Biology subjects

Draschkow, D.

Publications and source records attributed to Draschkow, D..

9 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Distinct neural correlates for focusing on similar memory contents originating from current or previous experience

Flexible, goal-directed behavior depends on the ability to select and prioritize information from memory representations freshly encoded from the sensory stream as well as retrieved from previous experience. The spatial gating signatures of internal attention in working memory (WM) are increasingly well characterized, but it remains unclear whether the same neurophysiological mechanisms are recruited for orienting attention to items from long-term memory (LTM). We recorded EEG and eye movements while participants focused on WM versus LTM representations in a unified precision-report task. Retrocues improved performance for both WM and LTM items, but with larger behavioral gains for WM items. Neural and oculomotor markers of spatial orienting, including contralateral posterior alpha suppression and gaze biases toward remembered locations, were robust when focusing on WM items; but were reliably weakened or absent when focusing on LTM items. Multivariate pattern analyses provided complementary evidence for the recruitment of dissociable neural mechanisms when focusing on WM vs. LTM items, which unfolded with similar time courses. Together, the results establish the existence of dissociable neural mechanisms for internal attention, which can be deployed flexibly depending on the relevant memory trace to guide performance. The findings raise interesting and tractable questions about whether differences in representational formats or representational domains drive the distinct internal attention mechanisms.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2026

Eye-Tracking-BIDS: the Brain Imaging Data Structure extended to gaze position and pupil data

The Brain Imaging Data Structure (BIDS) is a widely adopted, community-driven standard to organize neuroimaging data and metadata. Although numerous extensions have been developed to incrementally extend coverage to new modalities and data types, an unambiguous, granular specification for eye-tracking recordings is lacking. Here, we present how BIDS will structure data and metadata produced by eye-tracking devices, including gaze position and pupil data. In addition to prescribing the organization of the unprocessed (raw) recordings and associated metadata as produced by the device, BEP20 also resolves gaps in current BIDS specifications beyond the scope of eye tracking. In particular, it adds a mechanism for including asynchronous model parameters and messages, such as contextual information, statuses, and events, such as triggers, generated by the device. BEP20 includes examples that illustrate its applicability in various experimental settings. This BIDS extension provides a robust standard that supports the development of self-adaptive, open, and automated eye-tracking data structures, thereby bolstering transparency and reliability of results in this field.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2025

Anticipated action goals structure spatial organisation in visual working memory following self-movement

Working memory enables the retention of relevant visual information in service of anticipated behaviour. Consequently, the goal for which information is retained may crucially sculpt the way we retain and organise information in visual working memory. Here, we investigated how anticipated action goals structure the spatial organisation used for visual working memory following self movement. Participants encoded two tilted objects (left and right) in working memory, then turned around 180 degrees before being cued to either reproduce the tilt of the cued object from memory (report session) or manually reach back to it (reach session). The 180-degree self-movement uniquely enabled us to oppose and disentangle two potential spatial frames for immersive working memory in moving participants: the native spatial frame of how the objects were registered during encoding and an updated spatial frame keeping track where the objects are in the external world behind the participant after self-movement. Behavioural memory reports and spatial biases in gaze converged on the use of distinct spatial frames in the two tasks. This reveals how a foundational aspect of working memory in behaving humans - the spatial frame used to organise memories following self movement - is critically sculpted by anticipated action goals.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2025

Identifying mood instability and circadian rest-activity patterns using digital remote monitoring and actigraphy in participants at risk for bipolar disorder

Mood instability and circadian rhythm disruptions are both of increasing interest with regard to a number of psychiatric disorders, notably bipolar disorder (BD), but understanding of their nature and their interrelationship are incomplete. By definition, both have an integral temporal component and, as such, measuring them longitudinally and remotely is desirable. We conducted the Cognition and Mood Evolution across Time (COMET) study to assess the feasibility and value of digital devices to capture mood, its instability, and daily rest-activity patterns, over a 10-week period, in two groups of participants. The first group (n=37) were selected as scoring >7 on the Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ) ( high MDQ), thereby having a history of mood elevation and being at risk for BD. They were compared with a group (n=37) scoring <5 on the MDQ ( low MDQ). Over a 10-week period, using a tablet, mood was rated daily, clinical ratings of depression, mania, and anxiety were captured weekly via the True Colours app, and a GENEactiv actigraph was worn to capture rest-activity pattern data. The main findings are that (1) MDQ score predicts mood instability; (2) high MDQ score is associated with more negative affect and mood symptoms than people with low MDQ, and with a different circadian activity profile; and (3) mood instability and circadian indices appear uncorrelated. The implications are that (1) remote monitoring of these domains is feasible and valuable; (2) selection of participants based on MDQ score is useful for studying mood (in)stability; and (3) the approach has potential for studies of clinical populations and for experimental medicine studies assessing interventions to reduce mood instability.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2024

Comparing the impact of contextual associations and statistical regularities in visual search and attention orienting

