title: Irrelevant sensory stimuli interfere with working memory storage: evidence from a computational model of prefrontal neurons.
abstract: The encoding of irrelevant stimuli into the memory store has previously been suggested as a mechanism of interference in working memory (e.g., Lange & Oberauer, Memory, 13, 333-339, 2005; Nairne, Memory & Cognition, 18, 251-269, 1990). Recently, Bancroft and Servos (Experimental Brain Research, 208, 529-532, 2011) used a tactile working memory task to provide experimental evidence that irrelevant stimuli were, in fact, encoded into working memory. In the present study, we replicated Bancroft and Servos's experimental findings using a biologically based computational model of prefrontal neurons, providing a neurocomputational model of overwriting in working memory. Furthermore, our modeling results show that inhibition acts to protect the contents of working memory, and they suggest a need for further experimental research into the capacity of vibrotactile working memory.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3C5, Canada. banc6110@mylaurier.ca
authors.forename: Tyler D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Bancroft
authors.forename: William E
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Hockley
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Servos
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006801:Humans; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D014110:Touch / Q000502:physiology