A shared, flexible neural map architecture reflects capacity limits in both visual short-term memory and enumeration. Knops, A., Piazza, M., Sengupta, R., Eger, E., & Melcher, D. J Neurosci, 34(30):9857–9866, 2014. doi abstract bibtex Human cognition is characterized by severe capacity limits: we can accurately track, enumerate, or hold in mind only a small number of items at a time. It remains debated whether capacity limitations across tasks are determined by a common system. Here we measure brain activation of adult subjects performing either a visual short-term memory (vSTM) task consisting of holding in mind precise information about the orientation and position of a variable number of items, or an enumeration task consisting of assessing the number of items in those sets. We show that task-specific capacity limits (three to four items in enumeration and two to three in vSTM) are neurally reflected in the activity of the posterior parietal cortex (PPC): an identical set of voxels in this region, commonly activated during the two tasks, changed its overall response profile reflecting task-specific capacity limitations. These results, replicated in a second experiment, were further supported by multivariate pattern analysis in which we could decode the number of items presented over a larger range during enumeration than during vSTM. Finally, we simulated our results with a computational model of PPC using a saliency map architecture in which the level of mutual inhibition between nodes gives rise to capacity limitations and reflects the task-dependent precision with which objects need to be encoded (high precision for vSTM, lower precision for enumeration). Together, our work supports the existence of a common, flexible system underlying capacity limits across tasks in PPC that may take the form of a saliency map.
@Article{Knops2014,
author = {Knops, Andr\'e and Piazza, Manuela and Sengupta, Rakesh and Eger, Evelyn and Melcher, David},
journal = {J Neurosci},
title = {A shared, flexible neural map architecture reflects capacity limits in both visual short-term memory and enumeration.},
year = {2014},
number = {30},
pages = {9857--9866},
volume = {34},
abstract = {Human cognition is characterized by severe capacity limits: we can
accurately track, enumerate, or hold in mind only a small number
of items at a time. It remains debated whether capacity limitations
across tasks are determined by a common system. Here we measure brain
activation of adult subjects performing either a visual short-term
memory (vSTM) task consisting of holding in mind precise information
about the orientation and position of a variable number of items,
or an enumeration task consisting of assessing the number of items
in those sets. We show that task-specific capacity limits (three
to four items in enumeration and two to three in vSTM) are neurally
reflected in the activity of the posterior parietal cortex (PPC):
an identical set of voxels in this region, commonly activated during
the two tasks, changed its overall response profile reflecting task-specific
capacity limitations. These results, replicated in a second experiment,
were further supported by multivariate pattern analysis in which
we could decode the number of items presented over a larger range
during enumeration than during vSTM. Finally, we simulated our results
with a computational model of PPC using a saliency map architecture
in which the level of mutual inhibition between nodes gives rise
to capacity limitations and reflects the task-dependent precision
with which objects need to be encoded (high precision for vSTM, lower
precision for enumeration). Together, our work supports the existence
of a common, flexible system underlying capacity limits across tasks
in PPC that may take the form of a saliency map.},
doi = {10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2758-13.2014},
keywords = {Adolescent; Adult; Brain Mapping, methods; Brain, physiology; Female; Humans; Male; Memory, Short-Term, physiology; Nerve Net, physiology; Photic Stimulation, methods; Psychomotor Performance, physiology; Visual Perception, physiology; Young Adult},
language = {eng},
medline-pst = {ppublish},
pmid = {25057189},
school = {Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, I-38068 Rovereto, Italy.},
timestamp = {2016.09.20},
}
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