Fine-grained, local maps and coarse, global representations support human spatial working memory.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Psychology
• Visual Perception

Background:

• Visual working memory (vWM) traditionally assumes generalized feature representations and independent storage.
• Configurational effects in vWM are often attributed to encoding strategies rather than inherent representational properties.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether visual working memory (vWM) resources are spatially tuned, similar to sensory processes.
• To determine if vWM stores global configuration information beyond individual item locations.
• To examine the role of landmarks and configurational information in enhancing recall precision and accuracy.

Main Methods:

• Participants performed recall tasks under varying memory loads and spatial configurations.
• Analysis focused on recall precision, accuracy, and systematic biases related to target location and array configuration.
• Manipulation of landmark (non-target item) presence and position at recall.

Main Results:

• Recall precision was influenced by target location relative to the display center/boundaries and overall memory load, indicating spatially tuned vWM resources.
• Overestimation of target distance from the display center and underestimation from the array's average position suggest storage of both local and global spatial information.
• Presence and strategic placement of non-target items (landmarks) at recall improved target recall precision and accuracy.

Conclusions:

• Visual working memory (vWM) employs spatially tuned representations, with resolution varying based on proximity to landmarks.
• Both fine-grained local spatial information and coarse global configuration of the memory array are stored and updated during recall.
• Landmarks play a crucial role in refining spatial representations within vWM.