The strategic retention of task-relevant objects in visual working memory.

Maxcey-Richard, Ashleigh M.; Hollingworth, Andrew

doi:10.1037/a0029496

Cited by 53 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 82 publications

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“…Several researchers have assumed that inhibition is important to overcome prepotent responses and to prevent getting stuck in a task (Koch, Gade, Philipp, & Schuch, 2010;Mayr & Keele, 2000) or on an item (Klein, 2000;Maxcey-Richard & Hollingworth, 2012;Pratt, Kingstone, & Khoe, 1997). Phenomena such as inhibition of return (Klein, 2000) and response suppression (Henson, 1998;Hübner & Druey, 2006) suggest that leaving a once-selected representation behind is often accompanied by the suppression of that representation.…”

Section: Experiments 2: Defocused Information In Wm-the Intrusion Apprmentioning

confidence: 99%

Focused, unfocused, and defocused information in working memory.

Rerko¹,

Oberauer²

2013

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cogni

143

189

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The study investigated the effect of selection cues in working memory (WM) on the fate of not-selected contents of WM. Experiments 1A and 1B showed that focusing on 1 cued item in WM does not impair memory for the remaining items. The nonfocused items are maintained in WM even when this is not required by the task. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that items that were once focused in WM remain strengthened after the focus shifts away from them. When defocused items are presented as mismatching recognition probes, they are rejected better than other mismatching probes (Experiments 2 and 3). When a defocused item was later cued again, such that the focus had to shift back to it, that item was recognized better than an item cued for the first time (Experiment 3). The results support the distinction between mechanisms for temporary maintenance and the focus of attention in WM, and they challenge theories that explain maintenance and focusing by the same mechanisms, such as a limited number of slots or a limited resource. Keywords: working memory, attention, focusingOften, we have to hold several pieces of information in working memory (WM), but for a particular cognitive operation we need to focus on only a subset of them. What are the consequences of focusing for the remaining, unfocused information in WM, and what happens with the focused information once it is defocused later? In this article we investigate how focusing information affects nonfocused and defocused information in WM for visual information. We interpret the results within three theoretical frameworks for characterizing WM: theories assuming a discrete WM capacity (

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Section: Experiments 2: Defocused Information In Wm-the Intrusion Apprmentioning

confidence: 99%

Focused, unfocused, and defocused information in working memory.

Rerko¹,

Oberauer²

2013

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cogni

143

189

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Wheeler & Treisman [14] argued that feature binding in VWM requires sustained visual attention, but robust feature binding is observed under conditions that preclude sustained attention [15,16]. Finally, Griffin & Nobre [2] argued that selective maintenance of task-relevant objects in VWM depends on visual attention, but, again, robust prioritization is observed in the absence of sustained attention [17,18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The relationship between visual working memory and attention: retention of precise colour information in the absence of effects on perceptual selection

Hollingworth

Hwang

2013

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

Self Cite

113

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We examined the conditions under which a feature value in visual working memory (VWM) recruits visual attention to matching stimuli. Previous work has suggested that VWM supports two qualitatively different states of representation: an active state that interacts with perceptual selection and a passive (or accessory) state that does not. An alternative hypothesis is that VWM supports a single form of representation, with the precision of feature memory controlling whether or not the representation interacts with perceptual selection. The results of three experiments supported the dual-state hypothesis. We established conditions under which participants retained a relatively precise representation of a parcticular colour. If the colour was immediately task relevant, it reliably recruited attention to matching stimuli. However, if the colour was not immediately task relevant, it failed to interact with perceptual selection. Feature maintenance in VWM is not necessarily equivalent with feature-based attentional selection.

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“…Task-based biases in memory representations may arise solely from task-based differences in fixation allocation [26,27]. However, such task-based memory representations may also involve additional strategic control of encoding and/or retention of viewed information [22,[28][29][30]. Strategic control of information encoding and retention from fixations appears to involve prioritization of particular features for task-relevant objects, coupled with de-prioritization of the same object features for task-irrelevant objects [29].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Priorities for selection and representation in natural tasks

Tatler

Hirose

Finnegan

et al. 2013

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Selecting and remembering visual information is an active and competitive process. In natural environments, representations are tightly coupled to task. Objects that are task-relevant are remembered better due to a combination of increased selection for fixation and strategic control of encoding and/or retaining viewed information. However, it is not understood how physically manipulating objects when performing a natural task influences priorities for selection and memory. In this study, we compare priorities for selection and memory when actively engaged in a natural task with first-person observation of the same object manipulations. Results suggest that active manipulation of a task-relevant object results in a specific prioritization for object position information compared with other properties and compared with action observation of the same manipulations. Experiment 2 confirms that this spatial prioritization is likely to arise from manipulation rather than differences in spatial representation in real environments and the movies used for action observation. Thus, our findings imply that physical manipulation of task relevant objects results in a specific prioritization of spatial information about task-relevant objects, possibly coupled with strategic de-prioritization of colour memory for irrelevant objects.

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The strategic retention of task-relevant objects in visual working memory.

Cited by 53 publications

References 82 publications

Focused, unfocused, and defocused information in working memory.

Focused, unfocused, and defocused information in working memory.

The relationship between visual working memory and attention: retention of precise colour information in the absence of effects on perceptual selection

Priorities for selection and representation in natural tasks

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