Behavioral and Neural Mechanisms Underlying the Filtering of Emoji Distractors in Working Memory: An Event-Related...

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Emojis are increasingly used in digital communication as paralinguistic cues.
• Emojis are efficiently stored in working memory (WM).
• Mechanisms for filtering emojis as distractors in WM are not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the cognitive filtering of emojis as distractors in working memory.
• To examine the neural correlates of emoji filtering using event-related potentials.
• To explore the influence of emoji usage experience on filtering efficiency.

Main Methods:

• A working memory task using emojis as distractors.
• Behavioral measures including unnecessary storage (US).
• Event-related potentials (ERPs) measuring contralateral delay activity (CDA).

Main Results:

• Emojis were efficiently filtered as distractors, showing reduced unnecessary storage (US) and lower contralateral delay activity (CDA).
• A positive correlation between US and CDA was observed specifically in the emoji distractor condition.
• This correlation was more pronounced in high-frequency emoji users, indicating experience modulates filtering.

Conclusions:

• Emojis can be effectively filtered from working memory.
• Prior experience with emojis plays a significant role in cognitive processing and filtering efficiency.
• Findings highlight the interplay between digital communication tools and cognitive mechanisms.