Capacity & attention limits on visual short-term memory

描述(申请人提供)：拟议的研究旨在帮助我们理解在视觉短期记忆中编码和存储信息的过程，并涉及四个具体目标。第一个目的是研究视觉短时记忆中信息限制的性质。将使用多种方法来测量每个对象存储的信息量，以及对于几种不同类别的对象，可以在内存中存储的最大对象数量。如果可以存储在内存中的信息总量是有限制的，那么随着每个对象存储的信息量增加，可以存储在内存中的对象总数应该会减少。第二个具体目标是确定对象的基本特征是否可以选择性地编码到内存中。在执行特定目标特征(例如，颜色)的记忆任务时，受试者将意外地在无关特征(例如，方位)上进行测试。如果只存储与任务相关的特征，那么与任务无关的特征的记忆性能应该是有可能的。第三个具体目标是确定视觉记忆是否比表面特征更有效地存储边界特征。最后，第四个具体目标是调查注意选择限制和记忆能力之间的关系。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed studies are intended to contribute to our understanding of the processes of encoding and storing information in visual short-term memory and is concerned with four specific aims. The first aim is to investigate the nature of the information limit on visual short-term memory. Multiple methods will be employed to measure the amount of information stored per object and the maximum number of objects that can be stored in memory for several different classes of objects. If there is a limit to the total amount of information that can be stored in memory, then as the amount of information stored per object increases, the total number of objects that can be stored in memory should decrease. The second specific aim is to determine whether basic features of an object can be selectively encoded into memory. While performing a memory task for a particular target feature (e.g., color) subjects will be tested unexpectedly on an irrelevant feature (e.g., orientation). If only task-relevant features are stored, then memory performance for task-irrelevant features should be at chance. The third specific aim is to determine whether visual memory stores boundary features more efficiently than surface features. Finally, the fourth specific aim is to investigate the relationship between limits on attentional selection and memory capacity.