Orienting attention to auditory and visual working memory in older adults with cochlear implants.

Cochlear implantation is a well-established method for restoring hearing sensation in individuals with severe to profound hearing loss. It significantly improves verbal communication for many users, despite substantial variability in patients' reports and performance on speech perception tests...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Amisha Ojha, Andrew Dimitrijevic, Claude Alain
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2024-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0310082
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1841555508879687680
author Amisha Ojha
Andrew Dimitrijevic
Claude Alain
author_facet Amisha Ojha
Andrew Dimitrijevic
Claude Alain
author_sort Amisha Ojha
collection DOAJ
description Cochlear implantation is a well-established method for restoring hearing sensation in individuals with severe to profound hearing loss. It significantly improves verbal communication for many users, despite substantial variability in patients' reports and performance on speech perception tests and quality-of-life outcome measures. Such variability in outcome measures remains several years after implantation and could reflect difficulties in attentional regulation. The current study assessed the ability to use a cue to guide attention internally toward visual or auditory working memory (i.e., reflective attention) in cochlear implant (CI) users. Participants completed a cognitive task called the delayed match-to-sample task in which a visual gradient was presented on a computer screen and a piano tone was presented through speakers simultaneously. A visual cue (i.e., letter A or V) instructed participants to focus attention on the item held in auditory or visual working memory. After a delay following the cue presentation, participants were presented with a probe item and indicated by pressing a button whether it matched the cued item in working memory. CI users and age-matched normal hearing adults showed comparable benefit from having an informative cue relative to an uninformative cue (i.e., letter X). Although CI users have had a history of severe deafness and experience coarse sound information, they were able to retrospectively orient their attention to an item in auditory or visual working memory. These findings suggest that CI users with at least one year of CI experience can successfully regulate attention to a level that is comparable to that of normal hearing individuals.
format Article
id doaj-art-2cbaa284827d4d3d8a9f4ba827d94036
institution Kabale University
issn 1932-6203
language English
publishDate 2024-01-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS ONE
spelling doaj-art-2cbaa284827d4d3d8a9f4ba827d940362025-01-08T05:32:32ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032024-01-011912e031008210.1371/journal.pone.0310082Orienting attention to auditory and visual working memory in older adults with cochlear implants.Amisha OjhaAndrew DimitrijevicClaude AlainCochlear implantation is a well-established method for restoring hearing sensation in individuals with severe to profound hearing loss. It significantly improves verbal communication for many users, despite substantial variability in patients' reports and performance on speech perception tests and quality-of-life outcome measures. Such variability in outcome measures remains several years after implantation and could reflect difficulties in attentional regulation. The current study assessed the ability to use a cue to guide attention internally toward visual or auditory working memory (i.e., reflective attention) in cochlear implant (CI) users. Participants completed a cognitive task called the delayed match-to-sample task in which a visual gradient was presented on a computer screen and a piano tone was presented through speakers simultaneously. A visual cue (i.e., letter A or V) instructed participants to focus attention on the item held in auditory or visual working memory. After a delay following the cue presentation, participants were presented with a probe item and indicated by pressing a button whether it matched the cued item in working memory. CI users and age-matched normal hearing adults showed comparable benefit from having an informative cue relative to an uninformative cue (i.e., letter X). Although CI users have had a history of severe deafness and experience coarse sound information, they were able to retrospectively orient their attention to an item in auditory or visual working memory. These findings suggest that CI users with at least one year of CI experience can successfully regulate attention to a level that is comparable to that of normal hearing individuals.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0310082
spellingShingle Amisha Ojha
Andrew Dimitrijevic
Claude Alain
Orienting attention to auditory and visual working memory in older adults with cochlear implants.
PLoS ONE
title Orienting attention to auditory and visual working memory in older adults with cochlear implants.
title_full Orienting attention to auditory and visual working memory in older adults with cochlear implants.
title_fullStr Orienting attention to auditory and visual working memory in older adults with cochlear implants.
title_full_unstemmed Orienting attention to auditory and visual working memory in older adults with cochlear implants.
title_short Orienting attention to auditory and visual working memory in older adults with cochlear implants.
title_sort orienting attention to auditory and visual working memory in older adults with cochlear implants
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0310082
work_keys_str_mv AT amishaojha orientingattentiontoauditoryandvisualworkingmemoryinolderadultswithcochlearimplants
AT andrewdimitrijevic orientingattentiontoauditoryandvisualworkingmemoryinolderadultswithcochlearimplants
AT claudealain orientingattentiontoauditoryandvisualworkingmemoryinolderadultswithcochlearimplants