Visual Working Memory Resources Are Best Characterized as Dynamic, Quantifiable Mnemonic Traces

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• 作者：Bella Z. Veksler ; Rachel Boyd ; Christopher W. Myers ; Glenn Gunzelmann ; Hansjö ; rg Neth and Wayne D. Gray
• 刊名：Topics in Cognitive Science
• 出版年：2017
• 出版时间：January 2017
• 年：2017
• 卷：9
• 期：1
• 页码：83-101
• 全文大小：496K
• ISSN：1756-8765

文摘

Visual working memory (VWM) is a construct hypothesized to store a small amount of accurate perceptual information that can be brought to bear on a task. Much research concerns the construct's capacity and the precision of the information stored. Two prominent theories of VWM representation have emerged: slot-based and continuous-resource mechanisms. Prior modeling work suggests that a continuous resource that varies over trials with variable capacity and a potential to make localization errors best accounts for the empirical data. Questions remain regarding the variability in VWM capacity and precision. Using a novel eye-tracking paradigm, we demonstrate that VWM facilitates search and exhibits effects of fixation frequency and recency, particularly for prior targets. Whereas slot-based memory models cannot account for the human data, a novel continuous-resource model does capture the behavioral and eye tracking data, and identifies the relevant resource as item activation.