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Yaghoubi KC, Kabbara S, Arian S, Kobaissi H, Peters MAK, Seitz AR. Comparing random dot motion in MATLAB vs. Inquisit Millisecond. Front Psychol 2022; 13:1035518. [PMID: 36562063 PMCID: PMC9763265 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1035518] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2022] [Accepted: 10/31/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Random Dot Motion (RDM) displays refer to clouds of independently moving dots that can be parametrically manipulated to provide a perception of the overall cloud moving coherently in a specified direction of motion. As a well-studied probe of motion perception, RDMs have been widely employed to understand underlying neural mechanisms of motion perception, perceptual decision-making, and perceptual learning, among other processes. Despite their wide use, RDM stimuli implementation is highly dependent on the parameters and the generation algorithm of the stimuli; both can greatly influence behavioral performance on RDM tasks. With the advent of the COVID pandemic and an increased need for more accessible platforms, we aimed to validate a novel RDM paradigm on Inquisit Millisecond, a platform for the online administration of cognitive and neuropsychological tests and assessments. We directly compared, in the same participants using the same display, a novel RDM paradigm on both Inquisit Millisecond and MATLAB with Psychtoolbox. We found that psychometric functions of Coherence largely match between Inquisit Millisecond and MATLAB, as do the effects of Duration. These data demonstrate that the Millisecond RDM provides data largely consistent with those previously found in laboratory-based systems, and the present findings can serve as a reference point for expected thresholds for when these procedures are used remotely on different platforms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kimia C. Yaghoubi
- Perception and Learning Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, United States,*Correspondence: Kimia C. Yaghoubi,
| | - Sarah Kabbara
- Perception and Learning Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, United States
| | - Sara Arian
- Perception and Learning Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, United States
| | - Hadi Kobaissi
- Perception and Learning Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, United States
| | - Megan A. K. Peters
- Cognitive and Neural Computation Laboratory, Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States,Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States
| | - Aaron R. Seitz
- Perception and Learning Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, United States
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Pavan A, Ghin F, Campana G. Visual Short-Term Memory for Coherent and Sequential Motion: A rTMS Investigation. Brain Sci 2021; 11:brainsci11111471. [PMID: 34827470 PMCID: PMC8615668 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci11111471] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2021] [Revised: 11/01/2021] [Accepted: 11/04/2021] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
We investigated the role of the human medio-temporal complex (hMT+) in the memory encoding and storage of a sequence of four coherently moving random dot kinematograms (RDKs), by applying repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) during an early or late phase of the retention interval. Moreover, in a second experiment, we also tested whether disrupting the functional integrity of hMT+ during the early phase impaired the precision of the encoded motion directions. Overall, results showed that both recognition accuracy and precision were worse in middle serial positions, suggesting the occurrence of primacy and recency effects. We found that rTMS delivered during the early (but not the late) phase of the retention interval was able to impair not only recognition of RDKs, but also the precision of the retained motion direction. However, such impairment occurred only for RDKs presented in middle positions along the presented sequence, where performance was already closer to chance level. Altogether these findings suggest an involvement of hMT+ in the memory encoding of visual motion direction. Given that both position sequence and rTMS modulated not only recognition but also the precision of the stored information, these findings are in support of a model of visual short-term memory with a variable resolution of each stored item, consistent with the assigned amount of memory resources, and that such item-specific memory resolution is supported by the functional integrity of area hMT+.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Pavan
- Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Viale Berti Pichat 5, 40127 Bologna, Italy
- School of Psychology, University of Lincoln, Brayford Wharf East, Lincoln LN5 7AY, UK;
- Correspondence:
| | - Filippo Ghin
- School of Psychology, University of Lincoln, Brayford Wharf East, Lincoln LN5 7AY, UK;
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Cognitive Neurophysiology, Faculty of Medicine of the TU Dresden, Fetscherstraße 74, 01307 Dresden, Germany
| | - Gianluca Campana
- Dipartimento di Psicologia Generale, University of Padova, Via Venezia 8, 35131 Padova, Italy;
