"Visual working memory contaminates perception" by Min-Suk Kang & Sang Wook Hong & Randolph Blake &Geoffrey F. Woodman

Summary

This research article investigates the interaction between visual working memory and visual perception. The authors demonstrate that visual working memory representations directly influence the perception of subsequently presented visual stimuli, specifically affecting the perception of motion direction. Using a motion repulsion paradigm and a series of carefully designed experiments, they rule out alternative explanations such as motion adaptation, eye movements, and visual priming. Their findings strongly suggest that visual working memory and visual perception share overlapping neural mechanisms, implying that information stored in working memory actively interacts with sensory processing, potentially affecting what we see.