title: Activity in human visual and parietal cortex reveals object-based attention in working memory.
abstract: Visual attention enables observers to select behaviorally relevant information based on spatial locations, features, or objects. Attentional selection is not limited to physically present visual information, but can also operate on internal representations maintained in working memory (WM) in service of higher-order cognition. However, only little is known about whether attention to WM contents follows the same principles as attention to sensory stimuli. To address this question, we investigated in humans whether the typically observed effects of object-based attention in perception are also evident for object-based attentional selection of internal object representations in WM. In full accordance with effects in visual perception, the key behavioral and neuronal characteristics of object-based attention were observed in WM. Specifically, we found that reaction times were shorter when shifting attention to memory positions located on the currently attended object compared with equidistant positions on a different object. Furthermore, functional magnetic resonance imaging and multivariate pattern analysis of visuotopic activity in visual (areas V1-V4) and parietal cortex revealed that directing attention to one position of an object held in WM also enhanced brain activation for other positions on the same object, suggesting that attentional selection in WM activates the entire object. This study demonstrated that all characteristic features of object-based attention are present in WM and thus follows the same principles as in perception.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Psychology, Goethe University, D-60528 Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0948-8976
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Peters
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Psychology, Goethe University, D-60528 Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and.
authors.forename: Jochen
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6740-5000
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kaiser
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, University Medical Center Mainz, D-55128 Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rahm
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Psychology, Goethe University, D-60528 Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and bledowski@em.uni-frankfurt.de.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3628-7683
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bledowski
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception
keywords: multivoxel pattern analysis; object-based attention; parietal cortex; perception; visual cortex; working memory