Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

Files

File List


Li Zhou's Dissertation.pdf (1.87 MB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Event-Related Potentials of Visual Working Memory: Exploring Capacity Limit’s Relation with Maintenance and Proactive Interference

Zhou, Li
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3731-6303
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1429790082

Abstract Details

2015, Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, Psychology.
Visual working memory (VWM) refers to the ability to actively maintain and use visual information for an ongoing process. It is a central component of many human abilities, and its limit in capacity constrains human performance across many tasks. VWM capacity is determined by actively maintaining and successfully retrieving information. Though many researchers have reached an agreement that VWM capacity is limited to 3 to 4 items, the neural mechanisms that account for this limit are still not well understood. In this dissertation, the ERP activities related to VWM maintaining process and retrieval process were investigated. Recently, an ERP study reported that the contralateral delay activity (CDA) was the ERP index of the number of items maintained in VWM. However, the assumption of hemispheric symmetry behind the study design is contradicted to those hemispheric asymmetry studies. Therefore, experiment 1 replicated the study about CDA to investigate the hemispheric symmetry issue particularly. Both the behavioral and ERP results indicated that there was hemispheric asymmetry during maintaining process and left hemisphere was more actively involved. Because of the hemispheric asymmetry during the maintaining process, experiment 2 was conducted to unveil the behavior of traditional P3 component in the standard change detection task. P3 derived from the maintaining process was sensitive to memory load as CDA was, and its amplitude was able to predict individual difference in VWM capacity estimated by Rouder et al.’s model. Besides the maintaining process, we also investigated the resolving of proactive interference (PI) during the retrieval process in experiment 3. Late positive component (LPC) was associated with resolving PI in the recent-probe design of the change detection task. The amplitude difference between recent and non-recent negative probe was negatively related to VWM capacity estimated from behavioral data. In summary, the P3 in the maintaining process and LPC of resolving PI during the retrieval can be used to predict individuals’ VWM capacity.
Robin Thomas (Advisor)
Joseph Johnson (Committee Member)
Aaron Luebbe (Committee Member)
Steven Wright (Committee Member)
70 p.
Cognitive Psychology
Visual working memory; ERP; Hemispheric asymmetry; Proactive interference; LPC; P3;

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Zhou, L. (2015). Event-Related Potentials of Visual Working Memory: Exploring Capacity Limit’s Relation with Maintenance and Proactive Interference [Doctoral dissertation, Miami University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1429790082

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Zhou, Li. Event-Related Potentials of Visual Working Memory: Exploring Capacity Limit’s Relation with Maintenance and Proactive Interference . 2015. Miami University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1429790082.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Zhou, Li. "Event-Related Potentials of Visual Working Memory: Exploring Capacity Limit’s Relation with Maintenance and Proactive Interference ." Doctoral dissertation, Miami University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1429790082

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

miami1429790082
105
© 2015, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Miami University and OhioLINK.