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Decoding working memory content from attentional biases.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Dowd, EW; Pearson, JM; Egner, T
Published in: Psychon Bull Rev
August 2017

What we are currently thinking influences where we attend. The finding that active maintenance of visual items in working memory (WM) biases attention toward memory-matching objects-even when WM content is irrelevant for attentional goals-suggests a tight link between WM and attention. To test whether this link is reliable enough to infer specific WM content from measures of attentional bias, we applied multivariate pattern classification techniques to response times from an unrelated visual search task during a WM delay. Single-trial WM content was successfully decoded from incidental attentional bias within an individual, highlighting the specificity and reliability of the WM-attention link. Furthermore, classifiers trained on a group of individuals predicted WM content in another, completely independent individual-implying a shared cognitive mechanism of memory-driven attentional bias. The existence of such classifiers demonstrates that memory-based attentional bias is both a robust and generalizable probe of WM.

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Published In

Psychon Bull Rev

DOI

EISSN

1531-5320

Publication Date

August 2017

Volume

24

Issue

4

Start / End Page

1252 / 1260

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Visual Perception
  • Psychomotor Performance
  • Memory, Short-Term
  • Male
  • Humans
  • Female
  • Experimental Psychology
  • Attentional Bias
  • Adult
  • 5204 Cognitive and computational psychology
 

Citation

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Dowd, E. W., Pearson, J. M., & Egner, T. (2017). Decoding working memory content from attentional biases. Psychon Bull Rev, 24(4), 1252–1260. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-016-1204-5
Dowd, Emma Wu, John M. Pearson, and Tobias Egner. “Decoding working memory content from attentional biases.Psychon Bull Rev 24, no. 4 (August 2017): 1252–60. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-016-1204-5.
Dowd EW, Pearson JM, Egner T. Decoding working memory content from attentional biases. Psychon Bull Rev. 2017 Aug;24(4):1252–60.
Dowd, Emma Wu, et al. “Decoding working memory content from attentional biases.Psychon Bull Rev, vol. 24, no. 4, Aug. 2017, pp. 1252–60. Pubmed, doi:10.3758/s13423-016-1204-5.
Dowd EW, Pearson JM, Egner T. Decoding working memory content from attentional biases. Psychon Bull Rev. 2017 Aug;24(4):1252–1260.
Journal cover image

Published In

Psychon Bull Rev

DOI

EISSN

1531-5320

Publication Date

August 2017

Volume

24

Issue

4

Start / End Page

1252 / 1260

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Visual Perception
  • Psychomotor Performance
  • Memory, Short-Term
  • Male
  • Humans
  • Female
  • Experimental Psychology
  • Attentional Bias
  • Adult
  • 5204 Cognitive and computational psychology