Working Memory Content Is Distorted by Its Use in Perceptual Comparisons
研究发现，当人们将新视觉输入与工作记忆中的表征进行比较时，比较过程会扭曲记忆报告，尤其当输入与记忆主观相似时，这种扭曲源于表征整合而非偶然混淆。
Visual information around us is rarely static. To perform a task in such a dynamic environment, we often have to compare current visual input with our working memory (WM) representation of the immediate past. However, little is known about what happens to a WM representation when it is compared with perceptual input. To test this, we asked young adults ( N = 170 total in three experiments) to compare a new visual input with a WM representation prior to reporting the WM representation. We found that the perceptual comparison biased the WM report, especially when the input was subjectively similar to the WM representation. Furthermore, using computational modeling and individual-differences analyses, we found that this similarity-induced memory bias was driven by representational integration, rather than incidental confusion, between the WM representation and subjectively similar input. Together, our findings highlight a novel source of WM distortion and suggest a general mechanism that determines how WM interacts with new visual input.