Interference of Dynamic Visual Noise on encoding visual information in working memory

Abstract

We aimed to compare the effects of the Dynamic Visual Noise (DVN) on visual memory when presented at different times in an item recognition task either during information encoding, retention interval or throughout the trial. Noise had general effect on participants' performance with stronger impairment on stimuli encoding. The data suggest that visual memory is accessed through perception and, therefore, it suffers external interference, as the one caused by the DVN. We consider that the effect occurred while the information was being kept in consciousness by a specifi c short-term storage subsystem. These results contribute to the understanding of the architecture used by the visual working memory and show that the DVN is an appropriate technique to study the visual memory. Keywords: Dynamic visual noise, working memory, visual memory. ResumoO objetivo deste estudo foi comparar os efeitos do Ruído Visual Dinâmico (RVD) na memória visual quando apresentado em uma tarefa de reconhecimento de item durante a codifi cação da informação, no intervalo de retenção ou durante toda a prova. O ruído ocasionou maior interferência na memória quando apresentado durante a codifi cação do estímulo. Os dados sugerem que a memória visual é acessada via percepção, por isto, sofre interferência externa como a causada pelo RVD. Sugere--se que o efeito ocorreu enquanto a informação era mantida na consciência por um subsistema de armazenamento de curto prazo. Estes resultados contribuem para a compreensão da arquitetura da memória de trabalho e mostram que o RVD é uma técnica apropriada para estudar a memória visual. Palavras-chave: Ruído visual dinâmico, memória de trabalho, memória visual.

Anomalous visual experience is linked to perceptual uncertainty and visual imagery vividness

“…Interestingly, our correlation between pareidolia proneness and imagery vividness holds in both static and dynamic noise displays. Dynamic visual noise (DVN) has been used in previous studies to try to disrupt imagery, with varying success (Andrade et al, 2002;Avons & Sestieri, 2005;Quinn & McConnell, 1996;Santana et al, 2013). The idea is that bombarding the visual system with irrelevant noise can potentially interfere with image formation and/or retention.…”

“…Second, our DVN persisted for several minutes, which is much longer than the noise presented in previous studies (a few seconds, at most). Presenting DVN at a critical time window (during image formation, for example) may enhance interference effects (Santana et al, 2013), but subjects in our experiment had as much time as they wanted to form and retain an image. Although we do not know exactly how long DVN must persist for this "resistance-to-interference" effect to occur, it would be interesting for future studies using DVN to investigate these more fine-grained temporal aspects.…”

Human memory research: Current hypotheses and new perspectives

“…For example, the DVN has no significant effects on recognition of Chinese characters (Andrade et al, 2002) or on recognition of randomly filled matrices (Avons & Sestieri, 2005), although it may affect the confidence of participants on the accuracy of their recognition judgments (Kemps & Andrade, 2012). In other studies, the DVN affected performance in recognition tasks for the exact size of circles (McConnell & Quinn, 2003), color shades (Dent, 2010;Pereira & Galera, n.d.), texture (Dean, Dewhurst, & Whittaker, 2008) and graphical fonts (Darling, Della Sala, & Logie, 2009;Santana, Godoy, Farias, Ferreira, & Galera, 2013).…”

“…However, it does not explain why DVN impairs recognition of some types of stimuli, while leaving others unaffected. Differences between effects of DVN on memory tasks with more complex stimuli, such as Chinese characters or geometric patterns (Andrade et al, 2002;Avons & Sestieri, 2005), and tasks that rely on recall of size, color or shape details (Darling et al, 2009;Dent, 2010;McConnell & Quinn, 2004;Pereira & Galera, n.d.;Santana et al, 2013) have yet to be explained. Quinn (2012) suggests that different systems may be involved in the storage of these two broad types of stimuli.…”

A recuperação da informação da memória de trabalho: evidências baseadas em tarefas de imagem mental e de memória visual

“…Por exemplo, o RVD não tem efeitos significativos no reconhecimento de caracteres chineses (Andrade et al, 2002) ou de matrizes preenchidas aleatoriamente (Avons & Sestieri, 2005), embora possa afetar a confiança que os participantes têm sobre a acurácia de suas respostas (Kemps & Andrade, 2012). Em outros estudos o RVD afetou o desempenho em tarefas de reconhecimento para o tamanho exato de círculos (McConnell & Quinn, 2003), para tons de cores (Dent, 2010;Pereira & Galera, n.d.), detalhes de textura (Dean, Dewhurst, & Whittaker, 2008) e para fontes gráficas (Darling, Della Sala, & Logie, 2007Santana, Godoy, Ferreira, & Galera, 2014).…”