Task-irrelevant Visual Stimuli Research Articles

The Multimodal Trust Effects of Face, Voice, and Sentence Content.

Trust is an aspect critical to human social interaction and research has identified many cues that help in the assimilation of this social trait. Two of these cues are the pitch of the voice and the width-to-height ratio of the face (fWHR). Additionally, research has indicated that the content of a spoken sentence itself has an effect on trustworthiness; a finding that has not yet been brought into multisensory research. The current research aims to investigate previously developed theories on trust in relation to vocal pitch, fWHR, and sentence content in a multimodal setting. Twenty-six female participants were asked to judge the trustworthiness of a voice speaking a neutral or romantic sentence while seeing a face. The average pitch of the voice and the fWHR were varied systematically. Results indicate that the content of the spoken message was an important predictor of trustworthiness extending into multimodality. Further, the mean pitch of the voice and fWHR of the face appeared to be useful indicators in a multimodal setting. These effects interacted with one another across modalities. The data demonstrate that trust in the voice is shaped by task-irrelevant visual stimuli. Future research is encouraged to clarify whether these findings remain consistent across genders, age groups, and languages.

Emotional distraction and facilitation across sense and time.

Emotional stimuli can disrupt or enhance task performance according to factors that are presently poorly understood. One potentially important determinant is the sensory modality involved. In unimodal visual paradigms (visual task-irrelevant stimuli during a visual task) emotional stimuli frequently produce distraction effects; however, the effects across modalities appear more complex and may also depend on factors related to stimulus timing. It is entirely unclear how task-irrelevant visual stimuli impact auditory task performance in cross-modal paradigms. This project explored task performance as a function of sensory modality, emotional valence, and stimulus timing. In Study 1, participants (N = 50) completed a visual stimulus detection task in the presence of task-irrelevant negative and neutral images and sounds. Accuracy was disrupted in the presence of visual but not auditory emotional stimuli, particularly when the target and task-irrelevant stimulus appeared simultaneously. In Study 2, participants (N = 38) completed an equivalent auditory stimulus detection task. In sharp contrast to the effects observed with visual targets, response times and accuracy were enhanced in the presence of auditory emotional stimuli at the first timepoint but disrupted at later timepoints. However, there was no effect of task-irrelevant visual stimuli on auditory task performance. These findings demonstrate the importance of both sensory modality and timing in determining how emotional stimuli affect task performance and lay the groundwork for future studies examining the interaction between emotional and attentional processes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Dissociable neural correlates of multisensory coherence and selective attention.

Previous work has demonstrated that performance in an auditory selective attention task can be enhanced or impaired, depending on whether a task-irrelevant visual stimulus is temporally coherent with a target auditory stream or with a competing distractor. However, it remains unclear how audiovisual (AV) temporal coherence and auditory selective attention interact at the neurophysiological level. Here, we measured neural activity using electroencephalography (EEG) while human participants (men and women) performed an auditory selective attention task, detecting deviants in a target audio stream. The amplitude envelope of the two competing auditory streams changed independently, while the radius of a visual disc was manipulated to control the audiovisual coherence. Analysis of the neural responses to the sound envelope demonstrated that auditory responses were enhanced independently of the attentional condition: both target and masker stream responses were enhanced when temporally coherent with the visual stimulus. In contrast, attention enhanced the event-related response (ERP) evoked by the transient deviants, independently of AV coherence. Finally, in an exploratory analysis, we identified a spatiotemporal component of ERP, in which temporal coherence enhanced the deviant-evoked responses only in the unattended stream. These results provide evidence for dissociable neural signatures of bottom-up (coherence) and top-down (attention) effects in AV object formation.Significance StatementTemporal coherence between auditory stimuli and task-irrelevant visual stimuli can enhance behavioral performance in auditory selective attention tasks. However, how audiovisual temporal coherence and attention interact at the neural level has not been established. Here, we measured EEG during a behavioral task designed to independently manipulate AV coherence and auditory selective attention. While some auditory features (sound envelope) could be coherent with visual stimuli, other features (timbre) were independent of visual stimuli. We find that audiovisual integration can be observed independently of attention for sound envelopes temporally coherent with visual stimuli, while the neural responses to unexpected timbre changes are most strongly modulated by attention. Our results provide evidence for dissociable neural mechanisms of bottom-up (coherence) and top-down (attention) effects on AV object formation.

