Exploring the Effects of Audiovisual Incongruence on Working Memory Performance in the Combined 2-back+ Go/NoGo Paradigm

Yang He^1,2Tianqi Yang³Yuanbei Zhang³Kewei Sun³Qingjun Guo³Qiong Chen⁴Xuefeng Wang⁵Xiang Xu⁶Ping Wei⁷Shenjun Wu^3*Tao Xu^4*

• ¹Department of Clinical Psychology, School of Medical Psychology, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an, China
• ²Department of Psychology, Shanghai Normal University, 100 Guilin Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai 200234, China, Shanghai, China
• ³Department of Military Medical Psychology, Air Force Medical University, Xi'an 710032, China, Xi'an 710032, China, China
• ⁴Air Force HealthCare Center for Special Services Hangzhou, Hangzhou, Jiangsu Province, China
• ⁵Pilot Selection Bureau of PLA Air Force, Beijing 100195, China, beijing, China
• ⁶Air Force Bureau of Trainee Pilot Selection, Nanjing Central Division, Nanjing 210000, China, nanjing, China
• ⁷Air Force Bureau of Trainee Pilot Selection, Jinan Central Division, Jinan 250000, China, jinan, China

The human brain processes 83% of information visually and 11% auditorily, and visual perception is prioritized in the integration of human sensory input. Working memory plays an important role in cognitive function. Therefore, it is highly important for research to combine working memory with visual and auditory perception. Audiovisual congruence promotes cognitive performance; however, whether audiovisual incongruence promotes or interferes with cognitive performance remains controversial. The present study investigated the effect of audiovisual incongruence on working memory performance in a combined 2-back+Go/NoGo task using numbers or letters (Experiment 1) and picture stimuli (Experiment 2) as experimental materials. One hundred and twenty college students performed the working memory task under visual-only, auditory-only, and audiovisual conditions throughout the experiment. Finally, the performance on the working memory task under visual (auditory)-only and audiovisual conditions was compared with a paired-samples t test. In experiment 1, visual stimuli interfered with auditory working memory task performance, whereas auditory stimuli exerted minimal interference with visual working memory task performance. In experiment 2, visual stimuli significantly interfered with auditory working memory task performance, and vice versa. The results show that audiovisual incongruence disrupts WM performance, with interference patterns depending on cognitive load dynamics rather than fixed sensory hierarchies. Low load allows strategic prioritization of vision, while high load triggers cross-modal competition, challenging the notion of visual supremacy.