QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

HOME  |   SEARCH  |   ARCHIVE  |   SUBSCRIBE  |   CONTACT  |   HELP

The Journal of Neuroscience, March 11, 2009, 29(10):3059-3066; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4621-08.2009

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (1) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Zanto, T. P. Articles by Gazzaley, A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Zanto, T. P. Articles by Gazzaley, A.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Neural Suppression of Irrelevant Information Underlies Optimal Working Memory Performance

Theodore P. Zanto and Adam Gazzaley

Department of Neurology and Physiology, Keck Center for Integrative Neuroscience, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, 94158

Correspondence should be addressed to Adam Gazzaley, Department of Neurology and Physiology, Keck Center for Integrative Neuroscience, University of California, San Francisco, MC2240, 600 16th Street, Room N472J, San Francisco, CA 94158. Email: adam.gazzaley{at}ucsf.edu

Our ability to focus attention on task-relevant information and ignore distractions is reflected by differential enhancement and suppression of neural activity in sensory cortex (i.e., top-down modulation). Such selective, goal-directed modulation of activity may be intimately related to memory, such that the focus of attention biases the likelihood of successfully maintaining relevant information by limiting interference from irrelevant stimuli. Despite recent studies elucidating the mechanistic overlap between attention and memory, the relationship between top-down modulation of visual processing during working memory (WM) encoding, and subsequent recognition performance has not yet been established. Here, we provide neurophysiological evidence in healthy, young adults that top-down modulation of early visual processing (< 200 ms from stimulus onset) is intimately related to subsequent WM performance, such that the likelihood of successfully remembering relevant information is associated with limiting interference from irrelevant stimuli. The consequences of a failure to ignore distractors on recognition performance was replicated for two types of feature-based memory, motion direction and color. Moreover, attention to irrelevant stimuli was reflected neurally during the WM maintenance period as an increased memory load. These results suggest that neural enhancement of relevant information is not the primary determinant of high-level performance, but rather optimal WM performance is dependent on effectively filtering irrelevant information through neural suppression to prevent overloading a limited memory capacity.

---

Received Sept. 25, 2008; revised Jan. 23, 2009; accepted Jan. 26, 2009.

Correspondence should be addressed to Adam Gazzaley, Department of Neurology and Physiology, Keck Center for Integrative Neuroscience, University of California, San Francisco, MC2240, 600 16th Street, Room N472J, San Francisco, CA 94158. Email: adam.gazzaley{at}ucsf.edu

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A. S. Berry, T. P. Zanto, A. M. Rutman, W. C. Clapp, and A. Gazzaley Practice-Related Improvement in Working Memory is Modulated by Changes in Processing External Interference J Neurophysiol, September 1, 2009; 102(3): 1779 - 1789. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				W. C. Clapp, M. T. Rubens, and A. Gazzaley Mechanisms of Working Memory Disruption by External Interference Cereb Cortex, July 31, 2009; (2009) bhp150v1. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home  |   Search  |   Archive  |   Subscribe  |   Contact  |   Help