Working memory accuracy for multiple targets is driven by reward expectation and stimulus contrast with different time-courses

P. Christiaan Klink*, Danique Jeurissen, Jan Theeuwes, Damiaan Denys, Pieter R. Roelfsema

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

The richness of sensory input dictates that the brain must prioritize and select information for further processing and storage in working memory. Stimulus salience and reward expectations influence this prioritization but their relative contributions and underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Here we investigate how the quality of working memory for multiple stimuli is determined by priority during encoding and later memory phases. Selective attention could, for instance, act as the primary gating mechanism when stimuli are still visible. Alternatively, observers might still be able to shift priorities across memories during maintenance or retrieval. To distinguish between these possibilities, we investigated how and when reward cues determine working memory accuracy and found that they were only effective during memory encoding. Previously learned, but currently non-predictive, color-reward associations had a similar influence, which gradually weakened without reinforcement. Finally, we show that bottom-up salience, manipulated through varying stimulus contrast, influences memory accuracy during encoding with a fundamentally different time-course than top-down reward cues. While reward-based effects required long stimulus presentation, the influence of contrast was strongest with brief presentations. Our results demonstrate how memory resources are distributed over memory targets and implicates selective attention as a main gating mechanism between sensory and memory systems.

Original languageEnglish
Article number9082
Number of pages13
JournalScientific Reports
Volume7
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017

Funding

The work was supported by VENI grant 451.13.023 from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) awarded to PCK, a fellowship from the Simons Foundation (414196) awarded to DJ), and by VICI scheme, MaGW grant 400-09-198, Brain and Cognition grant 433-09-208 from NWO, and the European Union Seventh Framework Program (Marie-Curie Action PITN-GA-2011-290011 “ABC” and ERC Grant Agreement n. 339490) awarded to PRR. We thank Pia Jentgens and Renate de Bock for help with data collection, and Bruno Dagnino for early discussions concerning the experimental paradigm.

FundersFunder number
MaGW400-09-198, 433-09-208
Marie-Curie ActionPITN-GA-2011-290011
Simons Foundation414196
Seventh Framework Programme339490, 290011
European Research Council
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
Seventh Framework Programme

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Working memory accuracy for multiple targets is driven by reward expectation and stimulus contrast with different time-courses'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this