Reconstructing sources location of visual color cortex by the task-irrelevant visual stimuli through machine learning decoding

Visual color sensing is generated by electrical discharges from endocranial neuronal sources that penetrate the skull and reach to the cerebral cortex. However, the space location of the source generated by this neural mechanism remains elusive. In this paper, we emulate the generation of visual color signal by task-irrelevant stimuli to activate brain neurons, where its consequences over the cerebral cortex is experimentally tracked. We first document the changes to brain color sensing using electroencephalography (EEG), and find that the sensing classification accuracy of primary visual cortex (V1) regions was positively correlated with the space correlation of visual evoked potential (VEP) power distribution under machine learning decoding. We then explore the decoded results to trace the brain activity neural source location of EEG inversion problem and assess its reconstructive possibility. We show that visual color EEG in V1 can reconstruct endocranial neuronal source location, through the machine learning decoding of channel location.

Face and emotional expression processing under continuous perceptual load tasks: An ERP study

High perceptual load is thought to impair already the early stages of visual processing of task-irrelevant visual stimuli. However, recent studies showed no effects of perceptual load on early ERPs in response to task-irrelevant emotional faces. In this preregistered EEG study (N = 40), we investigated the effects of continuous perceptual load on ERPs to fearful and neutral task-irrelevant faces and their phase-scrambled versions. Perceptual load did not modulate face or emotion effects for the P1 or N170. In contrast, larger face-scramble and fearful-neutral differentiation were found during low as compared to high load for the Early Posterior Negativity (EPN). Further, face-independent P1, but face-dependent N170 emotional modulations were observed. Taken together, our findings show that P1 and N170 face and emotional modulations are highly resistant to load manipulations, indicating a high degree of automaticity during this processing stage, whereas the EPN might represent a bottleneck in visual information processing.

Incidental Categorization of Vibrotactile Stimuli.

Past research has demonstrated incidental learning of task-irrelevant visual and auditory stimuli. Motivated by the possibility of similar evidence in the tactile domain and potential applications in tactile speech communication systems, we investigated incidental categorization of vibrotactile stimuli through a visuomotor task of shape identification. Two experiments were conducted where participants were exposed to position-based or movement-based vibrotactile stimuli prior to performing a speeded response to one of two targets. The two experiments differed only in the particular sets of such stimuli employed. Unbeknownst to the participants, the vibrotactile stimuli and visual targets were initially correlated perfectly to facilitate the incidental learning of their associations, briefly uncorrelated to check the cost in reaction time, and correlated again to re-establish the initial association. Finally, participants were asked to predict visual targets from novel position-based and movement-based stimuli. The results from both experiments provided evidence of incidental categorization of vibrotactile stimuli. The percent-correct scores and sensitivity indices for the overt categorization of novel stimuli from both experiments were well above chance, indicating generalization of learning. And while both experiments showed an increase in reaction time when the association between vibrotactile stimuli and visual targets was disrupted, this reaction time cost was significant only for the stimuli used in the second experiment. Our finding of incidental categorization in the tactile domain has important implications for the effective acquisition of speech in tactile speech communication systems.

USEFUL FIELD OF VIEW AND DRIVING SIMULATION ACROSS TWO AGE GROUPS

The Insurance Information Institute (2017) reports that drivers aged 65 and older have the second highest rate of fatal car crashes. Research with the useful field of view (UFOV) assessment has predicted crashes in older drivers (Ball, 2006). “UFOV is defined as the area from which an individual can extract information quickly without head or eye movement” (Posit Science, 2019). Research demonstrates that older drivers are limited by poorer vision, divided attention and the inability to ignore distractions, and slower reaction time to critical stimuli (Owsley et al. 1998). As a result UFOV is an effective variable in assessing driver safety. We hypothesized that older compared to younger drivers would be less likely to inhibit attention to task irrelevant visual stimuli while engaged in a simulated driving task. Participants were community dwelling older adults and students recruited from a research pool and through word of mouth. Participants completed a series of demographic and health questions, Snellen visual acuity test a series of cognitive measures (e. g., Trails 1 and 2, digit symbol, digit span) and the UFOV assessment. Participants completed a driving simulation task while information on driving performance: number of collisions, speed limit deviations, turn signal use, time spent tailgating another vehicle, and braking reaction times. ANOVA demonstrated that as hypothesized, younger participants had significantly lower UFOV risk scores (p = .000). Older adults’ (M = 2.15, SD = .945) and younger adults’ (M = 1, SD = 0).

