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The Cost of Accessing an Object's Feature Stored in Visual Working Memory
Geoffrey F Woodman1, Shaun P Vecera
1Vanderbilt University, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Center for Cognitive and Integrative Neuroscience.
Visual Cognition
|January 12, 2011
Summary
Accessing information in visual working memory can impair other stored object representations. This study confirms that retrieving one item degrades the quality of other maintained visual information.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Human Memory
Background:
- The storage mechanisms of visual working memory are well-studied, but the effects of accessing information within it are less understood.
- Prior research suggests that attention-demanding tasks, often used in object-based attention studies, may negatively impact memory representations.
- It is hypothesized that accessing specific information may interfere with the maintenance of other concurrently stored items.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the hypothesis that accessing a feature of an object in visual working memory degrades representations of other objects.
- To explore the consequences of information retrieval on the integrity of visual working memory.
Main Methods:
- Experimental manipulation of information access within visual working memory.
- Assessment of the representational quality of other stored objects following targeted access.
Main Results:
- Findings support the hypothesis that accessing one object's feature in visual working memory leads to degradation of other stored object representations.
- Demonstrated deleterious effects of information retrieval on the maintenance of concurrently held visual information.
Conclusions:
- Accessing information in visual working memory has detrimental effects on the representations of other stored objects.
- Raises new questions regarding the dynamic processes and limitations associated with information retrieval from visual working memory.
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