Editing Visual memory (section)

== Factors affecting visual memory ==

=== Sleep ===
Findings surrounding sleep and visual memory have been mixed. Studies have reported performance increases after a bout of sleep compared with the same period of waking. The implications of this are that there is a slow, offline process during sleep that strengthens and enhances the memory trace.<ref name="CAI">{{cite journal | last1 = Cai | first1 = D.J. | last2 = Jiang | first2 = Y.V. | last3 = Makovski | first3 = T. | last4 = Mednick | first4 = S.C. | year = 2009 | title = Sleep and rest facilitate implicit memory in a visual search task | journal = Vision Research | volume = 49 | issue = 21| pages = 2557–2565 | pmid = 19379769 | pmc = 2764830 | doi = 10.1016/j.visres.2009.04.011 }}</ref> Further studies have found that quiet rest has shown the same learning benefits as sleep. Replay has been found to occur during post-training quiet wakefulness as well as sleep. In a recent study where a visual search task was administered quiet rest or sleep is found to be necessary for increasing the amount of associations between configurations and target locations that can be learned within a day.<ref name="CAI" /> Reactivation in sleep was only observed after extensive training of rodents on familiar tasks. It rapidly dissipates; it also makes up a small proportion of total recorded activity in sleep.<ref name="CAI" /> 
It has also been found that there are gender differences between males and females in regards to visual memory and sleep. In a study done testing sleep and memory for pictures it was found that daytime sleep contributed to retention of source memory rather than item memory in females, females did not have recollection or familiarity influenced by daytime sleep, whereas males undergoing daytime sleep had a trend towards increased familiarity.<ref name="XB">{{cite journal | last1 = Fu | first1 = X. | last2 = Wang | first2 = B. | year = 2009 | title = Gender difference in the effect of daytime sleep on declarative memory for pictures | journal = Journal of Zhejiang University Science B | volume = 10 | issue = 7| pages = 36–546 | doi = 10.1631/jzus.B0820384 | pmid = 19585672 | pmc = 2704972 }}</ref> The reasons for this may be linked to different memory traces resulting from different encoding strategies, as well as with different electrophysiological changes during daytime sleep.<ref name="XB" />

=== Brain damage ===
[[Brain damage]] is another factor that has been found to have an effect on visual memory. Memory impairment affects both novel and familiar experiences. Poor memory after damage to the brain is usually considered to result from information being lost or rendered inaccessible.<ref name="BUSSEY">{{cite journal|last1=Bussey|first1=T.J.|last2=Cowell|first2=R.A.|last3=McTighe|first3=S.M.|last4=Saksida|first4=L.M.|author-link4=Lisa Saksida|last5=Winters|first5=B.D.|date=2010|title=Paradoxical False Memory for Objects After Brain Damage|url=https://semanticscholar.org/paper/b0e6865b21692d0a83d167f64e0c9e6e39fde949|journal=Science|volume=330|issue=6009|pages=1408–1410|bibcode=2010Sci...330.1408M|doi=10.1126/science.1194780|pmid=21127256|s2cid=35543994}}</ref> With such impairment it is assumed that it must be due to the incorrect interpretation of previously encountered information as being novel.<ref name="BUSSEY" /> In experiments testing rats' object recognition memory it was found that memory impairment can be the opposite, that there was a tendency to treat novel experiences as familiar. A possible solution for this impairment could be the use of a visual-restriction procedure that reduces interference.<ref name="BUSSEY" />