Gaze interaction: anticipation-based control of the gaze of others.

Gaze control is an important component of social communication, e.g. to direct someone's attention. While previous research on gaze interaction has mainly focused on the gaze recipient by asking how humans respond to perceived gaze (gaze cueing), we address the actor's point of view by asking how actors control their own eye movements to trigger a gaze response in others. Specifically, we investigate whether gaze responses of a (virtual) interaction partner are anticipated and thereby affect oculomotor control. Building on a pre-established paradigm for addressing anticipation-based motor control in non-social contexts, participants were instructed to alternately look at two faces on the screen, which consistently responded to the participant's gaze with either direct or averted gaze. We tested whether this gaze response of the targeted face is already anticipated prior to the participant's eye movement by displaying a task-irrelevant visual stimulus (prior to the execution of the target saccade), which was either congruent, incongruent, or unrelated to the subsequently perceived gaze. In addition to schematic and photographic faces, we included conditions involving changes in non-social objects. Overall, we observed congruency effects (as an indicator of anticipation of the virtual other's gaze response to one's own gaze) for both social and non-social stimuli, but only when the perceived changes were sufficiently salient. Temporal dynamics of the congruency effects were comparable for social and non-social stimuli, suggesting that similar mechanisms underlie anticipation-based oculomotor control. The results support recent theoretical claims emphasizing the role of anticipation-based action control in social interaction.

The effects of visual distractors on cognitive load in a motor imagery brain-computer interface

A brain-computer interface (BCI) is a system that translates neural activity into a practical output. Its functionality, therefore, depends not only on the computer itself, but also on the cognitive system of the user. Distractors have the potential to capture attention, increase cognitive load, and may therefore impact BCI use. The purpose of the current study is to determine the effects of small visual distractors on the cognitive load of users of a motor imagery-BCI, and to examine whether these distractor-mediated effects can be improved by modifying the task interface. Sixteen typically-developed participants completed two sessions of online motor imagery to control an EEG-BCI, under conditions of no distractors, visual distractors, and cognitive strategies (intended to mitigate cognitive load) amid distractors. Cognitive load for each session was assessed through both a ratio of theta to alpha power and the NASA-Task Load Index (NASA-TLX). Task-irrelevant visual stimuli were found to significantly increase the objective measure of cognitive load, particularly for parietal channels. Subjective cognitive load as indexed by the NASA-TLX was predictive of a decrease in BCI performance for participants with below 0.75 classification accuracy (R2 = 0.32, p < 0.001), which may indicate a differential susceptibility to changes in workload for “low”-performing participants. Quantifying and addressing the increased cognitive load imparted by distractors on BCI users can aid in the future applicability of the technology in real-world settings.

Visual and Proprioceptive Influences on Tactile Spatial Processing in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) often exhibit altered representations of the external world. Consistently, when localizing touch, children with ASDs were less influenced than their peers by changes of the stimulated limb's location in external space [Wada et al., Scientific Reports 2015, 4(1), 5985]. However, given the protracted development of an external-spatial dominance in tactile processing in typically developing children, this difference might reflect a developmental delay rather than a set suppression of external space in ASDs. Here, adults with ASDs and matched control-participants completed (a) the tactile temporal order judgment (TOJ) task previously used to test external-spatial representation of touch in children with ASDs and (b) a tactile-visual cross-modal congruency (CC) task which assesses benefits of task-irrelevant visual stimuli on tactile localization in external space. In both experiments, participants localized tactile stimuli to the fingers of each hand, while holding their hands either crossed or uncrossed. Performance differences between hand postures reflect the influence of external-spatial codes. In both groups, tactile TOJ-performance markedly decreased when participants crossed their hands and CC-effects were especially large if the visual stimulus was presented at the same side of external space as the task-relevant touch. The absence of group differences was statistically confirmed using Bayesian statistical modeling: adults with ASDs weighted external-spatial codes comparable to typically developed adults during tactile and visual-tactile spatio-temporal tasks. Thus, atypicalities in the spatial coding of touch for children with ASDs appear to reflect a developmental delay rather than a stable characteristic of ASD. Autism Res 2019, 12: 1745-1757. © 2019 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: A touched limb's location can be described twofold, with respect to the body (right hand) or the external world (right side). Children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) reportedly rely less than their peers on the external world. Here, adults with and without ASDs completed two tactile localization tasks. Both groups relied to the same degree on external world locations. This opens the possibility that the tendency to relate touch to the external world is typical in individuals with ASDs but emerges with a delay.

