Errors in attention adaptively impact spatial working memory, study finds

Humans are known to rapidly adapt their mental processes and behavior based on feedback they receive from the world around them. For instance, some past studies have shown that people progressively adjust their movements while trying to move in specific ways or walk to a specific location, reducing discrepancies in their previous movements.

Researchers at the University of Michigan recently carried out a study investigating the possibility that some cognitive functions, such as working memory processes, are also influenced by similar error-driven adaptative strategies. Their findings, published in Nature Human Behavior, suggest that the human brain adjusts spatial representations in response to errors in the allocation of attention.

“In some of my prior work performed at Boston University under Prof. David Somers, I used neuroimaging (fMRI) to show that the cerebellum—a brain region traditionally known for its role in movement—is recruited by cognitive processes such as attention and working memory,” James A. Brissenden, first author of the paper, told Medical Xpress. “However, why the cerebellum would be recruited by cognitive functions is currently unclear.”

The cerebellum, a small brain region at the back of the skull, has been linked to visuomotor adaptation. This is the process through which humans fine-tune their next movements in response to errors in their earlier movements.

“We sought to determine if visual cognitive functions are also subject to these same error-based learning mechanisms,” said Brissenden. “Such a result would potentially explain the cerebellum’s role in attention and working memory, while also highlighting underappreciated similarities in the learning mechanisms underlying motor and cognitive control.”

To explore the possibility that people’s spatial working memory is also influenced by error-based adaptive processes, Brissenden and his colleagues carried out five experiments. Three of these experiments were performed online, while the other two were run in person, using eye-tracking technology.

“We designed a task that repeatedly induced errors in how participants directed spatial attention to a particular location,” explained Brissenden. “We then intermittently measured working memory recall for that location to assess whether participants’ internal spatial representations shifted to compensate for those attention errors.”

While participants completed the new task designed by the researchers, their attention was purposely directed towards specific locations, inducing attention allocation errors. Interestingly, they found that as these attention errors accumulated over time, participants adaptively changed their recall of the stimulus they were asked to memorize, to counteract the errors.

“In other words, during working memory trials, participants remembered the presented object as being located closer to where attention should have been directed to best identify the target stimulus on attention trials,” said Brissenden. “This result suggests that as we navigate the world, the way in which we attend and remember information within our environment is being continually adjusted and calibrated. This fine-tuning may potentially occur without conscious awareness.”

Overall, the results of this recent study suggest that human cognitive functions rely on adaptive mechanisms aimed at counteracting errors, similarly to motor functions. In the future, the insight gathered by Brissenden and his colleagues could inform the design of both educational programs and human-machine interfaces.

“If we understand how attention errors affect spatial cognition, we can design systems that minimize these errors or even use them to drive learning,” added Brissenden. “We’re now planning future studies to confirm that the cerebellum is indeed the key brain region responsible for this error-based adaptation in both movement and cognition. Using techniques like transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), which allows us to temporarily and safely disrupt activity in specific brain areas, along with neuroimaging (fMRI), we hope to pinpoint the cerebellum’s role in this process.”

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