Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 10, 2026
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The (Spatial) Memory Game: Testing the Relationship Between Spatial Language, Object Knowledge, and Spatial Cognition
Published on: February 19, 2018
Spatial reorganization of object representations in high-level visual cortex distinguishes working memory from
Wanru Li1,2,3, Jia Yang1,2,3, Pinglei Bao1,2,3
1School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
Science Advances
|May 8, 2026
Summary
Visual working memory (VWM) flexibly reorganizes object representations in the brain. Unlike perception, VWM recruits widespread brain areas, including the opposite hemisphere, to enhance mnemonic flexibility.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Visual Perception
Background:
- The visual system must balance accurate object perception with flexible visual working memory (VWM).
- Both perception and VWM rely on high-level visual regions, specifically the object-selective cortex (OSC).
- It remains unclear how competing demands of perception and VWM shape neural representations within the OSC.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether VWM representations inherit spatial constraints from perception or reorganize to meet mnemonic demands.
- To compare the spatial localization of object-identity representations during perception versus VWM.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a matched task design comparing perception and VWM.
- Employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)-based decoding to analyze neural representations.
- Systematically compared the localization of object-identity information in the OSC.
Main Results:
- A clear dissociation was observed between perception and VWM.
- Object perception primarily involved contralateral OSC representations.
- Visual working memory (VWM) demonstrated robust ipsilateral OSC representations, even for bilateral items, engaging over 90% of vertices.
- These VWM representations mirrored contralateral ones, suggesting interhemispheric coordination.
Conclusions:
- Object VWM exhibits significant spatial reorganization, recruiting distributed high-level visual cortex.
- Mnemonic flexibility in VWM is distinguished from perceptual fidelity by this spatial reorganization.
- Findings highlight the dynamic and flexible nature of neural representations supporting memory.
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