Complexity effects in visuo-spatial working memory: Implications for the role of long-term memory

Abstract

Several studies have shown that the capacity of visuo-spatial working memory is limited by complexity. Using a variant of the Corsi blocks task, this paper investigated the effect of complexity of the to-be-remembered path on visuo-spatial memory span. Redundancy was determined by three Gestalt principles: symmetry, repetition and continuation. Experiment 1 revealed an effect of path complexity. The subsequent experiments explored whether the superiority for recall of structured over complex paths can be attributed solely to the operation of visuo-spatial working memory, or whether it also reflects the use of long-term knowledge.Experiment 2 demonstrated that the effect of complexity remained, even when the mechanisms for visuo-spatial coding were removed by a secondary visuo-spatial task. In Experiments 3 and 4 subjects were trained in the recall of complex paths. This led to the creation of long-term memory representations for these paths, as shown by an improvement in their span, and a concomitant lack of transfer to new paths. Finally, Experiment 5 showed that one prior repetition of a complex path was sufficient to produce specific and long-term learning effects. These results point to the involvement of long-term memory processes in the temporary retention of visuo-spatial material for which representations exist in long-term memory. They also suggest that the effect of complexity may provide a tractable technique for investigating the mechanisms underlying the limits of visuo-spatial short-term storage.LTM Processes in Visuo-spatial WM 3

Creation of visual long-term memory

“…The present results are in agreement with the previous findings that the capacity of WM can be expanded by chunking the stimuli on the basis of information stored in LTM (Chase & Ericsson, 1981;Chase & Simon, 1973;Craik & Lockhart, 1972;Gobet & Simon, 1998;Kemps, 2001;Miller, 1956). However, we have no direct evidence that chunking-based integration occurred in the present study.…”

Gestalt Effects in Visual Working Memory

“…These data support and largely extend the existing evidence (e.g., Jiang et al, 2000;Kemps, 2001;Peterson & Berryhill, 2013;Woodman et al, 2003;Xu & Chun, 2007) showing that Gestalt principles of perceptual organization, like the tendency to perceive and interpret environment in the simple, orderly, and regular way (Law of Pragnanz), and the influence of such attributes of perceptual objects as proximity, similarity, closure, and continuity for their grouping into coherent wholes, which are well-known to organize visual perception, influence also the active maintenance and access of information in VWM during the absence of perceptual stimulation. These results have crucial significance for our understanding of the mechanisms and function of one of the crucial elements of human mind architecture -working memory (i.e., its visual component).…”

“…Kemps (2001), using the Corsi blocks test (tapping manually a set of objects from the 5 × 5 matrix in the same sequence as they were previously highlighted), has demonstrated that the recall was better when the sequence was spatially symmetrical than it was not. This result was later replicated by Rossi-Arnaud, Pierroni, and Baddeley (2006), who additionally showed that symmetry along the vertical axis was more effective than along the horizontal and diagonal axis, although all three types of symmetry increased recall as long as the target items were highlighted simultaneously (as this facilitated symmetry detection).…”

Spatial span under translation: A study of reference frames

“…Taken together, the studies suggest that organizing principles are used to describe a path or trajectory across a sequence of locations. Simple or redundant paths are easier to encode and remember than less predictable ones (see, e.g., Kemps, 2001;Parmentier, Elford, & Mayberry, 2005;SchumannHengsteler, Strobl, & Zoelch, 2004). A third type of investigation has looked for grouping effects in spatial span by clustering the spatial locations and manipulating the convergence of temporal and spatial orders (see, e.g., De Lillo, 2004;Smyth & Scholey, 1994).…”