“…Specifically, reference trials, which required updating of WM, and trials that required switching the state of the gate led to an increase in the ebEBR, in line with our predictions that were inspired by the PBWM model 9, 10 , with the exception that the reported results suggest that gate closing might also be DA-dependent. The reported findings may suggest that gate closing is not automatic but rather, similar to gate opening, might involve a phasic DA response and that perhaps the default state of the gate is not always closed but rather might be dependent on context 51 . More generally, these findings suggest that the ebEBR method 42, 49 is a viable method to track DA-based changes in WM demands during task performance.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 83%
“…Hence, the gate over WM should be closed in these trials. Previous results using this paradigm 50, 51 have demonstrated that (a) performance in reference trials is slower than in comparison trials, supporting the additional updating process required in the former, and (b) switching between the two trial-types is associated with an additional cost, reflecting the time taken to open or close the gate to WM 52, 53 .Figure 1The reference-back task. Trials with a red frame are reference trials, and trials with a blue frame are comparison trials (see main text for details).…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 70%
“…Inspired by the PBWM model and our previous results 50, 51 and under the assumption that the ebEBR reflects phasic DA activity, we predicted that WM updating and gate opening would be associated with an increase in the ebEBR. Gate closing would not be accompanied by an increase in the ebEBR because, as implied in the model, gate closing is the default state of the gate and does not require phasic DA.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 92%
“…The aim of the current study was to shed light on the involvement of DA in gating and WM updating by examining task demand-related changes in eye-blink rate during performance in the reference-back task 50, 51 . The reference-back task is a novel paradigm that allows for separation of processes related to WM updating from processes related to gate opening and closing.…”
Effective working memory (WM) functioning depends on the gating process that regulates the balance between maintenance and updating of WM. The present study used the event-based eye-blink rate (ebEBR), which presumably reflects phasic striatal dopamine activity, to examine how the cognitive processes of gating and updating separately facilitate flexible updating of WM contents and the potential involvement of dopamine in these processes. Real-time changes in eye blinks were tracked during performance on the reference-back task, in which demands on these two processes were independently manipulated. In all three experiments, trials that required WM updating and trials that required gate switching were both associated with increased ebEBR. These results may support the prefrontal cortex basal ganglia WM model (PBWM) by linking updating and gating to striatal dopaminergic activity. In Experiment 3, the ebEBR was used to determine what triggers gate switching. We found that switching to an updating mode (gate opening) was more stimulus driven and retroactive than switching to a maintenance mode, which was more context driven. Together, these findings show that the ebEBR – an inexpensive, non-invasive, easy-to-use measure – can be used to track changes in WM demands during task performance and, hence, possibly striatal dopamine activity.
“…Specifically, reference trials, which required updating of WM, and trials that required switching the state of the gate led to an increase in the ebEBR, in line with our predictions that were inspired by the PBWM model 9, 10 , with the exception that the reported results suggest that gate closing might also be DA-dependent. The reported findings may suggest that gate closing is not automatic but rather, similar to gate opening, might involve a phasic DA response and that perhaps the default state of the gate is not always closed but rather might be dependent on context 51 . More generally, these findings suggest that the ebEBR method 42, 49 is a viable method to track DA-based changes in WM demands during task performance.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 83%
“…Hence, the gate over WM should be closed in these trials. Previous results using this paradigm 50, 51 have demonstrated that (a) performance in reference trials is slower than in comparison trials, supporting the additional updating process required in the former, and (b) switching between the two trial-types is associated with an additional cost, reflecting the time taken to open or close the gate to WM 52, 53 .Figure 1The reference-back task. Trials with a red frame are reference trials, and trials with a blue frame are comparison trials (see main text for details).…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 70%
“…Inspired by the PBWM model and our previous results 50, 51 and under the assumption that the ebEBR reflects phasic DA activity, we predicted that WM updating and gate opening would be associated with an increase in the ebEBR. Gate closing would not be accompanied by an increase in the ebEBR because, as implied in the model, gate closing is the default state of the gate and does not require phasic DA.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 92%
