O1 Abstract
Sad and fearful face distractors do not consume working memory resources in depressed adults (2023)
Ye, C., Xu, Q., Li, X., Vuoriainen, E., Liu, Q., & Astikainen, P. (2023). Sad and fearful face distractors do not consume working memory resources in depressed adults. Journal of Vision, 23(9), Article 4804. https://doi.org/10.1167/jov.23.9.4804
JYU authors or editors
Publication details
All authors or editors: Ye, Chaoxiong; Xu, Qianru; Li, Xueqiao; Vuoriainen, Elisa; Liu, Qiang; Astikainen, Piia
Journal or series: Journal of Vision
eISSN: 1534-7362
Publication year: 2023
Volume: 23
Issue number: 9
Article number: 4804
Publisher: Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology
Publication country: United States
Publication language: English
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1167/jov.23.9.4804
Publication open access: Openly available
Publication channel open access: Open Access channel
Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/89137
Additional information: Vision Sciences Society Annual Meeting Abstract
Abstract
Previous studies have shown that task-irrelevant threatening faces (e.g., fearful faces) are difficult to filter from visual working memory (VWM). Depressive symptoms could also potentially affect the ability to filter different emotional faces. What is not known, however, is whether non-threatening negative faces (e.g., sad faces) are also difficult to filter and whether depressive symptoms affect filtering ability. We used a color-change detection task to test whether task-irrelevant sad and fearful faces could be filtered by healthy participants and by depressed participants. The VWM storage of distractors was indicated by contralateral delay activity, a specific event-related potential index for the number of objects stored in VWM during the maintenance phase. The healthy group stored the same amount of VWM information under the non-distractor and the sad face distractor conditions, but more information was stored under the fearful face distractor condition than under the other conditions (non-distractor condition and sad face distractor condition), suggesting that specifically threatening faces are difficult to filter from VWM in healthy individuals. By contrast, depressed participants stored the same amount of VWM information under the non-distractor condition, fearful face distractor condition, and sad face distractor condition, suggesting no extra consumption of VWM resources for both fearful and sad face distractors. That is, a greater number of depressive symptoms seems to enhance the filtering ability of irrelevant sad and fearful face distractors from VWM. Our results for healthy participants confirm the previous findings of a threat-related filtering difficulty in average individuals. In addition, our findings suggest that sad and fearful faces do not unnecessarily load the VWM. The novel finding of the absent storing of negative distractors in VWM in participants with depressive symptoms may reflect a decreased overall responsiveness to negative facial stimuli. Future studies should investigate the mechanisms underlying distractor filtering in depressed populations.
Keywords: working memory; visual memory; memory (cognition); face recognition (cognition); face; facial expressions; emotions; depression (mental disorders)
Contributing organizations
Related projects
- Neural basis of the two-phase resource allocation model of visual working memory and its application
- Ye, Chaoxiong
- Research Council of Finland
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