Representation Dynamics Underlying Human Information Compression in Visual Working Memory

短期记忆（STM）的容量和持续时间都非常有限，是高级认知功能的重要指标。虽然传统上被认为是与长期记忆（LTM）分开的，但最近的提议挑战了这一惯例，引用了内侧颞叶（MTL）等结构，更值得注意的是海马体，这些结构与STM和LTM处理有关。一种新的信息理论认为，STM中的信息是由LTM中先前的信息所塑造的一种编码。具体而言，关于输入的统计结构的知识允许压缩，因此在STM中更有效地存储。从信息而不是物体或特征的角度理解STM容量可以重新定义STM容量的极限，另外还可以解释STM和LTM之间的信息传输。尽管如此，压缩信息的表示格式和LTM参与的机制尚不清楚。该项目致力于解决这些限制，利用行为，计算和神经成像方法的混合方法。

Profoundly limited in both capacity and duration, short-term memory (STM) is a crucial indicator of high-level cognitive functioning. While traditionally regarded as separate from long-term memory (LTM), more recent proposals challenged this convention citing structures, such as the medial temporal lobe(MTL), and more notably the hippocampus, which have been linked to both STM and LTM processing. However, the nature of limiting factors and interactions between LTM and STM are a subject of critical dispute.A novel information theoretical posits that information in STM is represented as a code that is shaped by previous information in LTM. Specifically, knowledge about the statistical structure of the input allows for compression and therefore more efficient storage in STM. Understanding STM capacity in terms ofinformation rather than objects or features could redefine the limits of STM capacity, additionally providing an account of how information is transferred between STM and LTM. Still, the representational format of compressed information and the mechanism of LTM involvement are unclear. This project endeavours to address those limitations, utilising a mixed approach of behavioural, computational, and neuroimaging methods.