Selective storage and maintenance of an object's features in visual working memory.

Full Abstract

It has been shown that we have a highly capacity-limited representational space with which to store objects in visual working memory. However, most objects are composed of multiple feature attributes, and it is unknown whether observers can voluntarily store a single attribute of an object without necessarily storing all of its remaining features. In this study, we used a masking paradigm to measure the efficiency of encoding, and neurophysiological recordings to directly measure visual working memory maintenance while subjects viewed multifeature objects and were required to remember only a single feature or all of the features of the objects. We found that measures of both encoding and maintenance varied systematically as a function of which object features were task relevant. These experiments show that individuals can control which features of an object are selectively stored in working memory.

Author information

Author/s: Woodman, Geoffrey F (GF); Vogel, Edward K (EK);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37240-1103, USA. geoffrey.f.woodman(-atsign-)vanderbilt.edu

Grants: F32-EY015043 (Agency:NEI NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

Journal: Psychonomic bulletin & review (Psychon Bull Rev), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Feb; vol 15 (issue 1) : pp 223-9

Dates: Created 2008/07/08; Completed 2008/11/05;

PMID: 18605507, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

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

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