Categorical bias as a crucial parameter in visual working memory: The effect of memory load and retention interval

Zhou, Cherie; Lorist, Monicque M.; Mathôt, Sebastiaan

doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2022.05.007

Cited by 10 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Figure 3 illustrates the response frequency of each memory color for each age group and memory load condition separately. For the younger group, the responses became more centralized towards the category prototypes (represented by the vertical solid lines), and consistent with previous findings (Zhou et al, 2022), this centralization reached a peak at memory load 3. For the older group, the responses were centralized toward the prototypes at lower memory loads; interestingly, their responses became more uniform (and less centralized toward the prototypes) as memory load increased to three.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

“…experiment, we checked the categorization results; if the results seemed to indicate that the participant responded randomly (e.g., the participant chose a greenish color as the prototypical color of blue), we checked whether the participant understood the instructions correctly; if that was not the case, we asked the participant to redo the categorization task. Therefore, we used a stricter criterion than the pre-registered criterion that was chosen based on a previous study (Zhou et al, 2022), in which participants could not redo the categorization task. For each participant, we fitted an adapted mixture model (Biased Memory Model;Zhou et al, 2022) to the distribution of response bias for each memory load condition.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, we used a stricter criterion than the pre-registered criterion that was chosen based on a previous study (Zhou et al, 2022), in which participants could not redo the categorization task. For each participant, we fitted an adapted mixture model (Biased Memory Model;Zhou et al, 2022) to the distribution of response bias for each memory load condition. This resulted in three parameters: 1) Bias ([-180, 180]): a parameter that reflects response bias such that positive values indicate a shift in the direction of prototypical colors; 2) Guess Rate ([0, 1]): a parameter that reflects the proportion of random responses; 3) Precision (or kappa; κ, [0, 10,000]): a parameter that reflects the standard deviation of the normal (von Mises) distribution, with a higher κ reflecting higher precision.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We used a delayed estimation task (Ma et al, 2014), in which participants were instructed to memorize the exact shade of one to four colors; after a delay, an arrow was presented to indicate the location of one of the memory colors that they needed to report. Importantly, we implemented the adapted mixture model (Zhou et al, 2022) which characterizes the extent to which VWM relies on We predicted that if VWM relies more strongly on categorical representations with aging, then older adults will show a stronger bias towards category prototypes as compared to younger adults. Moreover, we predicted an effect of memory load on the extent to which VWM relies on categorical representations, such that VWM is more biased towards category prototypes with increasing memory load.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Cognitive aging and categorical representations in visual working memory

Zhou

Lorist

2022

Preprint

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A traditional view on cognitive aging is that visual working memory (VWM) capacity declines in older adults. Recent work has shown that visual information can be stored in VWM in different forms of representations. Specifically, VWM becomes more reliant on categorical representations (e.g., a prototypical red) as compared to continuous representations (e.g., a light reddish color) as memory load increases. Here, we replicated these findings and tested whether this holds for older adults. Participants memorized one to four colors; after a delay, an arrow pointed at the location of the color that needed to be reported. We used an extended mixture model (Zhou et al., 2022) to examine the extent to which memory responses were biased in the direction of the category prototypes. Our results showed that for both younger and older adults, VWM became more biased towards category prototypes with increasing memory load. Importantly, we found no difference in the extent to which VWM was biased towards category prototypes between younger and older adults. However, older adults showed an overall lower precision as compared to younger adults. Taken together, our results demonstrated that both younger and older adults became more reliant on categorical representations with increasing memory load; importantly, the extent to which categorical representations were involved in maintaining VWM information was insensitive to age.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cognitive aging and categorical representations in visual working memory

Zhou

Lorist

2022

Preprint

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“…For example, Zhou, Lorist, and Mathôt (2021) used Batch Session Data to implement a design in which participants completed four separate experimental sessions while counterbalancing the order of these sessions between participants. stimuli.…”

Section: Data Quality: Temporal Precision and Accuracymentioning

confidence: 99%

Conducting Linguistic Experiments Online With OpenSesame and OSWeb

Mathôt

March

2022

Language Learning

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In this Methods Showcase, we outline a workflow for running behavioral experiments online, with a focus on experiments that rely on presentation of complex stimuli and measurement of reaction times, which includes many psycholinguistic experiments. The workflow that we describe here relies on three tools: OpenSesame/ OSWeb (open source) provides a user-friendly graphical interface for developing experiments; JATOS (open source) is server software for hosting experiments; and Prolific (commercial) is a platform for recruiting participants. These three tools integrate well with each other, and together provide a workflow that requires little technical expertise. We discuss, and illustrate through an example study, several challenges that are associated with running online experiments, including temporal precision, the ability to implement counterbalancing, data quality, and issues related to privacy and ethics. We conclude that these challenges are real but surmountable, and that in many cases online experiments are a viable alternative to laboratory-based experiments.

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Corvids optimize working memory by categorizing continuous stimuli

Apostel,

Panichello,

Buschman

et al. 2023

Commun Biol

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Working memory (WM) is a crucial element of the higher cognition of primates and corvid songbirds. Despite its importance, WM has a severely limited capacity and is vulnerable to noise. In primates, attractor dynamics mitigate the effect of noise by discretizing continuous information. Yet, it remains unclear whether similar dynamics are seen in avian brains. Here, we show jackdaws (Corvus monedula) have similar behavioral biases as humans; memories are less precise and more biased as memory demands increase. Model-based analysis reveal discrete attractors are evenly spread across the stimulus space. Altogether, our comparative approach suggests attractor dynamics in primates and corvids mitigate the effect of noise by systematically drifting towards specific attractors. By demonstrating this effect in an evolutionary distant species, our results strengthen attractor dynamics as general, adaptive biological principle to efficiently use WM.

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Categorical bias as a crucial parameter in visual working memory: The effect of memory load and retention interval

Cited by 10 publications

References 39 publications

Cognitive aging and categorical representations in visual working memory

Cognitive aging and categorical representations in visual working memory

Conducting Linguistic Experiments Online With OpenSesame and OSWeb

Corvids optimize working memory by categorizing continuous stimuli

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