- Human Inspired Technology Research Centre, University of Padova, Via Luzzati 4, 35121 Padova, Italy
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Visual short-term memory for coherent motion in video game players: evidence from a memory-masking paradigm. Sci Rep 2019; 9:6027. [PMID: 30988353 PMCID: PMC6465596 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-42593-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2018] [Accepted: 03/28/2019] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
In this study, we investigated visual short-term memory for coherent motion in action video game players (AVGPs), non-action video game players (NAVGPs), and non-gamers (control group: CONs). Participants performed a visual memory-masking paradigm previously used with macaque monkeys and humans. In particular, we tested whether video game players form a more robust visual short-term memory trace for coherent moving stimuli during the encoding phase, and whether such memory traces are less affected by an intervening masking stimulus presented 0.2 s after the offset of the to-be-remembered sample. The results showed that task performance of all groups was affected by the masking stimulus, but video game players were affected to a lesser extent than controls. Modelling of performance values and reaction times revealed that video game players have a lower guessing rate than CONs, and higher drift rates than CONs, indicative of more efficient perceptual decisions. These results suggest that video game players exhibit a more robust VSTM trace for moving objects and this trace is less prone to external interference.
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Anodal and cathodal electrical stimulation over V5 improves motion perception by signal enhancement and noise reduction. Brain Stimul 2017; 10:773-779. [DOI: 10.1016/j.brs.2017.04.128] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2017] [Revised: 04/17/2017] [Accepted: 04/24/2017] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
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Pavan A, Boyce M, Ghin F. Action Video Games Improve Direction Discrimination of Parafoveal Translational Global Motion but Not Reaction Times. Perception 2016; 45:1193-202. [PMID: 27495185 DOI: 10.1177/0301006616663215] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
Playing action video games enhances visual motion perception. However, there is psychophysical evidence that action video games do not improve motion sensitivity for translational global moving patterns presented in fovea. This study investigates global motion perception in action video game players and compares their performance to that of non-action video game players and non-video game players. Stimuli were random dot kinematograms presented in the parafovea. Observers discriminated the motion direction of a target random dot kinematogram presented in one of the four visual quadrants. Action video game players showed lower motion coherence thresholds than the other groups. However, when the task was performed at threshold, we did not find differences between groups in terms of distributions of reaction times. These results suggest that action video games improve visual motion sensitivity in the near periphery of the visual field, rather than speed response.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Pavan
- School of Psychology, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, UK
| | - Matthew Boyce
- School of Psychology, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, UK
| | - Filippo Ghin
- School of Psychology, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, UK
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Abstract
Several psychophysical studies of visual short-term memory (VSTM) have shown high-fidelity storage capacity for many properties of visual stimuli. On judgments of the spatial frequency of gratings, for example, discrimination performance does not decrease significantly, even for memory intervals of up to 30 s. For other properties, such as stimulus orientation and contrast, however, such “perfect storage” behavior is not found, although the reasons for this difference remain unresolved. Here, we report two experiments in which we investigated the nature of the representation of stimulus contrast in VSTM using spatially complex, two-dimensional random-noise stimuli. We addressed whether information about contrast per se is retained during the memory interval by using a test stimulus with the same spatial structure but either the same or the opposite local contrast polarity, with respect to the comparison (i.e., remembered) stimulus. We found that discrimination thresholds got steadily worse with increasing duration of the memory interval. Furthermore, performance was better when the test and comparison stimuli had the same local contrast polarity than when they were contrast-reversed. Finally, when a noise mask was introduced during the memory interval, its disruptive effect was maximal when the spatial configuration of its constituent elements was uncorrelated with those of the comparison and test stimuli. These results suggest that VSTM for contrast is closely tied to the spatial configuration of stimuli and is not transformed into a more abstract representation.
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