Psychology 621 (a.k.a. lab meeting)
Cognitive Neuroscience of Working Memory
Spring 2024
In this course we emphasize the critical evaluation of topical issues and data in working memory research, with an emphasis on human and nonhuman primates. Toward this end, we also emphasize the methods of neuroimaging, neurophysiology, neuropsychology, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), electroencephalography (EEG), experimental psychology, and computational modeling.
Format: Each week we discuss (at least) one article from the recent literature. These discussions are organized as informal presentations that will give us an opportunity to discuss and assess in detail the theory, methods, results, and interpretation associated with that particular paper. On occasion, these discussions are supplemented with, or supplanted by, an informal presentation of the design and/or results from an experiment being conducted in the Postle laboratory (see section on "3 credits," below). Following the discussion of a particular paper or project, we end the meeting with an attempt to integrate what we've learned from this specific information into the perspective of contemporary cognitive neuroscience inquiry.
Levels of participation: The class may be taken for 1 or 3 credits. The requirements for 1-credit registrants are simply to come to class having read the assigned paper, and prepared to participate in the discussion. The additional requirements for 3-credit registrants are to participate in a research project in the Postle laboratory that entails at least 10 hr./wk. of research time during two consecutive semesters. Availability of 3-credit option depends on current needs of the lab. The course number is Psychology 621. The in-class presentations of 3-crediters typically focus on their own experiments.
Grading:
- 1-credit: in-class participation
- 3-credit: in-class participation, paper, and research
Meeting time and place: Fridays 9:00 – 10:45 am in Brogden Psychology Building, Room 519
Instructor: Brad Postle, 515 Psychology, postle@wisc.edu
Coordinator: Jacqueline Fulvio, 165 Psychology, jacqueline.fulvio@wisc.edu
Office hours: By appointment.
With the exception of time-sensitive emergencies, email is the most effective and preferred way for you to contact us.
All readings are either available for download from the Lab Meeting tab on the Postle Lab website, or you may request a hard copy by emailing Jackie Fulvio at jacqueline.fulvio@wisc.edu
Background readings
Aschwanden C (2014). Harassment in Science, Replicated. New York Times, August 11.
Spring 2024
January 26
Liljefors, J., Almeida, R., Rane, G., Lundstrom, J. N., Herman, P. A., & Lundqvist, M. (2023). Distinct functions for beta and alpha bursts in gating of human working memory. BioRxiv, 2023-11. https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.11.17.566386 [Download pdf here]
February 2
Liesefeld, H. R., Lamy, D., Gaspelin, N., Geng, J. J., Kerzel, D., Schall, J. D., ... & Wolfe, J. (2024). Terms of debate: Consensus definitions to guide the scientific discourse on visual distraction. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 1-28. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-023-02820-3 [Download pdf here]
February 9
Zabeh, E., Foley, N. C., Jacobs, J., & Gottlieb, J. P. (2023). Beta traveling waves in monkey frontal and parietal areas encode recent reward history. Nature Communications, 14(1), 5428. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-41125-9 [Download pdf here]
February 16
Thyer, W., Adam, K. C., Diaz, G. K., Velazquez Sanchez, I. N., Vogel, E. K., & Awh, E. (2022). Storage in visual working memory recruits a content-independent pointer system. Psychological Science, 33(10), 1680-1694. https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976221090923 [Download pdf here]
February 23
Saito, J. M., Kolisnyk, M., & Fukuda, K. (2023). Perceptual comparisons modulate memory biases induced by new visual inputs. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 30(1), 291-302. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-022-02133-w [Download pdf here]
March 1
Yiling, Y., Klon-Lipok, J., Shapcott, K., Lazar, A., & Singer, W. (2024). Dynamic fading memory and expectancy effects in the monkey primary visual cortex. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121(8), e2314855121. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2314855121 [Download pdf here]
March 8
Zerr, P., Gayet, S., & Van der Stigchel, S. (2024). Memory reports are biased by all relevant contents of working memory. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 2507. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-51595-6 [Download pdf here]
March 15
Wessel, J. R., & Anderson, M. C. (2024). Neural mechanisms of domain-general inhibitory control. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 28(2), 124-143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2023.09.008 [Download pdf here]
March 22
Mendoza-Halliday, D., Xu, H., Azevedo, F. A., & Desimone, R. (2024). Dissociable neuronal substrates of visual feature attention and working memory. Neuron, 2023-03. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2023.12.007 [Download pdf here]
March 29 (spring break)
Piwek, E. P., Stokes, M. G., & Summerfield, C. (2023). A recurrent neural network model of prefrontal brain activity during a working memory task. PLoS Computational Biology, 19(10), e1011555. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011555 [Download pdf here]
April 5
Ritz, H., & Shenhav, A. (2024). Orthogonal neural encoding of targets and distractors supports multivariate cognitive control. Nature Human Behaviour, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-024-01826-7 [Download pdf here]
April 12
No meeting - Annual CNS meeting
April 19
Xu, Y. (2023). Parietal-driven visual working memory representation in occipito-temporal cortex. Current Biology, 33(20), 4516-4523. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2023.08.080 [Download pdf here]
April 26
Degutis, J. K., Weber, S., Soch, J., & Haynes, J. D. (2024). Neural dynamics of visual working memory representation during sensory distraction. bioRxiv, 2024-04. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.04.12.589170 [Download pdf here]
May 3
Undergraduates (for pre-lab meeting): Wan, Q., Ardalan, A., Fulvio, J., & Postle, B. R. (2023). Representing context and priority in working memory. bioRxiv, 2023-10. https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.10.24.563608 - in press at Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. [Download pdf here]
Menendez, J. A., Hennig, J. A., Golub, M. D., Oby, E. R., Sadtler, P. T., Batista, A. P., ... & Latham, P. E. (2024). A theory of brain-computer interface learning via low-dimensional control. bioRxiv, 2024-04. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.04.18.589952 [Download pdf here]
ETHICS OF BEING A STUDENT IN THE DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY
The members of the faculty of the Department of Psychology at UW-Madison uphold the highest ethical standards of teaching and research. They expect their students to uphold the same standards of ethical conduct. By registering for this course, you are implicitly agreeing to conduct yourself with the utmost integrity throughout the semester.
