Gayet Surya, van Maanen Leendert, Heilbron Micha, Paffen Chris L E, Van der Stigchel Stefan
Department of Experimental Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the
Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the
J Vis. 2016 Sep 1;16(11):26. doi: 10.1167/16.11.26.
The content of visual working memory (VWM) affects the processing of concurrent visual input. Recently, it has been demonstrated that stimuli are released from interocular suppression faster when they match rather than mismatch a color that is memorized for subsequent recall. In order to investigate the nature of the interaction between visual representations elicited by VWM and visual representations elicited by retinal input, we modeled the perceptual processes leading up to this difference in suppression durations. We replicated the VWM modulation of suppression durations, and fitted sequential sampling models (linear ballistic accumulators) to the response time data. Model comparisons revealed that the data was best explained by a decrease in threshold for visual input that matches the content of VWM. Converging evidence was obtained by fitting similar sequential sampling models (shifted Wald model) to published datasets. Finally, to confirm that the previously observed threshold difference reflected processes occurring before rather than after the stimuli were released from suppression, we applied the same procedure to the data of an experiment in which stimuli were not interocularly suppressed. Here, we found no decrease in threshold for stimuli that match the content of VWM. We discuss our findings in light of a preactivation hypothesis, proposing that matching visual input taps into the same neural substrate that is already activated by a representation concurrently maintained in VWM, thereby reducing its threshold for reaching visual awareness.
视觉工作记忆（VWM）的内容会影响对同时出现的视觉输入的处理。最近有研究表明，当刺激与为后续回忆而记忆的颜色相匹配而非不匹配时，它们从双眼抑制中释放得更快。为了探究由VWM引发的视觉表征与由视网膜输入引发的视觉表征之间相互作用的本质，我们对导致这种抑制持续时间差异的感知过程进行了建模。我们复制了抑制持续时间的VWM调制，并将序列采样模型（线性弹道累加器）拟合到反应时间数据上。模型比较表明，数据最好由与VWM内容匹配的视觉输入阈值降低来解释。通过将类似的序列采样模型（移位 Wald 模型）拟合到已发表的数据集上，获得了趋同的证据。最后，为了确认之前观察到的阈值差异反映的是刺激从抑制中释放之前而非之后发生的过程，我们将相同的程序应用于一个刺激未进行双眼抑制的实验数据。在此，我们发现与VWM内容匹配的刺激的阈值没有降低。我们根据预激活假说讨论了我们的发现，提出匹配的视觉输入利用了与VWM中同时维持的表征已经激活的相同神经基质，从而降低其达到视觉意识的阈值。
