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Opposite effects of perceptual and working memory load on perceptual filling-in of an artificial scotoma.

ABSTRACT: A target presented on a background of dynamic noise disappears from awareness after a few seconds of maintained peripheral viewing. Whereas the effects of bottom-up factors in such filling-in are well documented, the roles of different top-down functions remain relatively unexplored. Here, we investigated the roles of attention and working memory (WM) by manipulating load in concurrent tasks while participants reported filling-in of a peripheral target. In Experiment 1, increasing perceptual load reduced the probability of filling-in and increased the latency of its occurrence. In Experiment 2, increasing WM load shortened the time before filling-in occurred--the opposite effect to increasing perceptual load. These results demonstrate that different top-down functions may have dissociable effects on filling-in.

SUBMITTER: Weil RS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4948677 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Opposite effects of perceptual and working memory load on perceptual filling-in of an artificial scotoma.

Weil Rimona S RS Wykes Victoria V Carmel David D Rees Geraint G

Cognitive neuroscience 20111010 1

A target presented on a background of dynamic noise disappears from awareness after a few seconds of maintained peripheral viewing. Whereas the effects of bottom-up factors in such filling-in are well documented, the roles of different top-down functions remain relatively unexplored. Here, we investigated the roles of attention and working memory (WM) by manipulating load in concurrent tasks while participants reported filling-in of a peripheral target. In Experiment 1, increasing perceptual loa ...[more]

PMID: 24168648

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