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Related Concept Videos

Sensory Memory01:14

Sensory Memory

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Sensory memory captures information from the environment in its original form for a very brief duration, just long enough to be exposed to visual, auditory, and other senses. This type of memory is detailed and rich but quickly lost unless certain strategies are employed to transfer it into short-term or long-term memory. Sensory information is continuously bombarding the human brain, yet only a small fraction is absorbed, as most of it does not significantly impact daily life. For instance,...
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Visual System01:26

Visual System

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Light enters the eye through the cornea, a transparent, dome-shaped surface covering the surface of the eyeball that helps to direct and focus incoming light. This light is then channeled toward the pupil, an adjustable opening whose size is controlled by the iris. The iris, a pigmented muscle, regulates the amount of light entering the eye by contracting or dilating the pupil, thereby ensuring optimal light levels for clear vision.
Once through the pupil, the light passes through the lens, a...
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Chunking and Rehearsal in Sensory Memory01:22

Chunking and Rehearsal in Sensory Memory

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Improving short-term memory can be achieved through techniques like chunking and rehearsal. Chunking involves organizing information into larger, more manageable units. This technique is particularly useful for information that exceeds the typical memory span of between five and nine items. For instance, logging into an online account with a password like "ta89vq0179gz" involves grouping letters and numbers into three chunks—ta89, vq01, and 79gz. It makes large amounts of...
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Visual Agnosia01:12

Visual Agnosia

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Visual agnosia is a condition characterized by the inability to recognize visually presented objects despite having normal vision. For instance, a person with visual agnosia can describe the shape and color of an object but cannot identify or name it. This impairment does not affect their visual field, acuity, color vision, brightness discrimination, language, or memory. An example of this condition in a social setting is someone at a dinner party asking for "that silver thing with a round...
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Working Memory01:24

Working Memory

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Working memory refers to a combination of components, including short-term memory and attention, that allow an individual to hold information temporarily as we perform cognitive tasks. It is an essential cognitive function that enables the execution of complex tasks such as problem-solving, comprehension, and reasoning. Unlike short-term memory, which simply involves the storage of information for a brief period, working memory involves the active manipulation and processing of this...
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Vision01:24

Vision

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Vision is the result of light being detected and transduced into neural signals by the retina of the eye. This information is then further analyzed and interpreted by the brain. First, light enters the front of the eye and is focused by the cornea and lens onto the retina—a thin sheet of neural tissue lining the back of the eye. Because of refraction through the convex lens of the eye, images are projected onto the retina upside-down and reversed.
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Updated: Jan 15, 2026

Visualizing Visual Adaptation
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Sensory reformatting for a working visual memory.

Anastasia Kiyonaga1, John T Serences2

  • 1Department of Cognitive Science, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA; Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA.

Trends in Cognitive Sciences
|October 9, 2025
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Visual working memory (WM) sustains mental representations by transforming early sensory codes into task-optimized formats within the visual cortex. This active workspace facilitates perception and action.

Keywords:
sensory recruitmentvisual cognitionvisual cortexworking memory

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Visual Perception
  • Memory Research

Background:

  • Visual working memory (WM) is crucial for maintaining mental representations of visual input.
  • Early sensory cortical regions are implicated in WM, guided by fronto-parietal networks.
  • The precise nature of visual cortex activity during WM has remained unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review evidence for transformations in visual cortical WM coding.
  • To explore the forms these transformations take.
  • To discuss the functional importance of these coding changes.

Main Methods:

  • Review of existing neuroscientific literature.
  • Analysis of studies investigating visual cortex activity during WM tasks.
  • Synthesis of evidence on representational changes.

Main Results:

  • Evidence suggests WM representations transform from sensory-like to behaviorally optimized codes.
  • These transformations are shaped by task context.
  • The visual cortex functions as an active workspace during WM.

Conclusions:

  • Visual cortex plays an active role in WM, not just passive storage.
  • WM representations undergo context-dependent transformations.
  • Flexible WM representations interface effectively with perception and action.