scholarly journals Visual Working Memory Performance is Determined by the Allocation of Attentional Resources: Evidence from Probabilistic Cueing

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. 672
Author(s):  
Holly Lockhart ◽  
Naseem Al-Aidroos ◽  
Stephen Emrich
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Attentional Resources

Greater Visual Working Memory Capacity for Visually Matched Stimuli When They Are Perceived as Meaningful

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 902-918 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabel E. Asp ◽  
Viola S. Störmer ◽  
Timothy F. Brady
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Visual Complexity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Subjective Perception ◽  
Neural Delay ◽  
Meaningful Stimuli

Abstract Almost all models of visual working memory—the cognitive system that holds visual information in an active state—assume it has a fixed capacity: Some models propose a limit of three to four objects, where others propose there is a fixed pool of resources for each basic visual feature. Recent findings, however, suggest that memory performance is improved for real-world objects. What supports these increases in capacity? Here, we test whether the meaningfulness of a stimulus alone influences working memory capacity while controlling for visual complexity and directly assessing the active component of working memory using EEG. Participants remembered ambiguous stimuli that could either be perceived as a face or as meaningless shapes. Participants had higher performance and increased neural delay activity when the memory display consisted of more meaningful stimuli. Critically, by asking participants whether they perceived the stimuli as a face or not, we also show that these increases in visual working memory capacity and recruitment of additional neural resources are because of the subjective perception of the stimulus and thus cannot be driven by physical properties of the stimulus. Broadly, this suggests that the capacity for active storage in visual working memory is not fixed but that more meaningful stimuli recruit additional working memory resources, allowing them to be better remembered.

scholarly journals Anticipatory alpha phase influences visual working memory performance

NeuroImage ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 85 ◽  
pp. 794-802 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodore P. Zanto ◽  
James Z. Chadick ◽  
Adam Gazzaley
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Alpha Phase

scholarly journals Separating memoranda in depth increases visual working memory performance

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chaipat Chunharas ◽  
Rosanne L. Rademaker ◽  
Thomas C. Sprague ◽  
Timothy F. Brady ◽  
John T. Serences
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Memory Performance

scholarly journals Visual working memory performance in aphantasia

Cortex ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 105 ◽  
pp. 61-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christianne Jacobs ◽  
Dietrich S. Schwarzkopf ◽  
Juha Silvanto
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Memory Performance

scholarly journals Atypical development of visual working memory performance in autism spectrum disorder

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Lynn ◽  
Beatriz Luna ◽  
Kirsten O'Hearn
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Childhood And Adolescence ◽  
Visual Feature ◽  
Performance Differences ◽  
Atypical Development

Visual working memory (VWM) typically improves across childhood and adolescence. Yet, it remains unclear whether such improvement occurs in autism (ASD). We measured color, shape, and pattern VWM performance in children (N=49; Mage=11y; 41 males), adolescents (N=46; Mage=15y; 38 males), and adults (N=51; Mage=24y; 47 males) with and without ASD (91% White, 6% Black or multiracial). By adulthood, color VWM accuracy among 4 items was better in the TD group relative to ASD (p2=.039). In childhood, shape VWM RT among 8 items was faster in the TD group relative to ASD (p2=.063). While VWM capacity was intact in ASD, VWM performance differences between ASD and TD may depend on age and visual feature.

scholarly journals Shared resources between visual attention and visual working memory are allocated through rhythmic sampling

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elio Balestrieri ◽  
Luca Ronconi ◽  
David Melcher
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Visual Stimulation ◽  
Time Windows ◽  
Detection Task ◽  
Detection Performance ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Attentional Resources ◽  
Oscillatory Pattern

AbstractAttention and Visual Working Memory (VWM) are among the most theoretically detailed and empirically tested constructs in human cognition. Nevertheless, the nature of the interrelation between selective attention and VWM still presents a fundamental controversy: do they rely on the same cognitive resources or not? The present study aims at disentangling this issue by capitalizing on recent evidence showing that attention is a rhythmic phenomenon, oscillating over short time windows. Using a dual-task approach, we combined a classic VWM task with a detection task in which we densely sampled detection performance during the time between the memory and the test array. Our results show that an increment in VWM load was related to a worse detection of near threshold visual stimuli and, importantly, to the presence of an oscillatory pattern in detection performance at ∼5 Hz. Furthermore, our findings suggest that the frequency of this sampling rhythm changes according to the strategic allocation of attentional resources to either the VWM or the detection task. This pattern of results is consistent with a central sampling attentional rhythm which allocates shared attentional resources both to the flow of external visual stimulation and also to the internal maintenance of visual information.

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