In the Department of Psychology, acts of academic misconduct are taken very seriously. Such acts diminish the educational experience for all involved – students who commit the acts, classmates who would never consider engaging in such behaviors, and instructors. Academic misconduct includes, but is not limited to, cheating on assignments and exams, stealing exams, sabotaging the work of classmates, submitting fraudulent data, plagiarizing the work of classmates or published and/or online sources, acquiring previously written papers and submitting them (altered or unaltered) for course assignments, collaborating with classmates when such collaboration is not authorized, and assisting fellow students in acts of misconduct. Students who have knowledge that classmates have engaged in academic misconduct should report this to the instructor.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
By enrolling in this course, each student assumes the responsibilities of an active participant in UW-Madison’s community of scholars in which everyone’s academic work and behavior are held to the highest academic integrity standards. Academic misconduct compromises the integrity of the university. Cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, unauthorized collaboration, and helping others commit these acts are examples of academic misconduct, which can result in disciplinary action. This includes but is not limited to failure on the assignment/course, disciplinary probation, or suspension. Substantial or repeated cases of misconduct will be forwarded to the Office of Student Conduct & Community Standards for additional review. For more information, refer to https://conduct.students.wisc.edu/academic-misconduct/.
COMPLAINTS
Occasionally, a student may have a complaint about a TA or course instructor. If that happens, you should feel free to discuss the matter directly with the TA or instructor. If the complaint is about the TA and you do not feel comfortable discussing it with the individual, you should discuss it with the course instructor. Complaints about mistakes in grading should be resolved with the TA and/or instructor in the great majority of cases. If the complaint is about the instructor (other than ordinary grading questions) and you do not feel comfortable discussing it with the instructor, make an appointment to speak to the Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies, Professor Kristin Shutts, kshutts@wisc.edu.
If you have concerns about climate or bias in this class, or if you wish to report an incident of bias or hate that has occurred in class, you may contact the Chair of the Department, Professor Allyson Bennett (allyson.j.bennett@wisc.edu) or the Chair of the Psychology Department Climate & Diversity Committee, Martha Alibali (martha.alibali@wisc.edu). You may also use the University’s bias incident reporting system, which you can reach at the following link: https://doso.students.wisc.edu/services/bias-reporting-process/.
Concerns about Sexual Misconduct
All students deserve to be safe and respected at UW-Madison. Unfortunately, we know that sexual and relationship violence do happen here. Free, confidential resources are available on and off campus for students impacted by sexual assault, sexual harassment, dating violence, and stalking (regardless of when the violence occurred). You don’t have to label your experience to seek help. Friends of survivors can reach out for support too. A list of resources can be found at https://www.uhs.wisc.edu/survivor-resources/
If you wish to speak to someone in the Department of Psychology about your concerns, you may contact the Chair of the Department, Professor Allyson Bennett (allyson.j.bennett@wisc.edu) or the Associate Chair of Undergraduate Studies, Professor Kristin Shutts, (kshutts@wisc.edu). Please note that all of these individuals are Responsible Employees (https://compliance.wisc.edu/titleix/mandatory-reporting/#responsible-employees).
ACCOMMODATIONS POLICIES
The University of Wisconsin-Madison supports the right of all enrolled students to a full and equal educational opportunity. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Wisconsin State Statute (36.12), and UW-Madison policy (Faculty Document 1071) require that students with disabilities be reasonably accommodated in instruction and campus life. Reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities is a shared faculty and student responsibility. Students are expected to inform faculty [me] of their need for instructional accommodations by the end of the third week of the semester, or as soon as possible after a disability has been incurred or recognized. Faculty [I], will work either directly with the student [you] or in coordination with the McBurney Center to identify and provide reasonable instructional accommodations. Disability information, including instructional accommodations, as part of a student’s educational record is confidential and protected under FERPA.
UW-Madison students who have experienced sexual misconduct (which can include sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence and/or stalking) also have the right to request academic accommodations. This right is afforded them under Federal legislation (Title IX). Information about services and resources (including information about how to request accommodations) is available through Survivor Services, a part of University Health Services: https://www.uhs.wisc.edu/survivor-services/ .
DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
“Diversity is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation for UW-Madison. We value the contributions of each person and respect the profound ways their identity, culture, background, experience, status, abilities, and opinion enrich the university community. We commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research, outreach, and diversity as inextricably linked goals.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison fulfills its public mission by creating a welcoming and inclusive community for people from every background – people who as students, faculty, and staff serve Wisconsin and the world.” https://diversity.wisc.edu/
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