Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, 3584 CS, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Sci Rep. 2022 Aug 29;12(1):14703. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-18819-z.
Attention allows us to selectively enhance processing of specific locations or features in our external environment while filtering out irrelevant information. It is currently hypothesized that this is achieved through boosting of relevant sensory signals which biases the competition between neural representations. Recent neurophysiological and behavioral studies revealed that attention is a fundamentally rhythmic process, tightly linked to neural oscillations in frontoparietal networks. Instead of continuously highlighting a single object or location, attention rhythmically alternates between multiple relevant representations at a frequency of 3-8 Hz. However, attention cannot only be directed towards the external world but also towards internal visual working memory (VWM) representations, e.g. when selecting one of several search templates to find corresponding objects in the external world. Two recent studies demonstrate that single-feature objects in VWM are attended in a similar rhythmic fashion as perceived objects. Here we add to the literature by showing that non-spatial retro-cues initiate comparable theta-rhythmic sampling of multi-feature objects in VWM. Our findings add to the converging body of evidence that external and internal visual representations are accessed by similar rhythmic attentional mechanisms and present a potential solution to the binding problem in working memory.
注意力使我们能够有选择地增强对外界环境中特定位置或特征的处理，同时过滤掉不相关的信息。目前的假设是，这是通过增强相关的感觉信号来实现的，这些信号会影响神经表示之间的竞争。最近的神经生理学和行为研究表明，注意力是一个基本的节奏过程，与额顶网络中的神经振荡紧密相连。注意力不是连续地突出显示单个对象或位置，而是以 3-8 Hz 的频率在多个相关表示之间有节奏地交替。然而，注意力不仅可以指向外部世界，还可以指向内部视觉工作记忆 (VWM) 表示，例如，当从几个搜索模板中选择一个来在外部世界中找到相应的对象时。最近的两项研究表明，VWM 中的单个特征物体以类似于感知物体的有节奏的方式受到关注。在这里，我们通过展示非空间回溯提示可以在 VWM 中以类似的θ节律对多特征物体进行采样，为文献增添了新内容。我们的发现增加了越来越多的证据，即外部和内部视觉表示是通过类似的节奏注意机制来访问的，并为工作记忆中的绑定问题提供了一个潜在的解决方案。