During visual search, we quickly learn to attend to an objects likely location. Research has shown that this process can be guided by learning target locations based on consistent spatial contextual associations or statistical regularities. Here, we tested how these different types of learning aid the utilisation of established memories for different purposes. Participants learned contextual associations or statistical regularities that predicted target locations within different scenes. The consequences of this learning for subsequent performance were then evaluated on attention-orienting and memory-recall tasks. Participants demonstrated facilitated attention-orienting and recall performance based on both contextual associations and statistical regularities. Contextual associations facilitated attention orienting with a different time course compared to statistical regularities. Benefits to memory-recall performance depended on the alignment between the learned association or regularity and the recall demands. The distinct patterns of behavioural facilitation by contextual associations and statistical regularities show how different forms of long-term memory may influence neural information processing through different modulatory mechanisms.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2023

Focusing attention in human working memory and long-term memory: benefits through dissociable processes

We developed a new experimental approach to compare how attentional orienting facilitates retrieval from working memory (WM) and long-term memory (LTM), and how selective attention within these two memory types impacts incoming sensory information processing. In three experiments with healthy young adults, retrospective attention cues prioritized an item represented in WM or LTM. Participants then retrieved a memory item or performed a perceptual task. The retrocue was informative for the retrieval task but not for the perceptual task. Attentional orienting benefited performance for both WM and LTM, with stronger effects for WM. Eye-tracking revealed significant gaze shifts and microsaccades correlated with attention in WM but not LTM. Visual discrimination of unrelated visual stimuli was consistently improved for items matching attended WM locations. Similar effects occurred at LTM locations but less consistently. The findings suggest potent and at least partly dissociable attention-orienting processes for different memory types.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2022

Viewpoint-Dependence and Scene Context Effects Generalize to Depth Rotated 3D Objects.

Viewpoint effects on object recognition interact with object-scene consistency effects. While recognition of objects seen from "accidental" viewpoints (e.g., a cup from below) is typically impeded compared to processing of objects seen from canonical viewpoints (e.g., the string-side of a guitar), this effect is reduced by meaningful scene context information. In the present study we investigated if these findings established by using photographic images, generalise to 3D models of objects. Using 3D models further allowed us to probe a broad range of viewpoints and empirically establish accidental and canonical viewpoints. In Experiment 1, we presented 3D models of objects from six different viewpoints (0{degrees}, 60{degrees}, 120{degrees}, 180{degrees} 240{degrees}, 300{degrees}) in colour (1a) and grayscaled (1b) in a sequential matching task. Viewpoint had a significant effect on accuracy and response times. Based on the performance in Experiments 1a and 1b, we determined canonical (0{degrees}-rotation) and non-canonical (120{degrees}-rotation) viewpoints for the stimuli. In Experiment 2, participants again performed a sequential matching task, however now the objects were paired with scene backgrounds which could be either consistent (e.g., a cup in the kitchen) or inconsistent (e.g., a guitar in the bathroom) to the object. Viewpoint interacted significantly with scene consistency in that object recognition was less affected by viewpoint when consistent scene information was provided, compared to inconsistent information. Our results show that viewpoint-dependence and scene context effects generalize to depth rotated 3D objects. This supports the important role object-scene processing plays for object constancy.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2022

Semantic object processing is modulated by prior scene context

Objects that are congruent with a scene are recognised more efficiently than objects that are incongruent. Further, semantic integration of incongruent objects elicits a stronger N300/N400 EEG component. Yet, the time course and mechanisms of how contextual information supports access to semantic object information is unclear. We used computational modelling and EEG to test how context influences semantic object processing. Using representational similarity analysis, we established that EEG patterns dissociated between objects in congruent or incongruent scenes from around 300 ms. By modelling semantic processing of objects using independently normed properties, we confirm that the onset of semantic processing of both congruent and incongruent objects is similar ([~]150 ms). Critically, after [~]275 ms, we discover a difference in the duration of semantic integration, lasting longer for incongruent compared to congruent objects. These results constrain our understanding of how contextual information supports access to semantic object information.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2022

Head-direction tracks internally directed selective attention in visual working memory

We shift our gaze even when we orient attention internally to visual representations in working memory. Here, we show the bodily orienting response associated with internal selective attention is widespread as it also includes the head. In three virtual reality (VR) experiments, participants remembered two visual items. After a working memory delay, a central colour cue indicated which item needed to be reproduced from memory. After the cue, head movements became biased in the direction of the memorised location of the cued memory item - despite there being no items to orient towards in the external environment. The heading-direction bias had a distinct temporal profile from the gaze bias. Our findings reveal that directing attention within the spatial layout of visual working memory bears a strong relation to the overt head orienting response we engage when directing attention to sensory information in the external environment. The heading-direction bias further demonstrates common neural circuitry is engaged during external and internal orienting of attention.

animal behavior and cognition↗