Department of Psychology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
Sci Rep. 2019 Mar 27;9(1):5255. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-41658-4.
Attending to targets in a detection task can facilitate memory for concurrently presented information, a phenomenon known as the attentional boost effect. One account of the attentional boost suggests that it reflects the temporal selection of behaviorally relevant moments, broadly facilitating the processing of information encountered at these times. Because pupil diameter increases when orienting to behaviorally relevant events and is positively correlated with increases in gain and activity in the locus coeruleus (a purported neurophysiological mechanism for temporal selection), we tested whether the attentional boost effect is accompanied by an increase in pupil diameter. Participants memorized a series of individually presented scenes. Whenever a scene appeared, a high or low pitched tone was played, and participants counted (and later reported) the number of tones in the pre-specified, target pitch. Target detection enhanced later memory for concurrently presented scenes. It was accompanied by a larger pupil response than was distractor rejection, and this effect was more pronounced for subsequently remembered rather than forgotten scenes. Thus, conditions that produce the attentional boost effect may also elicit phasic changes in neural gain and locus coeruleus activity.
在检测任务中关注目标可以促进同时呈现的信息的记忆，这种现象被称为注意力提升效应。一种关于注意力提升的解释认为，它反映了对行为相关时刻的时间选择，广泛促进了这些时刻遇到的信息的处理。因为当定向到行为相关事件时瞳孔直径会增加，并且与蓝斑（一种被认为是时间选择的神经生理机制）中的增益和活动的增加呈正相关，所以我们测试了注意力提升效应是否伴随着瞳孔直径的增加。参与者记忆一系列单独呈现的场景。每当出现一个场景时，就会播放一个高音或低音调，参与者会在指定的目标音高中计数（并在之后报告）音调的数量。目标检测增强了随后呈现的场景的记忆。与排除干扰相比，它会引起更大的瞳孔反应，并且对于随后记住而不是忘记的场景，这种效果更为明显。因此，产生注意力提升效应的条件也可能引发神经增益和蓝斑活动的相位变化。
