No matter how closely a person looks at a phone, a book page, or another person, they do not see these objects in isolation. There are always objects in the field of view that a person may not focus on. However, it was not known exactly how they affect visual processing in the brain.

For the experiments, the researchers chose macaque monkeys whose visual system is similar to that of humans. The animals were trained to focus on the center of the screen. At the same time, the scientists showed them other objects located outside the center of the screen. At the same time, the neural activity of the monkeys' visual cortex was recorded.

Scientists found that distracting objects did not affect the way information was transmitted between brain cells, but changed the effectiveness of this process. The authors compared this to a situation in which the first person has to call the second, the third, and further down the chain until the whole group receives information. The visual clutter did not change the order of the call, but affected how accurately the message was conveyed to the person.