title: Opposite effects of perceptual and working memory load on perceptual filling-in of an artificial scotoma.
abstract: A target presented on a background of dynamic noise disappears from awareness after a few seconds of maintained peripheral viewing. Whereas the effects of bottom-up factors in such filling-in are well documented, the roles of different top-down functions remain relatively unexplored. Here, we investigated the roles of attention and working memory (WM) by manipulating load in concurrent tasks while participants reported filling-in of a peripheral target. In Experiment 1, increasing perceptual load reduced the probability of filling-in and increased the latency of its occurrence. In Experiment 2, increasing WM load shortened the time before filling-in occurred--the opposite effect to increasing perceptual load. These results demonstrate that different top-down functions may have dissociable effects on filling-in.
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, 12 Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UK.|Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, Alexandra House, 17 Queen Square, London WC1N 3AR, UK.
authors.forename: Rimona S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Weil
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, Alexandra House, 17 Queen Square, London WC1N 3AR, UK.
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Wykes
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, Alexandra House, 17 Queen Square, London WC1N 3AR, UK.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Carmel
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, 12 Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UK.|Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, Alexandra House, 17 Queen Square, London WC1N 3AR, UK.
authors.forename: Geraint
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rees