The incidental binding of color and shape is insensitive to the perceptual load

Abstract

The binding of information in visual short-term memory may occur incidentally when irrelevant information for the task at hand is stored together with relevant information. We investigated the process of the incidental conjunction of color and shape (Exp1) and its potential association with the selection of relevant information to the memory task (Exp2). The results in Exp1 show that color and shape are incidentally and asymmetrically conjugated: color interferes with the recognition of shape; however, shape does not interfere with the recognition of color. In Exp2, we investigated whether an increase in perceptual load would eliminate the processing of irrelevant information. The results of this experiment show that even with a high perceptual load, the incidental conjunction is not affected, and color remains to interfere with shape recognition, suggesting that the incidental conjunction is an automatic process.