ACCESS2WM · How prior brain states govern access to working memory
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2016-09-01 → 2018-08-31
- EU contribution
- €195,455
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
How prior brain states govern access to working memory
This Marie Curie action (acronym ACCESS2WM) aimed to understand the mechanisms by which information is prioritised for access to human working memory. In addition, during the project, we have also investigated the related question of how information is accessed from working memory once this information becomes relevant for guiding behaviour. Working memory is a fundamental building block of adaptive cognition that allows us to hold available past sensory information that is anticipated to guide ensuing behaviour. Because it has limited capacity, it is key that only those pieces of information enter working memory that are (expected to be) of most importance to the agent. It is hence important to understand the cognitive and neural mechanisms that govern access to it. I set out to investigate the role of different kinds of prior expectations and brain states in governing this access. Understanding these mechanisms is not only relevant for the advancement of basic discovery science, but may ultimately also have implications that are relevant for society. The breakdown of working memory is often ascribed a core problem cognitive disorders that see increasing prevalence in modern day society (such as ADHD). It is highly conceivable that at least part of these deficits originate from a non-adaptive regulation of what information accesses working memory (such as a reduced efficiency in filtering memory-targets from sensory distractors).
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
The ability to temporarily maintain and manipulate information in working memory (WM) is critical for adaptive behaviour. Because WM has limited capacity, it is essential to understand the mechanisms that govern selective access to it. I hypothesise that 1) selective access to WM is governed by states of the brain prior to the encoding and retrieval of sensory information (in particular the phase and amplitude of neural oscillations in the different sensory cortices), and that 2) changes in these states provide a common neural substrate through which several cognitive variables affect WM. I will use magneto-encephalography (MEG) to investigate several key aspects of these central hypotheses in healthy human volunteers. This will advance our understanding of the neural and cognitive mechanisms that govern selective access to WM and could ultimately be used to present relevant information when the brain is most susceptible to incorporate this into WM. The project will be carried out at the Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, together with leading scientist in the electrophysiological study of WM (Anna Christina Nobre and Mark Stokes) and the analysis of MEG data (Mark Woolrich). This will allow me to not only perform the proposed research to the highest standard, but also to further develop several key skills (broaden my conceptual horizon, acquire novel analysis techniques, establish long-term collaborations, translate research, etc.) that will further my independence as a researcher and place me in the ideal position to start my own research group within few years after the fellowship.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD · OxfordCoordinatorUnited Kingdom
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union