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Background white noise and speech facilitate visual working memory.

Sizhu Han1,2,3, Ruizhen Zhu3,4, Yixuan Ku1,2

  • 1Center for Brain and Mental Well-Being, Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.

The European Journal of Neuroscience
|September 12, 2021
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Background speech and white noise enhance visual working memory (WM) by increasing arousal levels. This study used a visual WM task and electrodermal activity (EDA) to confirm arousal

Keywords:
arousalbackground speechbackground white noiseretro-cuesvisual working memory

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience

Background:

  • Background speech is known to impair verbal working memory (WM).
  • Previous studies did not control for arousal differences between speech and white noise.
  • Arousal's role in the effects of background sounds on WM remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the influence of background speech versus white noise on visual WM.
  • To determine if arousal levels mediate the effects of background sounds on WM.

Main Methods:

  • Participants completed a visual WM task under conditions of background speech, white noise, or silence.
  • Electrodermal activity (EDA) was measured to assess participants' arousal levels.
  • Visual WM performance was compared across conditions and correlated with EDA changes.

Main Results:

  • Both background speech and white noise significantly improved visual WM performance compared to silence.
  • Performance improvements in both sound conditions correlated positively with changes in EDA.
  • These findings suggest arousal plays a key role in the observed WM enhancement.

Conclusions:

  • Background sounds, including speech and white noise, can facilitate visual WM.
  • The facilitative effect of background sounds on visual WM is mediated by increased arousal.
  • This research clarifies the role of arousal in auditory distraction and cognitive performance.