“…The aim of the current study was to shed light on the involvement of DA in gating and WM updating by examining task demand-related changes in eye-blink rate during performance in the reference-back task 50, 51 . The reference-back task is a novel paradigm that allows for separation of processes related to WM updating from processes related to gate opening and closing.…”
Effective working memory (WM) functioning depends on the gating process that regulates the balance between maintenance and updating of WM. The present study used the event-based eye-blink rate (ebEBR), which presumably reflects phasic striatal dopamine activity, to examine how the cognitive processes of gating and updating separately facilitate flexible updating of WM contents and the potential involvement of dopamine in these processes. Real-time changes in eye blinks were tracked during performance on the reference-back task, in which demands on these two processes were independently manipulated. In all three experiments, trials that required WM updating and trials that required gate switching were both associated with increased ebEBR. These results may support the prefrontal cortex basal ganglia WM model (PBWM) by linking updating and gating to striatal dopaminergic activity. In Experiment 3, the ebEBR was used to determine what triggers gate switching. We found that switching to an updating mode (gate opening) was more stimulus driven and retroactive than switching to a maintenance mode, which was more context driven. Together, these findings show that the ebEBR – an inexpensive, non-invasive, easy-to-use measure – can be used to track changes in WM demands during task performance and, hence, possibly striatal dopamine activity.
“…The aim of the current study was to shed light on the involvement of DA in gating and WM updating, by examining task demand-related changes in eye-blink rate during performance on the reference back task 50,51 . The reference-back is a novel paradigm which allows separation of processes related to working memory updating from processes related to gate opening and closing.…”
Effective working memory (WM) functioning depends on the gating process that regulates the balance between maintenance and updating of WM. The present study used the event-based eye-blink rate (ebEBR), which presumably reflects phasic striatal dopamine activity, to examine how the cognitive processes of gating and updating separately facilitate flexible updating of WM contents and the potential involvement of dopamine in these processes. Realtime changes in eye blinks were tracked during performance on the reference-back task, in which demands on these two processes were independently manipulated. In all three experiments, trials that required WM updating and trials that required gate switching were both associated with increased ebEBR. These results may support the prefrontal cortex basal ganglia WM model (PBWM) by linking updating and gating to striatal dopaminergic activity.In Experiment 3, the ebEBR was used to determine what triggers gate switching. We found that switching to an updating mode (gate opening) was more stimulus driven and retroactive than switching to a maintenance mode, which was more context driven. Together, these findings show that the ebEBR -an inexpensive, non-invasive, easy-to-use measure -can be used to track changes in WM demands during task performance and, hence, possibly striatal dopamine activity.
During our everyday life, the constant flow of information is divided into discrete events, a process conceptualized in Event Segmentation Theory (EST). How people perform event segmentation and the resulting granularity of encapsulated segments likely depends on their metacontrol style. Yet, the underlying neural mechanisms remain undetermined. The current study examines how the metacontrol style affects event segmentation through the analysis of EEG data using multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) and source localization analysis. We instructed two groups of healthy participants to either segment a movie as fine‐grained as possible (fine‐grain group) or provided no such instruction (free‐segmentation group). The fine‐grain group showed more segments and a higher likelihood to set event boundaries upon scene changes, which supports the notion that cognitive control influences segmentation granularity. On a neural level, representational dynamics were decodable 400 ms prior to the decision to close a segment and open a new one, and especially fronto‐polar regions (BA10) were associated with this representational dynamic. Groups differed in their use of this representational dynamics to guide behavior and there was a higher sensitivity to incoming information in the Fine‐grain group. Moreover, a higher likelihood to set event boundaries was reflected by activity increases in the insular cortex suggesting an increased monitoring of potentially relevant upcoming events. The study connects the EST with the metacontrol framework and relates these to overarching neural concepts of prefrontal cortex function.
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