Visual working memory for simple and complex visual stimuli

Eng, Hing Yee; Chen, Diyu; Jiang, Yuhong

doi:10.3758/bf03206454

Cited by 239 publications

(185 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Memory for complex visual objects may benefit from long encoding times (Eng et al, 2005), potentially allowing improved performance (although consolidation in VSTM may naturally occur quickly, see Vogel et al, 2006). In Experiment 2, the target stimulus was shown for 0.75 s, reducing encoding time to that used in Ricker and Cowan's (2010) study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The loss of short-term visual representations over time: Decay or temporal distinctiveness?

Mercer¹

2014

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Perfor

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There has been much recent interest in the loss of visual short-term memories over the passage of time. According to decay theory, visual representations are gradually forgotten as time passes, reflecting a slow and steady distortion of the memory trace. However, this is controversial and decay effects can be explained in other ways. The present experiment aimed to reexamine the maintenance and loss of visual information over the short term. Decay and temporal distinctiveness models were tested using a delayed discrimination task, in which participants compared complex and novel objects over unfilled retention intervals of variable length. Experiment 1 found no significant change in the accuracy of visual memory from 2 to 6 s, but the gap separating trials reliably influenced task performance. Experiment 2 found evidence for information loss at a 10-s retention interval, but temporally separating trials restored the fidelity of visual memory, possibly because temporally isolated representations are distinct from older memory traces. In conclusion, visual representations lose accuracy at some point after 6 s, but only within temporally crowded contexts. These findings highlight the importance of temporal distinctiveness within visual short-term memory.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, complex objects are more difficult to remember (e.g. Alvarez & Cavanagh, 2004) and may place greater demands on memory capacity (Eng, Chen, & Jiang, 2005).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The loss of short-term visual representations over time: Decay or temporal distinctiveness?

Mercer¹

2014

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Perfor

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“…Given the previous research showing limitations for representing and processing unfamiliar faces in terms of capacity (e.g. Eng et al, 2005; Experiment 1, Bindemann et al, 2005: Neumann et al, 2007Towler et al, 2015), another way to think about partial shedding is to consider performance in terms of capacity to store preferred and non-preferred targets so that these representations can inform both present and absent responses. A capacity measure can be calculated from the proportion correct values.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Menneer et al (2007) reasoned that target shedding is a consequence of a profound limitation in our visual working memory capacity for complex visual objects (Alvarez & Cavanagh, 2004). Faces are complex objects and evidence suggests that visual search slopes are shallower for colour than for faces, indicating that the extra information load for faces limits working memory capacity (Eng, Chen & Jiang, 2005). If target shedding increases when working memory capacity is inadequate, the likelihood of target shedding should be high in face search.…”

Section: Dual-target Cost In Visual Search For Multiple Unfamiliar Facesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dual-target cost in visual search for multiple unfamiliar faces.

Mestry

Menneer

Cave

et al. 2017

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Perfor

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The efficiency of visual search for one (single-target) and either of two (dual-target) unfamiliar faces was explored to understand the manifestations of capacity and guidance limitations in face search. The visual similarity of distractor faces to target faces was manipulated using morphing (Experiments 1 and 2) and multidimensional scaling (Experiment 3). A dual-target cost was found in all experiments, evidenced by slower and less accurate search in dual- than single-target conditions. The dual-target cost was unequal across the targets, with performance being maintained on one target and reduced on the other, which we label “preferred” and “non-preferred” respectively. We calculated the capacity for each target face and show reduced capacity for representing the non-preferred target face. However, results show that the capacity for the non-preferred target can be increased when the dual-target condition is conducted after participants complete the single-target conditions. Analyses of eye movements revealed evidence for weak guidance of fixations in single-target search, and when searching for the preferred target in dual-target search. Overall, the experiments show dual-target search for faces is capacity- and guidance-limited, leading to superior search for 1 face over the other in dual-target search. However, learning faces individually may improve capacity with the second face.

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“…These more complex images may be harder to retain in STM and more susceptible to forgetting (Eng, Chen, & Jiang, 2005). Furthermore, the present experiment employed only nine objects as stimuli, …”

Section: Loss Of Residual Visual Memoriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rapid Communication: The loss of residual visual memories over the passage of time

Mercer

Duffy

2015

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

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There has been extensive discussion of the causes of short-term forgetting. Some accounts suggest that time plays an important role in the loss of representations, whereas other models reject this notion and explain all forgetting through interference processes. The present experiment used the recent-probes task to investigate whether residual visual information is lost over the passage of time. On each trial, three unusual target objects were displayed and followed by a probe stimulus. The task was to determine whether the probe matched any of the targets, and the next trial commenced after an intertrial interval lasting 300 ms, 3.3 s, or 8.3 s. Of critical interest were recent negative (RN) trials, on which the probe matched a target from the previous trial. These were contrasted against nonrecent negative (NRN) trials, in which the probe had not been seen in the recent past. RN trials damaged performance and slowed reaction times in comparison to NRN trials, highlighting interference. However, this interfering effect diminished as the intertrial interval was lengthened, suggesting that residual visual information is lost as time passes. This finding is difficult to reconcile with interference-based models and suggests that time plays some role in forgetting.

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Visual working memory for simple and complex visual stimuli

Cited by 239 publications

References 14 publications

The loss of short-term visual representations over time: Decay or temporal distinctiveness?

The loss of short-term visual representations over time: Decay or temporal distinctiveness?

Dual-target cost in visual search for multiple unfamiliar faces.

Rapid Communication: The loss of residual visual memories over the passage of time

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