HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Stedron, J. M. Articles by Munakata, Y. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Stedron, J. M. Articles by Munakata, Y.

Common Mechanisms for Working Memory and Attention: The Case of Perseveration with Visible Solutions

¹ University of Denver, ² University of Wisconsin, ³ University of Colorado—Boulder

Reprint requests should be sent to Yuko Munakata, Department of Psychology, University of Colorado-Boulder, 345 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0345, or via e-mail: munakata{at}colorado.edu.

Everyone perseverates at one time or another, repeating previous behaviors when they are no longer appropriate. Such perseveration often occurs in situations with working memory demands, and the ability to overcome perseveration has been linked to brain regions critical for working memory. Many theories thus explain perseveration in terms of working memory deficits. However, perseveration also occurs in situations without apparent working memory demands, in which the visible environment specifies appropriate behavior. Such findings appear to challenge working memory accounts of perseveration. To evaluate this challenge, a neural network model of a working memory account of perseveration was tested on tasks with visible solutions. With advances in the mechanisms that support working memory, networks became increasingly able to attend to relevant information in the environment. These developments led to improvements in performance on tasks with visible solutions, paralleling the developmental progression observed in infants. The simulations demonstrate how mechanisms of working memory can subserve perseveration and success on tasks with and without obvious memory demands. In both types of tasks, controlled processing occurs through the activation of task-relevant representations, which provide top–down biasing of other processing pathways. More generally, the simulations demonstrate how common mechanisms can support working memory and attention.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S. Kuboshima-Amemori and T. Sawaguchi Plasticity of the Primate Prefrontal Cortex Neuroscientist, June 1, 2007; 13(3): 229 - 240. [Abstract] [PDF]

				R. C. O'Reilly Biologically based computational models of high-level cognition. Science, October 6, 2006; 314(5796): 91 - 94. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]