The Cognitive Mechanism Of The Interference Effect Between Working Memory Representation And Perceptual Processing

The relationship between visual working memory (VWM) and visual perception has been widely studied. One theory ("Final-Output model") suggests that VWM is a higher-level processing stage subsequent to visual perception, and stores the final outputs of perception. However, other theory ("Interactive Model") emphasizes that perception and VWM are not two sequential processes. Instead, they are dynamically intertwined. Recent study revealed an influence of VWM content on time perception. However, it is not yet clear whether time perception can influence WM in an opposite direction and its internal mechanism. The present study tried to reveal the exact nature and possible mechanisms for the relationship between WM and perception by systematically investigating the bi-directional interference effects between WM and perception. Our study included five experiments. El used a double-task paradigm. After presenting a color-based VM task, a time comparison task including color information was introduced during the mnemonic retention and updating. A target stimulus in the time comparison task shared either same color (same-match condition) or similar color (similar-match condition) as the memorized color in VWM task. E2 only had time comparison task but no VWM requirement. E3 had VWM task, but color information in the perceptual task was merely exposed with no requirement of temporal encoding at all. E4 also used a dual task paradigm with the temporal task replaced by an orientation discrimination task with color information during the mnemonic maintain and refreshing. E5 is on the basis of E1, by adding a neutral baseline condition of’different’into the manipulation of color matching along with’same or similar’. Our results indicated:the accuracy of time comparison task in El was better in the similar-match condition relative to that in the same-match condition. This effect disappeared in E2, indicating it is a VM-dependent effect. Both El and E3 demonstrated that memory performance was better in the same-match condition relative to that in the similar-match condition, indicating that perceptual stimulus, even in a form of mere exposure without further temporal encoding, can interfere the color representations of VWM. In E4, the accuracy of the orientation discrimination task in the same condition is higher than that of the different condition. However, there were no significant differences between the same and similar conditions.In E5, the accuracy of time discrimination was higher in the condition of similar relative to the same and different conditions, indicating the effect found in E1 was due to a higher accuracy increase of the similar condition rather than a higher accuracy decrease of the same condition. We have following proposals based on above results that:The representations in VWM are not independent with those in visual perception. VWM and perception likely belong to a broader cognitive module with complex interactions between them. Furthermore, the mutual interference between VWM and perception is likely based on different cognitive mechanisms, e.g. a competition-interference mechanism and an inhibition-protection mechanism. During the updating and maintaining of the VWM representations, perceptual on-line representations can weaken the magnitude of VM representations, leading to reduced memory accuracy. This interference is likely due to competition between different representations and may act in an automatic way, e.g. only depending on mere exposure of similar information during the updating and maintenance of VWM. Differently, the similarity-induced modulation of VWM on time perception might belong to an inhibition-protection mechanism. Here, more attentional resource is likely to be allocated into perceptual task in order to inhibit the active competitions of representations and reduce uncertainty between different representations. This explanation can account for why the accuracy of time comparison was increased for the similar-match condition when perceptual processing is carried out in a sequential way in El and E5. Finally, our results provide supporting evidence to the ’interaction model of perception and working memory’.