工作记忆中的信息整合

The goal of this project is to investigate the information integration occurred inside working memory, by using behavioral and EEG techniques. On the basis of our previous study that demonstrated the visual working memory Ponzo illusion which evidenced the figure-level information integration in working memory, this project plans to generalize this effect to different kinds of stimuli that includes visual objects, words and social interactions, in order to examine the working-memory information integration occurred at variable cognitive levels and reveal its mental mechanism. Based on these results, we plan to further investigate the individual differences and brain electrical characteristics of the working-memory information integration, uncovering its cognitive features and neural foundations. This project breaks the traditional limitation that treating working memory as the subsequent stage of perception, rather, it emphasizes working memory as an online buffer serving perceptual processes for storing the intermediate perceptual representations. Results are expected to shed light on the mechanism of the interaction between working memory and perception, thus extending the current theories of working memory, and providing implications for the research and applications in related area.

本项目拟采用行为实验与脑电技术相结合的方法，考察工作记忆中信息自动整合过程及其心理与神经机制。在申请人前期研究发现工作记忆中图形自动整合现象的基础上，基于工作记忆-知觉交互理论，本项目拟系统考察视觉客体、语词材料、社会交互场景等不同种类信息在工作记忆中的整合过程及其机制，以揭示不同层次认知加工中工作记忆对信息整合的作用；在此基础上，进一步探讨工作记忆信息整合相关脑电活动和个体差异，以明确其神经基础和心理特性。本项目突破了以往将工作记忆看作知觉产物存储器的传统认识，强调工作记忆参与知觉加工过程、为其提供中间表征存储空间的作用。研究成果将有助于加深对工作记忆与知觉系统交互过程的理解，丰富和发展现有工作记忆理论，并为认知科学相关领域的研究和应用提供参考。

本项目系统探明了视觉客体、图形、词语、社会信息等不同种类信息在工作记忆中的整合机制及其相关脑电活动，并发现认知风格等个体差异因素并不影响工作记忆自动信息整合。在实现预期目标的同时，研究还探讨了工作记忆整合表征的计算机制，以及工作记忆中社会整合表征的特性和功能。这些研究共发表期刊论文7篇，博士论文4篇、硕士论文6篇。研究成果对于深入理解工作记忆与知觉系统的交互具有重要意义，突显了工作记忆在人类认知系统主动加工过程中的作用，可以为相关的类人人工智能设计提供心理学理论参考。