Ventral midbrain stimulation induces perceptual learning and cortical plasticity in primates

Practice improves perception and enhances neural representations of trained visual stimuli, a phenomenon known as visual perceptual learning (VPL). While attention to task-relevant stimuli plays an important role in such learning, Pavlovian stimulus-reinforcer associations are sufficient to drive VPL, even subconsciously. It has been proposed that reinforcement facilitates perceptual learning through the activation of neuromodulatory centers, but this has not been directly confirmed in primates. Here, we paired task-irrelevant visual stimuli with microstimulation of a dopaminergic center, the ventral tegmental area (VTA), in macaques. Pairing VTA microstimulation with a task-irrelevant visual stimulus increased fMRI activity and improved classification of fMRI activity patterns selectively for the microstimulation-paired stimulus. Moreover, pairing VTA microstimulation with a task-irrelevant visual stimulus improved the subject’s capacity to discriminate that stimulus. This is the first causal demonstration of the role of neuromodulatory centers in VPL in primates.

Peripersonal Space: An Index of Multisensory Body–Environment Interactions in Real, Virtual, and Mixed Realities

Human-environment interactions normally occur in the physical milieu, and thus by medium of the body and within the space immediately adjacent to and surrounding the body; the peri-personal space (PPS). However, human interactions increasingly occur with or within virtual environments, and hence novel approaches and metrics must be developed to index human-environment interactions in virtual reality (VR). Here we present a multisensory task that measures the spatial extent of human PPS in real, virtual, and augmented realities. We validated it in a mixed reality ecosystem in which real environment and virtual objects are blended together in order to administer and control visual, auditory, and tactile stimuli in ecologically valid conditions. Within this mixed-reality environment, participants are asked to respond as fast as possible to tactile stimuli on their body, while task-irrelevant visual or audio-visual stimuli approach their body. Results demonstrate that, in analogy with observations derived from monkey electrophysiology and in real environmental surroundings, tactile detection is enhanced when visual or auditory stimuli are close to the body, and not when far from it. We then calculate the location where this multisensory facilitation occurs as a proxy of the boundary of PPS. We observe that mapping of PPS via audio-visual, as opposed to visual alone, looming stimuli results in sigmoidal fits – allowing for the bifurcation between near and far space – with greater goodness of fit. In sum, our approach is able to capture the boundaries of PPS on a spatial continuum, at the individual-subject level, and within a fully controlled and previously laboratory-validated setup, while maintaining the richness and ecological validity of real-life events. The task can therefore be applied to study the properties of peri-personal space in humans and to index the features governing human-environment interactions in virtual or mixed reality. We propose PPS as an ecologically valid and neurophysiologically established metric in the study of the impact of VR and related technologies on society and individuals.

The spatio-temporal profile of multisensory integration.

Task-irrelevant visual stimuli can enhance auditory perception. However, while there is some neurophysiological evidence for mechanisms that underlie the phenomenon, the neural basis of visually induced effects on auditory perception remains unknown. Combining fMRI and EEG with psychophysical measurements in two independent studies, we identified the neural underpinnings and temporal dynamics of visually induced auditory enhancement. Lower- and higher-intensity sounds were paired with a non-informative visual stimulus, while participants performed an auditory detection task. Behaviourally, visual co-stimulation enhanced auditory sensitivity. Using fMRI, enhanced BOLD signals were observed in primary auditory cortex for low-intensity audiovisual stimuli which scaled with subject-specific enhancement in perceptual sensitivity. Concordantly, a modulation of event-related potentials could already be observed over frontal electrodes at an early latency (30-80ms), which again scaled with subject-specific behavioural benefits. Later modulations starting around 280ms, that is in the time range of the P3, did not fit this pattern of brain-behaviour correspondence. Hence, the latency of the corresponding fMRI-EEG brain-behaviour modulation points at an early interplay of visual and auditory signals in low-level auditory cortex, potentially mediated by crosstalk at the level of the thalamus. However, fMRI signals in primary auditory cortex, auditory thalamus and the P50 for higher-intensity auditory stimuli were also elevated by visual co-stimulation (in the absence of any behavioural effect) suggesting a general, intensity-independent integration mechanism. We propose that this automatic interaction occurs at the level of the thalamus and might signify a first step of audiovisual interplay necessary for visually induced perceptual enhancement of auditory perception.

