The Chicken or the Egg, Which Comes First?
By Samantha Lydick
This question is asked during that awkward icebreaker stage of every meeting. Although we have all been asked this question, does anyone really know the answer? You need an egg to hatch a chicken, but you need a chicken to lay an egg. This is similar to perception and memory, does memory influence perceptions or do perceptions influence memories? Unlike the chicken and the egg, psychologists have been able to find some answers to this question.
First the background. Perception is the process of becoming aware of objects, relationships, and events through our senses. In other words, it is the understanding and making sense of information. Additionally, working memory is a temporary store of information. Working memory allows the information to be manipulated in order for learning and reasoning to occur.
A 2011 study showed that visual working memory contaminates perception. In this study, researchers were interested in how we can see a dancer spinning both clockwise and counterclockwise. They showed participants a motion while they presented another motion simultaneously. The results showed that that visual working memory and the processing of basic sensory information interact with the same neural mechanisms (Kang, Hong, Blake & Woodman). So, what does that mean? It means that when we are using the memory part of the brain, we are using the same part that is creating our perceptions of that same event. When this is happening, we can have misinterpretations of information, or we could also create false memories.
Suzana Martinez-Conde (2015) says that memories can change our perceptions as we interpret them. When we have a memory that is hardwired in our brains, we interpret that event to fit into the memory. Martinez-Conde (2015) gives the example of a grey dot on white paper will look darker than the same grey dot on black paper. This happens because our brain is interpreting the sensory information and comparing it to the memory of those colors that we have. How does that relate to the chicken and the egg? The Chicken of memory is influencing our perceptions.
With psychologists constantly uncovering more information about memory and perception there is always information that is being uncovered. Based on what has been studied today, memory has an influence on perception. At least we got one of those questions figured out. When you figure out what comes first, the chicken or the egg let me know.
REFERENCES
Kang, M. S., Hong, S. W., Blake, R., & Woodman, G. F. (2011). Visual working memory contaminates perception. Psychonomic bulletin & review, 18(5), 860–869. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-011-0126-5
The relationship between memory and perception, Susana Martinez-Conde. (2015, May 22). [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd-aPnxiRys