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Related Experiment Video

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A Gaze-Contingent Display Framework for Perceptual Learning Research with Simulated Central Vision Loss

A Gaze-Contingent Display Framework for Perceptual Learning Research with Simulated Central Vision Loss

Published on: April 11, 2025

Coarse-to-fine construction for high-resolution representation in visual working memory.

Zaifeng Gao¹, Xiaowei Ding, Tong Yang

¹Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.

|March 8, 2013

Summary

Visual working memory (VWM) constructs high-resolution representations through a coarse-to-fine process, not all-at-once. Early visual information is processed first, with detail increasing over time.

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Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) of the Visual Cortex with Wide-View Retinotopic Stimulation

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Published on: December 8, 2023

Area of Science:

Cognitive Neuroscience
Visual Perception
Memory Research

Background:

Investigating the construction of high-resolution visual working memory (VWM) representations.
Examining two competing hypotheses: coarse-to-fine versus all-or-none VWM encoding.
Understanding the temporal dynamics of visual information processing in memory.

Purpose of the Study:

To determine if VWM representations are built progressively (coarse-to-fine) or simultaneously (all-or-none).
To identify the neural mechanisms underlying VWM construction using electroencephalography (EEG).

Main Methods:

Participants memorized two or four complex objects under varying exposure times and task difficulties.
Contralateral delay activity (CDA), an event-related potential (ERP) component, was measured as a neural marker.
Manipulated memory array exposure duration and visual clarity to differentiate encoding stages.

Main Results:

A significant CDA difference emerged at 100 ms exposure, indicating early coarse encoding.
This CDA difference vanished at 500 ms exposure, suggesting detailed information was encoded.
Blurring the visual array at 500 ms reestablished the CDA difference, confirming the role of detail in VWM construction.

Conclusions:

The findings support a coarse-to-fine model for VWM representation formation.
This suggests that detailed visual information is not available immediately upon VWM encoding.
VWM representation resolution increases dynamically with processing time.