Peripersonal space boundaries around the lower limbs

Neurophysiological investigations in non-human primates have shown that bi- and tri-modal fronto-parietal neurons exist that respond to touch on the body and visual (and/or auditory) stimuli near the body. The receptive fields of these neurons extend into space around the body, producing a zone wherein multisensory information is readily integrated. This space around the body, known as peripersonal space (PPS), has also been investigated behaviourally in humans. Some studies have focused on how far into depth the spatial boundaries of PPS extend. Most of these investigations have focused on the upper body (e.g., hands, face, trunk), while little is known about the size of PPS for the lower body (i.e. legs and feet). Thus, the aim of the current study was to delineate a PPS boundary around the lower limbs in healthy participants using a multisensory interaction task. Participants made speeded responses to the presence of vibrations applied to the toes while a task-irrelevant visual stimulus approached towards (Experiment 1) or receded from (Experiment 2) the feet. Participants responded significantly faster to tactile stimuli when the visual stimulus was within approximately 73 cm from the feet, but only when it approached (and not receded from) the legs. This is the first study, to our knowledge, to outline the size of PPS for the lower limbs. These findings could provide insight into the mechanisms underlying multisensory integration in the lower limbs, and add to the current body of knowledge on PPS representations.

Inhibition in movement plan competition: reach trajectories curve away from remembered and task-irrelevant present but not from task-irrelevant past visual stimuli.

The current study investigated the role of automatic encoding and maintenance of remembered, past, and present visual distractors for reach movement planning. The previous research on eye movements showed that saccades curve away from locations actively kept in working memory and also from task-irrelevant perceptually present visual distractors, but not from task-irrelevant past distractors. Curvature away has been associated with an inhibitory mechanism resolving the competition between multiple active movement plans. Here, we examined whether reach movements underlie a similar inhibitory mechanism and thus show systematic modulation of reach trajectories when the location of a previously presented distractor has to be (a) maintained in working memory or (b) ignored, or (c) when the distractor is perceptually present. Participants performed vertical reach movements on a computer monitor from a home to a target location. Distractors appeared laterally and near or far from the target (equidistant from central fixation). We found that reaches curved away from the distractors located close to the target when the distractor location had to be memorized and when it was perceptually present, but not when the past distractor had to be ignored. Our findings suggest that automatically encoding present distractors and actively maintaining the location of past distractors in working memory evoke a similar response competition resolved by inhibition, as has been previously shown for saccadic eye movements.

Action preparation modulates sensory perception in unseen personal space: An electrophysiological investigation

Behavioural and electrophysiological evidence has demonstrated that preparation of goal-directed actions modulates sensory perception at the goal location before the action is executed. However, previous studies have focused on sensory perception in areas of peripersonal space. The present study investigated visual and tactile sensory processing at the goal location of upcoming movements towards the body, much of which is not visible, as well as visible peripersonal space. A motor task cued participants to prepare a reaching movement towards goals either in peripersonal space in front of them or personal space on the upper chest. In order to assess modulations of sensory perception during movement preparation, event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded in response to task-irrelevant visual and tactile probe stimuli delivered randomly at one of the goal locations of the movements. In line with previous neurophysiological findings, movement preparation modulated visual processing at the goal of a movement in peripersonal space. Movement preparation also modulated somatosensory processing at the movement goal in personal space. The findings demonstrate that tactile perception in personal space is subject to similar top-down sensory modulation by motor preparation as observed for visual stimuli presented in peripersonal space. These findings show for the first time that the principles and mechanisms underlying adaptive modulation of sensory processing in the context of action extend to tactile perception in unseen personal space.

