2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
The Role of Spatial Information and Attention in Object Working Memory Retrieval Process
| Project/Area Number |
17K13968
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
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| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
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| Research Field |
Experimental psychology
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| Research Institution | Kwansei Gakuin University |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Project Period (FY) |
2017-04-01 – 2023-03-31
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| Keywords | 作業記憶 / 注意 / 事象関連脳電位 |
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
This study examined how spatial attention operates during the process of retrieving of object information, which is a combination of multiple visual features (such as color and shape), in working memory (WM), using event-related brain potentials (ERPs). To this end, ERPs were measured during the retrieval processes of two WM tasks: one involving the memorization of color only (feature WM task) and the other involving the memorization of color and shape combinations (object WM task). The ERP index of spatial attention, N2pc, showed increased amplitude during the object WM retrieval process compared to the feature WM task. This indicates that during the retrieval process in object WM, attention is more strongly directed towards the locations of items to be recalled than during feature WM search, suggesting that spatial attention plays an important role in this type of search.
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| Free Research Field |
認知心理学
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| Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements |
作業記憶は長期記憶を始め多くの認知機能において情報保持・操作の場として働く、大変重要な認知機能である。また外環境に存在する物体は色や形状など複数の視覚的特徴の組み合わせとして存在し、その組み合わせを脳がどう認識しているかは認知心理学における重要な問題である。本研究は、その物体情報を作業記憶から検索するプロセスにおいて、空間的注意が強く働くことを事象関連脳電位（ERP）を用いて直接的に示した。この知見は、重要な認知機能である作業記憶のメカニズム解明にとって貢献するものであり、学術的意義は大きい。また作業記憶の理解は将来的には臨床場面など多くの応用場面で役立つはずであり、その社会的意義も大きい。
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