Limitations in the ability to temporarily represent information in visual working memory (VWM) are crucial for visual cognition. Whether VWM processing is dependent on an object’s saliency (i.e., how much it stands out) has been neglected in VWM research. Therefore, we developed a novel VWM task that allows direct control over saliency. In three experiments with this task (on 10, 31, and 60 adults, respectively), we consistently found that VWM performance is strongly and parametrically influenced by saliency and that both an object’s relative saliency (compared with concurrently presented objects) and absolute saliency influence VWM processing. We also demonstrated that this effect is indeed due to bottom-up saliency rather than differential fit between each object and the top-down attentional template. A simple computational model assuming that VWM performance is determined by the weighted sum of absolute and relative saliency accounts well for the observed data patterns.
Given its severe capacity limitations, visual working memory (VWM) can process only a tiny fraction of the complex visual world. While selection of relevant information from cluttered scenes is a main topic of research on visual attention, it has not received much research efforts in the VWM community. Based on knowledge from visual-attention research, we develop a task that mimics the complexity of real-world scenes while maintaining tight experimental control over stimulation and allowing for the application of state-of-the-art computational models and neuroscientific techniques. In two experiments, we provide solid evidence that the distribution of a limited VWM resource is parametrically influenced by saliency (i.e., how much an object stands out from its immediate surround). Our third experiment demonstrates that – in contrast to the real world – saliency is virtually maxed out for relevant objects in typical laboratory studies of VWM, likely yielding a pronounced underestimation of this major influence on VWM. We discuss various, not necessarily exclusive, mechanisms by which saliency might influence VWM performance, including saliency-dependent distribution of resources, encoding efficiency and faster/better filtering of unnecessary information and relate our results to the Theory of Visual Attention (TVA).
The present study examined the relationship between left–right discrimination (LRD) performance and handedness, sex and cognitive abilities. In total, 31 men and 35 women – with a balanced ratio of left-and right-handers – completed the Bergen Left–Right Discrimination Test. We found an advantage of left-handers in both identifying left hands and in verifying “left” propositions. A sex effect was also found, as women had an overall higher error rate than men, and increasing difficulty impacted their reaction time more than it did for men. Moreover, sex interacted with handedness and manual preference strength. A negative correlation of LRD reaction time with visuo-spatial and verbal long-term memory was found independently of sex, providing new insights into the relationship between cognitive skills and performance on LRD.
Salience is a core determinant of attentional processing. Although information on salience has been shown to dissipate within a few hundred milliseconds, we recently observed massive effects of salience on the delayed recall from visual working memory (VWM) more than 1300 ms after stimulus onset. Here, we manipulated presentation duration of the memory display and found that effects of salience, albeit decreasing over time, were still markedly present after 3000 ms (2000 ms presentation; Exp. 1). In an attempt to overrule this persistent influence of salience we made less salient stimuli more relevant (by rewarding their prioritized processing in Exp. 2 or by probing them more often in Exp. 3). Participants were unable to reliably prioritize low-salience stimuli. Thus, our results demonstrate that effects of salience or their repercussions have surprisingly long-lasting effects on cognitive performance that reach even relatively late processing stages and are difficult to overrule by volition.
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