Abstract
The mere presence of irrelevant external stimuli results in interference with the fidelity of details retrieved from long-term memory (LTM). Recent studies suggest that distractibility during LTM retrieval occurs when the focus of resource-limited, top-down mechanisms that guide the selection of relevant mnemonic details is disrupted by representations of external distractors. We review findings from four studies that reveal distractibility during episodic retrieval. The approach cued participants to recall previously studied visual details when their eyes were closed, or were open and irrelevant visual information was present. The results showed a negative impact of the distractors on the fidelity of details retrieved from LTM. An fMRI experiment using the same paradigm replicated the behavioral results and found that diminished episodic memory was associated with the disruption of functional connectivity in whole-brain networks. Specifically, network connectivity supported recollection of details based on visual imagery when eyes were closed, but connectivity declined in the presence of visual distractors. Another experiment using auditory distractors found equivalent effects for auditory and visual distraction during cued recall, suggesting that the negative impact of distractibility is a domain-general phenomenon in LTM. Comparisons between older and younger adults revealed an aging-related increase in the negative impact of distractibility on retrieval of LTM. Finally, a new study that compared categorization abilities between younger and older adults suggests a cause underlying age-related decline of visual details in LTM. The sum of our findings suggests that cognitive control resources, although limited, have the capability to resolve interference from distractors during tasks of moderate effort, but these resources are overwhelmed when additional processes associated with episodic retrieval, or categorization of complex prototypes, are required.
Highlights
A growing body of research shows that the presence of irrelevant information, which is a common factor in our real-world environment, diminishes performance in visual working memory (WM) (Rainer et al, 1998; Lavie, 2005; Zanto and Gazzaley, 2009; Clapp et al, 2010) and in the retrieval of details from long-term memory (LTM) (Wais et al, 2010, 2012a; Wais and Gazzaley, 2011)
We examined the effects of distraction on categorization abilities in both younger and older adults, using an adaptive staircase approach to assess participants’ discrimination of morphed prototype images in conditions with and without visual distractors (Wais and Gazzaley, in revision)
The results showed that young adults’ categorization performance was not affected by visual distraction, whereas older adults were susceptible to distraction during categorization
Summary
A growing body of research shows that the presence of irrelevant information, which is a common factor in our real-world environment, diminishes performance in visual working memory (WM) (Rainer et al, 1998; Lavie, 2005; Zanto and Gazzaley, 2009; Clapp et al, 2010) and in the retrieval of details from long-term memory (LTM) (Wais et al, 2010, 2012a; Wais and Gazzaley, 2011). We hypothesized that because visual imagery in support of episodic retrieval utilizes the same limitedcapacity lateral occipital cortex (LOC) buffers that are involved in processing external visual stimuli (De Fockert et al, 2001; Lavie, 2005), as well as overlapping cognitive control networks (Blumenfeld and Ranganath, 2006), visual stimulation during a retrieval effort would disrupt the access to or fidelity of details about a prior experience stored in LTM This may be the driving force behind common acts of looking away or closing one’s eyes when engaged in effortful recollection (Glenberg et al, 1998), reflexive efforts that may serve to block interference between irrelevant external information and recalling details from memory
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