Object features fail independently in visual working memory: evidence for a probabilistic feature-store model.

ABSTRACT: The world is composed of features and objects and this structure may influence what is stored in working memory. It is widely believed that the content of memory is object-based: Memory stores integrated objects, not independent features. We asked participants to report the color and orientation of an object and found that memory errors were largely independent: Even when one of the object's features was entirely forgotten, the other feature was often reported. This finding contradicts object-based models and challenges fundamental assumptions about the organization of information in working memory. We propose an alternative framework involving independent self-sustaining representations that may fail probabilistically and independently for each feature. This account predicts that the degr

SUBMITTER: Fougnie D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3279121 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature