Simultaneous estimation procedure reveals object-based, but not space-based, dependence of visual working memory representations
Simultaneous estimation procedure reveals object-based, but not space-based, dependence of visual working memory representations
复制标题
同时估计过程揭示了视觉工作记忆表示的基于对象的依赖性，而不是基于空间的依赖性
DOI：
10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104579
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发表时间：
2021
期刊：
影响因子：
3.4
通讯作者：
K.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Sone;H.;Kang;M.-S.;Li;A. Y.;Tsubomi;H.;& Fukuda;K.
Visual working memory (VWM) allows us to actively represent a limited amount of visual information in mind. Although its severe capacity limit is widely accepted, researchers disagree on the nature of its representational unit. Object-based theories argue that VWM organizes feature representations into integrated representations, whereas feature-based theories argue that VWM represents visual features independently. Supporting a feature-based account of VWM, recent studies have demonstrated that features comprising an object can be forgotten independently. Although evidence of feature-based forgetting invalidates a pure object-based account of VWM that assumes perfect integration of feature representations, it is possible that feature representations may be organized in a dependent manner on the basis of objects when they exist in memory. Furthermore, many previous studies prompted participants to recall object features independently by sequentially displaying a response probe for each feature (i.e., sequential estimation procedure), and this task demand might have promoted the independence of feature representations in VWM. To test these possibilities, we created a novel task to simultaneously capture the representational quality of two features of the same object (i.e., simultaneous estimation procedure) and tested their dependence across the entire spectrum of representational quality. Here, we found that the quality of feature representations within the same object covaried reliably in both sequential and simultaneous estimation procedures, but this representational dependence was statistically stronger in the simultaneous estimation procedure than in the sequential estimation procedure. Furthermore, we confirmed that neither the shared spatial location nor simultaneous estimation of two features was sufficient to induce representational dependence in VWM. Thus, our results demonstrate that feature representations in VWM are organized in a dependent manner on the basis of objects, but the degree of dependence can vary based on the current task demand.
