Irrelevant visual stimuli present during a memory test diminish the fidelity of episodic details retrieved from long-term memory in younger adults¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r? · q3
Currency · newest study 2014 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? Episodic retrieval of object-count details was significantly reduced when visual distractors were present compared with eyes-closed and gray-screen conditions. → Wais 2014

Evidence¶

Wais 2014¶

Wais, P. E., and Gazzaley, A. (2014). Distractibility during retrieval of long-term memory: domain-general interference, neural networks and increased susceptibility in normal aging. Frontiers in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00280

q3 · i? · causal · r?

Behavioral study in which younger adults studied object images, then after a 1-h retention interval answered auditory cued count questions under eyes-closed (SHUT), gray-screen (GRAY), and visual-distraction (VD) conditions. "episodic retrieval during VD was significantly reduced compared to both SHUT and GRA Y"; no effect size printed.

"Comparison across conditions of the responses for the targets revealed a main effect of condition for the proportion given the correct count, and pair-wise tests showed that episodic retrieval during VD was significantly reduced compared to both SHUT and GRA Y (Figure 2A)."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Attention — predictor: learners who differ on it differ in outcomes

Related Claims¶

• Visual distraction impairs categorization in older adults but not younger adults, who perform equivalently without distraction — related
• Older adults show greater distractibility than younger adults during episodic retrieval of long-term memory details — related
• Auditory distraction disrupts episodic retrieval equivalently to visual distraction, indicating a domain-general interference effect in long-term memory — related
• Visual distraction disrupts functional connectivity in a left hippocampus-VLPFC-LOC network that supports episodic retrieval via visual imagery — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Perturbing left VLPFC with rTMS exacerbates the disruptive effect of visual distraction on episodic retrieval, indicating a causal role in resolving interference — related
• Distraction during maintenance impairs working memory, with distractor processing inversely related to recognition accuracy — related
• Irrelevant changing-state sounds impair children's serial recall of visually presented items, with developmental evidence pointing to two mechanisms — related
• Eye movements during retrieval reenact encoding eye movements and predict memory accuracy — related