Grounding the Attentional Boost Effect in Events and the Efficient Brain

Swallow, Khena M.; Broitman, Adam W; Riley, Elizabeth; Turker, Hamid B.

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.892416

Cited by 21 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 191 publications

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“…Accordingly, occasional appearances of targets that disrupt the continuous stream of non-target trials may not represent a meaningful or temporally extended shift in the participant's internal state; their consequences are thus more limited than cues that signal event boundaries. One potential explanation is that target detection and event segmentation are mediated by modular and global locus coeruleus activity, respectively (Swallow et al, 2022). Future work is needed to better understand the differences in neural mechanisms that underlie target detection and event segmentation processes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Target detection does not influence temporal memory

Wang¹,

Egner²

2023

Preprint

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Target detection has been found to enhance memory for concurrently presented stimuli under dual-task conditions. This “attentional boost effect” is reminiscent of findings in the event memory literature, where conditions giving rise to event boundaries have been shown to enhance memory for boundary items. Target detection commonly requires a working memory update (e.g., adding to a covert mental target count), which is also thought to be a key contributor to creating event boundaries. However, whether target detection impacts temporal memory in similar ways as event boundaries remains unknown, because these two parallel literatures have used different types of memory tests, making direct comparisons difficult. In a pre-registered experiment with sequential Bayes factor design, we examined whether target detection influences temporal binding between items by inserting target and non-target stimuli during encoding of trial-unique object images, then comparing subsequent temporal order and distance memory for image pairs that span a target or non-target. We found that target detection enhanced recognition memory for target trial images but had no effect on temporal binding between items. In a follow-up experiment, we showed that when the encoding task required updating of task set rather than target count, event segmentation-related temporal memory effects were observed. These results document that target detection as such does not disrupt inter-item associations in memory, and that attention orienting in the absence of updating task sets does not create event boundaries. This suggests a key distinction between declarative and procedural working memory updates in segmenting events in memory.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Target detection does not influence temporal memory

Wang¹,

Egner²

2023

Preprint

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“…Once again, the important role of the reaction in the production of ABE was emphasized. Based on this, Swallow et al (2022) updated the DTI model, arguing that ABE originates in the decision to respond to a stimulus. The “decision to respond” is a form of engagement with the behaviorally relevant event and does not have to be an overt physical response like pressing a button.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of alerting in the attentional boost effect

et al. 2023

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Stimuli presented simultaneously with behaviorally relevant events (e.g., targets) are better memorized, an unusual effect defined as the attentional boost effect (ABE). We hypothesized that all types of behaviorally relevant events, including attentional cues, can promote the encoding process for the stimuli paired with them, and the attentional alerting network can amplify the ABE. The two experiments we conducted demonstrated that not all behaviorally relevant events, including alerting cues, benefit the processing of concurrently paired stimuli. We also found that the presence of a cue prior to a target can extend the memory advantage produced by target detection, but this advantage can only be observed within a limited range of time. Overall, our study provides the first evidence that the alerting network plays an important role in the ABE.

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“…Detecting a target in the task has previously been shown to engage brain regions involved in attentional orienting, including the LC facilitating the processing of concurrently presented events relative to both distractor and baseline conditions. The identification of a target has been shown to increase the attentional and memory salience for concurrently presented events, as well as elicit activity in the LC relative to both distractors and no tone conditions (Swallow & Jiang, 2010; Swallow & Jiang, 2014; for a review, see Swallow et al, 2022).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attention-dependent coupling with forebrain and brainstem neuromodulatory nuclei changes across the lifespan

Cicero,

Riley,

Swallow

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Attentional states continuously reflect the predictability and uncertainty in one’s environment having important consequences for learning and memory. Beyond well known cortical contributions, rapid shifts in attention are hypothesized to also originate from deep nuclei, such as the basal forebrain (BF) and locus coeruleus (LC) neuromodulatory systems. These systems are also the first to change with aging. Here we characterized the interplay between these systems and their regulation of afferent targets – the hippocampus (HPC) and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) – across the lifespan. To examine the role of attentional salience on task-dependent functional connectivity, we used a target-distractor go/no go task presented during functional MRI. In younger adults, BF coupling with the HPC, and LC coupling with the PCC, increased with behavioral relevance (targets vs distractors). Although the strength and presence of significant regional coupling changed in middle age, the most striking change in network connectivity was in old age, such that in older adults BF and LC coupling with their cortical afferents was largely absent and replaced by stronger interconnectivity between LC-BF nuclei. Overall rapid changes in attention related to behavioral relevance revealed distinct roles of subcortical neuromodulatory systems. The pronounced changes in functional network architecture across the lifespan suggest a decrease in these distinct roles, with deafferentation of cholinergic and noradrenergic systems associated with a shift towards mutual support during attention guided to external stimuli.Significance statementChanges in attentional control across the lifespan may originate from cortical control networks or subcortical neuromodulatory systems, which are the first sites of age-related neuropathology. In young adults, we demonstrated functional coupling of the basal forebrain with the hippocampus, and locus coeruleus with the posterior cingulate cortex varies with task relevance. This coupling changed in middle age and most strikingly in older adults. In old age, task-dependent coupling between the locus coeruleus and basal forebrain was the predominant connection remaining within the observed network. Older adults exhibit reduced subcortical-cortical connectivity, consistent with a relative neuromodulatory deafferentation, replaced by subcortical-subcortical deep nuclear connectivity. This alteration in noradrenergic and cholinergic signaling has important implications for attention and memory formation and neurocognitive aging.

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Grounding the Attentional Boost Effect in Events and the Efficient Brain

Cited by 21 publications

References 191 publications

Target detection does not influence temporal memory

Target detection does not influence temporal memory

The role of alerting in the attentional boost effect

Attention-dependent coupling with forebrain and brainstem neuromodulatory nuclei changes across the lifespan

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