the evolution of short-term memory capacity. However, this study offers an important step forward in understanding the interspecies and individual variation in short-term memory ability by providing the first phylogenetic reconstruction of this trait’s evolutionary history. The dataset constitutes a unique resource for studying the evolution of primate cognition and the role of short-term memory in other cognitive abilities