Serial position effects in 2-alternative forced choice recognition: Functional equivalence across visual and auditory modalities

Johnson, Andrew; Miles, Christopher

doi:10.1080/09658210802557711

“…Like change detection experiments, studies examining visual WM for serially presented items have tested recall in a binary fashion, assuming that each object in a sequence is either perfectly stored or entirely forgotten (Phillips and Christie, 1977; Smyth et al, 2005; Johnson and Miles, 2009). But this approach does not provide any information on the fidelity of stored representations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamic Updating of Working Memory Resources for Visual Objects

Gorgoraptis¹,

Catalão²,

Bays³

et al. 2011

Journal of Neuroscience

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Recent neurophysiological and imaging studies have investigated how neural representations underlying working memory (WM) are dynamically updated for objects presented sequentially. Although such studies implicate information encoded in oscillatory activity across distributed brain networks, interpretation of findings depends crucially on the underlying conceptual model of how memory resources are distributed.Here, we quantify the fidelity of human memory for sequences of colored stimuli of different orientation. The precision with which each orientation was recalled declined with increases in total memory load, but also depended on when in the sequence it appeared. When one item was prioritized, its recall was enhanced, but with corresponding decrements in precision for other objects. Comparison with the same number of items presented simultaneously revealed an additional performance cost for sequential display that could not be explained by temporal decay. Memory precision was lower for sequential compared with simultaneous presentation, even when each item in the sequence was presented at a different location.Importantly, stochastic modeling established this cost for sequential display was due to misbinding object features (color and orientation). These results support the view that WM resources can be dynamically and flexibly updated as new items have to be stored, but redistribution of resources with the addition of new items is associated with misbinding object features, providing important constraints and a framework for interpreting neural data.

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“…Broadly speaking, there have already been several studies of serial visual memory (Hay, Smyth, Hitch, & Horton, 2007; Johnson & Miles, 2009; Phillips & Christie, 1977; Smyth, Hay, Hitch, & Horton, 2005; Smyth & Scholey, 1996). These studies have revealed hints of primacy and recency effects when entire spatial sequences are reproduced from visual memory (Hay et al, 2007; Smyth et al, 2005; Smyth & Scholey, 1996).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sequential dynamics in visual short-term memory

Kool

¹

,

Conway

²

,

Turk‐Browne

³

2014

Atten Percept Psychophys

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Visual short-term memory (VSTM) is thought to help bridge across changes in visual input, and yet many studies of VSTM employ static displays. Here we investigate how VSTM copes with sequential input. In particular, we characterize the temporal dynamics of several different components of VSTM performance, including: storage probability, precision, variability in precision, guessing, and swapping. We used a variant of the continuous-report VSTM task developed for static displays, quantifying the contribution of each component with statistical likelihood estimation, as a function of serial position and set size. In Experiments 1 and 2, storage probability did not vary by serial position for small set sizes, but showed a small primacy effect and a robust recency effect for larger set sizes; precision did not vary by serial position or set size. In Experiment 3, the recency effect was shown to reflect an increased likelihood of swapping out items from earlier serial positions and swapping in later items, rather than an increased rate of guessing for earlier items. Indeed, a model that incorporated responding to non-targets provided a better fit to these data than alternative models that did not allow for swapping or that tried to account for variable precision. These findings suggest that VSTM is updated in a first-in-first-out manner, and they bring VSTM research into closer alignment with classical working memory research that focuses on sequential behavior and interference effects.

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“…Broadly speaking, there have already been several studies of serial visual memory (Hay, Smyth, Hitch, & Horton, 2007;Johnson & Miles, 2009;Phillips & Christie, 1977;Smyth, Hay, Hitch, & Horton, 2005;Smyth & Scholey, 1996). These studies have revealed hints of primacy and recency effects when entire spatial sequences are reproduced from visual memory (Hay et al, 2007;Smyth et al, 2005;Smyth & Scholey, 1996).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Sequential Dynamics of Visual Short-Term Memory

Kool¹,

Conway²,

2011

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Visual short-term memory (VSTM) is thought to help bridge across changes in visual input, and yet many studies of VSTM employ static displays. Here we investigate how VSTM copes with sequential input. In particular, we characterize the temporal dynamics of several different components of VSTM performance, including: storage probability, precision, variability in precision, guessing, and swapping. We used a variant of the continuous-report VSTM task developed for static displays, quantifying the contribution of each component with statistical likelihood estimation, as a function of serial position and set size. In Experiments 1 and 2, storage probability did not vary by serial position for small set sizes, but showed a small primacy effect and a robust recency effect for larger set sizes; precision did not vary by serial position or set size. In Experiment 3, the recency effect was shown to reflect an increased likelihood of swapping out items from earlier serial positions and swapping in later items, rather than an increased rate of guessing for earlier items. Indeed, a model that incorporated responding to non-targets provided a better fit to these data than alternative models that did not allow for swapping or that tried to account for variable precision. These findings suggest that VSTM is updated in a first-in-first-out manner, and they bring VSTM research into closer alignment with classical working memory research that focuses on sequential behavior and interference effects.

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Serial position effects in 2-alternative forced choice recognition: Functional equivalence across visual and auditory modalities

Cited by 6 publications

References 15 publications

Dynamic Updating of Working Memory Resources for Visual Objects

Dynamic Updating of Working Memory Resources for Visual Objects

Sequential dynamics in visual short-term memory

The Sequential Dynamics of Visual Short-Term Memory

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