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Published on: October 24, 2012
Eccentricity Constrains Spatial Working Memory Fidelity: Evidence for the Cortical Maps Hypothesis
Siobhan M McAteer1, Anthony McGregor1, Daniel T Smith1
1Department of Psychology, Durham University, Stockton Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK.
Vision (Basel, Switzerland)
|July 24, 2026
Summary
Spatial working memory precision decreases with item eccentricity and set size. Findings support the cortical maps hypothesis, showing representations compete for limited cortical space.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Spatial working memory (SWM) is crucial for precise information storage.
- The 'cortical map' proposal suggests SWM precision depends on available cortical space.
Purpose of the Study:
- To test the cortical maps hypothesis regarding SWM resource allocation.
- To investigate how eccentricity and set size affect spatial localization accuracy.
Main Methods:
- Continuous spatial localization task with varying eccentricities and set sizes (1-8 items).
- Mixture-modeling analyses to differentiate precision, imprecision, and guessing.
- Comparison of observed imprecision with cortical magnification predictions.
Main Results:
- Localization error increased with eccentricity, supporting the cortical maps hypothesis.
- Eccentricity effects were driven by imprecision at small set sizes (1-5).
- Guessing increased significantly at larger set sizes (>5), indicating peripheral representation vulnerability.
- Misbinding errors were highest near fixation, correlating with reduced inter-item spacing.
Conclusions:
- Findings support the cortical maps hypothesis for spatial working memory.
- SWM representations compete for limited resources within cortical spatial maps.
- Eccentricity and set size interact to influence mnemonic precision and failure modes.
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