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| Research article summary (published 13 Feb 2003): |
Signal strength determines the nature of the relationship between perception and working memory.
Full Abstract
Neurophysiological and behavioral studies have shown that perception and memory share neural substrates and functional properties. But are perception and the active working memory of a stimulus one and the same? To address this question in the spatial domain, we compared the percept and the working memory of the position of a target stimulus embedded within a surround of moving dots. Motion in a particular direction after the target's offset biased the memory of target location in the same direction. However, motion simultaneous with a high-contrast, perceptually strong target biased the percept of target location in the opposite direction. Thus, perception and working memory can be modified by motion in qualitatively different ways. Manipulations to strengthen the memory trace had no effect on the direction of the memory bias, indicating that memory signal strength can never equal that of the percept of a strong stimulus. However, the percept of a weak stimulus was biased in the direction of motion. Thus, although perception and working memory are not inherently different, they can differ behaviorally depending on the strength of the perceptual signal. Understanding how a changing surround biases neural representations in general, and postsensory processes in particular, can help one understand past reports of spatial mislocalization.
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Author information
Author/s: Sheth, Bhavin R (BR); Shimojo, Shinsuke (S);
Affiliation: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA. bhavin(-atsign-)caltech.edu
Journal and publication information
Publication Type: Journal Article
Journal: Journal of cognitive neuroscience (J Cogn Neurosci), published in United States. (Language: eng)
Reference: 2003-Feb; vol 15 (issue 2) : pp 173-84
Dates: Created 2003/04/04; Completed 2003/05/08; Revised 2004/11/17;
PMID: 12676055, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)
Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.
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