Reevaluating the sensory recruitment model by manipulating crowding in visual working memory representations.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Visual Perception
• Memory Research

Background:

• The sensory recruitment model posits visual working memory (WM) relies on early visual cortex.
• Recent studies challenge the strong version, but a flexible account remains plausible.
• Prior research failed to find WM interactions, seemingly refuting sensory recruitment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To replicate and extend Harrison & Bays (2018) by investigating interactions in visual WM.
• To test the flexible sensory recruitment model by preventing strategic memory remapping.
• To determine if visual memoranda interact when remapping is controlled.

Main Methods:

• Replication of Harrison & Bays (2018) visual WM task with enhanced sensitivity.
• Introduction of a cued-report task to prevent participants from remapping memory items.
• Comparison of memory precision in radial versus tangential arrays under controlled conditions.

Main Results:

• Visual memoranda showed interactions, similar to perceptual crowding effects.
• These interactions occurred when participants were prevented from remapping memory items.
• Anisotropy in WM interactions was observed when remapping was controlled.

Conclusions:

• The findings support a flexible sensory recruitment model of visual working memory.
• Interactions between visual working memory items are present when remapping is prevented.
• Early visual cortex may indeed maintain representations for visual working memory.