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A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions
Published on: July 16, 2015
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Neural interactions in working memory explain decreased recall precision and similarity-based feature repulsion
Jeffrey S Johnson1,2, Amanda E van Lamsweerde3,4, Evelina Dineva5
1Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University, Dept. 2765, P.O. Box 6050, Fargo, ND, 58108, USA. jeffrey.s.johnson@ndsu.edu.
Scientific Reports
|October 22, 2022
Summary
Visual working memory (WM) for colors shows repulsion bias between similar items, indicating interaction during active maintenance. Neurodynamical models with lateral inhibition explain these WM biases.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Computational Modeling
Background:
- Working memory (WM) research traditionally assumed independent storage of visual features.
- Emerging evidence suggests interactions between items during active maintenance in WM.
- Systematic biases in WM recall challenge the independent storage hypothesis.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate repulsion biases between metrically similar colors in visual working memory.
- To examine the storage resolution of similar versus unique colors in WM.
- To develop and test neurodynamical models explaining WM interactions.
Main Methods:
- Conducted two experiments measuring recall of colors in WM.
- Quantitatively simulated two novel neurodynamical models of WM.
- Incorporated lateral inhibition and spatial pathways in model simulations.
Main Results:
- Replicated repulsion bias between metrically similar colors in WM.
- Observed lower storage resolution for similar colors compared to unique colors.
- Model simulations successfully reproduced empirical findings with specific neural interactions.
Conclusions:
- Items in visual working memory interact, challenging independent storage models.
- Lateral inhibition in neural networks can explain observed WM biases.
- Elaborated spatial pathways and sequential encoding are crucial for accurate WM modeling.
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