Normal aging increases postural preparation errors: Evidence from a two-choice response task with balance constraints

Correlational studies indicate an association between age-related decline in balance and cognitive control, but these functions are rarely addressed within a single task. In this study, we investigate adult age differences in a two-choice response task with balance constraints under three levels of response conflict. Sixteen healthy young (20–30years) and 16 healthy older adult participants (59–74years) were cued symbolically (letter L vs. R) to lift either the left or the right foot from the floor in a standing position. Response conflict was manipulated by task-irrelevant visual stimuli showing congruent, incongruent, or no foot lift movement. Preparatory weight shifts (PWS) and foot lift movements were recorded using force plates and optical motion capture. Older adults showed longer response times (foot lift) and more PWS errors than younger adults. Incongruent distractors interfered with performance (greater response time and PWS errors), but this compatibility effect did not reliably differ between age groups. Response time effects of age and compatibility were strongly reduced or absent in trials without PWS errors, and for the onset of the first (erroneous) PWS in trials with preparation error. In addition, in older adults only, compatibility effects in the foot lift task correlated significantly with compatibility effects in the Flanker task. The present results strongly suggest that adult age differences in response latencies in a task with balance constraints are related to age-associated increases in postural preparation errors rather than being an epiphenomenon of general slowing.

Intense Physical Exercise Reduces Overt Attentional Capture.

The abrupt onset of a visual stimulus typically results in overt attentional capture, which can be quantified by saccadic eye movements. Here, we tested whether attentional capture following onset of task-irrelevant visual stimuli (new object) is reduced after a bout of intense physical exercise. A group of participants performed a visual search task in two different activity conditions: rest, without any prior effort, and effort, immediately after an acute bout of intense exercise. The results showed that participants exhibited (1) slower reaction time of the first saccade toward the target when a new object was simultaneously presented in the visual field, but only in the rest activity condition, and (2) more saccades to the new object in the rest activity condition than in the effort activity condition. We suggest that immediately after an acute bout of effort, participants improved their ability to inhibit irrelevant (distracting) stimuli.

Visual processing at goal and effector locations is dynamically enhanced during motor preparation

Previous theoretical and experimental works has shown that preparing to act causes enhanced perceptual processing at movement-relevant locations. Up until now, this has focused almost exclusively on the goal of an action, neglecting the role of the effector. We addressed this by measuring changes in visual processing across time during motor preparation at both goal and effector locations.We compared event related potentials (ERPs) elicited by task-irrelevant visual probe stimuli at both goal and effector locations during motor preparation. Participants were instructed to place their hands on two starting positions (effector locations) and an auditory tone instructed them to immediately move to one of two target buttons (goal locations). Probe stimuli were presented in the interval between the offset of the cue and the execution of the movement at either a goal or an effector location. Probes were presented randomly at either 100ms, 200ms or 300ms after the auditory cue.Analysis of the visual N1 ERP showed enhanced visual processing at moving vs. not-moving goal locations across all three SOAs. At effector locations, enhanced processing for the moving vs. not-moving effector was only observed during the middle (200ms) SOA.These results demonstrate, for the first time, simultaneous perceptual enhancement of goal and effector locations during motor preparation. We interpret these results as reflecting a temporally and spatially specific dynamic attentional map of the environment that adapts to maximise efficiency of movement by selectively weighting processing of multiple functional components of action in parallel.

Effects of task-irrelevant emotional stimuli on working memory processes in mild cognitive impairment.

Research suggests generally impaired cognitive control functions in working memory (WM) processes in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and incipient Alzheimer's disease (AD). Little is known how emotional salience of task-irrelevant stimuli may modulate cognitive control of WM performance and neurofunctional activation in MCI and AD individuals. We investigated the impact of emotional task-irrelevant visual stimuli on cortical activation during verbal WM. Twelve AD/MCI individuals and 12 age-matched healthy individuals performed a verbal WM (nback-) task with task-irrelevant emotionally neutral and emotionally negative background pictures during fMRI measurement. AD/MCI individuals showed decreased WM performance compared with controls; both AD/MCI and control groups reacted slower during presentation of negative pictures, regardless of WM difficulty. The AD/MCI group showed increased activation in the left hemispheric prefrontal network, higher amygdala and less cerebellar activation with increasing WM task difficulty compared to healthy controls. Correlation analysis between neurofunctional activation and WM performance revealed a negative correlation between task sensitivity and activation in the dorsal anterior cingulum for the healthy controls but not for the AD/MCI group. Our data suggest compensatory activation in prefrontal cortex and amygdala, but also dysfunctional inhibition of distracting information in the AD/MCI group during higher WM task difficulty. Additionally, attentional processes affecting the correlation between WM performance and neurofunctional activation seem to be different between incipient AD and healthy aging.