SENSORY, COGNITIVE, AND TRANSCRANIAL NEUROMODULATION OF GOAL REPRESENTATIONS
Abstract
Working memory keeps information active in mind so that we can plan and achieve moment-to-moment goals. Humans often hold multiple short-term goals simultaneously, therefore working memory must persist for future tasks while also meeting immediate needs in the environment. As a result, thoughts and goals that are transiently activated in working memory can interact with ongoing perception, attention, and action—sometimes in unexpected ways. Information from the environment can confuse or overwrite working memory, and information held in working memory can unintentionally drive attention or movements in the environment. This research project examines the cognitive and neural processes that promote or prevent these working memory effects, so that humans can reach optimal performance. This project tests the idea that competing demands in the environment can transform the way that the brain achieves working memory; but humans may have voluntary control over that transformation. This work uses mathematical models to characterize behavioral performance, combined with causal transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and advanced functional MRI (fMRI), in healthy human adults. The work will evaluate the information conveyed in neural signals, as well as the configuration of brain networks for communicating those signals, and will then use that data to guide brain stimulation. The project also employs a new TMS-neurofeedback procedure to adaptively modulate working memory goal information for the current circumstances. This approach will provide multi-modal data to predict how humans react to a range of cognitive challenges, and should guide strategies to improve goal maintenance in unpredictable scenarios.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Mar 07, 2023
- Source ID
- FA95502210230
Entities
People
- Anastasia Kiyonaga
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- United States Air Force
- University of California, San Diego