=== Age ===
Studies have shown that with [[aging]], in terms of short-term visual memory, viewing time and task complexity affect performance. When there is a delay or when the task is complex recall declines.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Soininen |first1=H. S. |last2=Partanen |first2=K. |last3=Pitkanen |first3=A. |last4=Vainio |first4=P. |last5=Hanninen |first5=T. |last6=Hallikainen |first6=M. |last7=Koivisto |first7=K. |last8=Riekkinen |first8=P. J. |title=Volumetric MRI analysis of the amygdala and the hippocampus in subjects with age-associated memory impairment: Correlation to visual and verbal memory |journal=Neurology |date=1994 |volume=44 |issue=9 |pages=1660–1668 |doi=10.1212/wnl.44.9.1660 |pmid=7936293 |s2cid=33777145 }}</ref> In a study conducted to measure whether visual memory in older adults with age-related visual decline was caused by memory performance or visual functioning, the following were examined: relationships among age, visual activity, and visual and verbal memory in 89 community dwelling volunteers aged 60–87 years. The findings were that the effect of vision was not specific to visual memory.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Verhaeghen |first1=P. |last2=Marcoen |first2=A. |last3=Goossens |first3=L. |title=Facts and Fiction About Memory Aging: A Quantitative Integration of Research Findings |journal=Journal of Gerontology |date=1993 |volume=48 |issue=4 |pages=P157–P171 |doi=10.1093/geronj/48.4.p157 |pmid=8315232 }}</ref> Therefore, vision was found to be correlated with general memory function in older adults and is not modality specific.

As we age performance in regards to spatial configurations deteriorates. In a task to store and combine two different spatial configurations to form a novel one young people out-performed the elderly.<ref name="BHATT">{{cite journal |last1=Cattaneo |first1=Zaira |last2=Bhatt |first2=Ela |last3=Merabet |first3=Lotfi B. |last4=Pece |first4=Alfredo |last5=Vecchi |first5=Tomaso |title=The Influence of Reduced Visual Acuity on Age-Related Decline in Spatial Working Memory: An Investigation |journal=Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition |date=2008 |volume=15 |issue=6 |pages=687–702 |doi=10.1080/13825580802036951 |pmid=18608051 |s2cid=28246373 }}</ref> Vision also has an effect on performance. Sighted participants outperformed the visually impaired regardless of testing modality. This suggests that vision tends to shape the general supramodal mechanisms of memory.<ref name="BHATT" />

=== Alcohol ===
Studies have shown that there is an [[Effects of alcohol on memory|effect of alcohol]] on visual memory. In a recent study visual working memory and its neutral correlates was assessed in university students who partake in [[binge drinking]], the intermittent consumption of large amounts of alcohol.<ref name="REDUCED">{{cite journal | last1 = Cadaveira | first1 = F. | last2 = Corral | first2 = M. | last3 = Crego | first3 = A. | last4 = Mota | first4 = N. | last5 = Parada | first5 = M. | last6 = Rodriguez-Holguin | first6 = S. | year = 2010 | title = Reduced anterior prefrontal cortex activation in young binge drinkers during a visual working memory task | journal = Drug and Alcohol Dependence | volume = 109 | issue = 1–3| pages = 45–56 | pmid = 20079980 | doi = 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2009.11.020 | hdl = 10347/16798 | hdl-access = free }}</ref> The findings revealed that there may be binge-drinking related functional alteration in recognition working memory processes. This suggests that impaired [[prefrontal cortex]] function may occur at an early age in binge drinkers.

Another study conducted in 2004<ref name="BURKE">{{cite journal |last1=Tapert |first1=Susan F |last2=Pulido |first2=Carmen |last3=Paulus |first3=Martin P |last4=Schuckit |first4=Marc A |last5=Burke |first5=Christina |title=Level of response to alcohol and brain response during visual working memory. |journal=Journal of Studies on Alcohol |date=November 2004 |volume=65 |issue=6 |pages=692–700 |doi=10.15288/jsa.2004.65.692 |pmid=15700505 |s2cid=32903926 }}</ref> examined the level of response to alcohol and brain response during visual working memory. This study looked at the neural correlated of the low level of response to alcohol using [[functional magnetic resonance imaging]] during a challenging visual memory task. The results were that young people who report having needed more alcohol to feel the effects showed higher levels of brain response during visual working memory, this suggests that the individual's capacity to adjust to cognitive processing decreases, they are less able to adjust cognitive processing to contextual demands.<ref name="BURKE" />