A configural effect in visual short-term memory for features from different parts of an object.

Full Abstract

Previous studies have shown that change detection performance is improved when the visual display holds features (e.g., a colour and an orientation) that are grouped into different parts of the same object compared to when they are all spatially separated (Xu, 2002a, 2002b). These findings indicate that visual short-term memory (VSTM) encoding can be "object based". Recently, however, it has been demonstrated that changing the orientation of an item could affect the spatial configuration of the display (Jiang, Chun, & Olson, 2004), which may have an important influence on change detection. The perceptual grouping of features into an object obviously reduces the amount of distinct spatial relations in a display and hence the complexity of the spatial configuration. In the present study, we ask whether the object-based encoding benefit observed in previous studies may reflect the use of configural coding rather than the outcome of a true object-based effect. The results show that when configural cues are removed, the object-based encoding benefit remains for features (i.e., colour and orientation) from different parts of an object, but is significantly reduced. These findings support the view that memory for features from different parts of an object can benefit from object-based encoding, but the use of configural coding significantly helps enlarge this effect.

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Author information

Author/s: Delvenne, Jean-François (JF); Bruyer, Raymond (R);

Affiliation: Catholic University of Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. jean-francois.delvenne(-atsign-)psp.ucl.ac.be

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Quarterly journal of experimental psychology (2006) (Q J Exp Psychol (Colchester)), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Sep; vol 59 (issue 9) : pp 1567-80

Dates: Created 2006/07/28; Completed 2006/11/03; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 16873109, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adolescent
Adult
Analysis of Variance
Color Perception - physiology
Cues
Female
Humans
Male

Male
Memory, Short-Term - physiology
Orientation - physiology
Pattern Recognition, Visual - physiology
Space Perception - physiology
Students - psychology
Task Performance and Analysis
Visual Perception - physiology

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