Object-based selection in visual working memory

AbstractAttentional mechanisms in perception can operate over locations, features, or objects. However, people direct attention not only towards information in the external world, but also to information maintained in working memory. To what extent do perception and memory draw on similar selection properties? Here we examined whether principles of object-based attention can also hold true in visual working memory. Experiment 1 examined whether object structure guides selection independently of spatial distance. In a memory updating task, participants encoded two rectangular bars with colored ends before updating two colors during maintenance. Memory updates were faster for two equidistant colors on the same object than on different objects. Experiment 2 examined whether selection of a single object feature spreads to other features within the same object. Participants memorized two sequentially presented Gabors, and a retro-cue indicated which object and feature dimension (color or orientation) would be most relevant to the memory test. We found stronger effects of object selection than feature selection: accuracy was higher for the uncued feature in the same object than the cued feature in the other object. Together these findings demonstrate effects of object-based attention on visual working memory, at least when object-based representations are encouraged, and suggest shared attentional mechanisms across perception and memory.

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The Neural Consequences of Attentional Prioritization of Internal Representations in Visual Working Memory

10.1101/606665 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Muhammet I. Sahan ◽

Andrew D. Sheldon ◽

Bradley R. Postle

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Visual Working Memory ◽

Visual Target ◽

Human Subjects ◽

Occipital Cortex ◽

Neural Representation ◽

Stimulus Category ◽

Object Based ◽

Stimulus Offset ◽

Selection Of

AbstractAlthough humans can hold multiple items in mind simultaneously, the contents of working memory (WM) can be selectively prioritized to effectively guide behavior in response to rapidly changing exigencies in the environment. Neural evidence for this is seen in studies of dual serial retrocuing of two items held concurrently in visual WM, in which evidence in occipital cortex for the active neural representation of the cued item increases, and evidence for the uncued item decreases, often to levels indistinguishable from empirical baseline. Although this pattern is reminiscent of the effects of selective attention on visual perception, the extent to which more subtle principles of visual attention may also apply to visual working memory remains uncertain. In the present study we explored whether the well-characterized “same-object” benefit in visual target detection, attributed to object-based attention (e.g., Duncan, 1984; Egly, Driver, & Rafal, 1994), may also be observed for information held in visual WM. fMRI data were collected while human subjects (male and female) performed a multi-step serial retrocuing task in which they first viewed two two-dimensional sample stimuli comprised of colored moving dots. After stimulus offset, an initialrelevance cuethen indicated whether both dimensions of only the first or only the second object, or only the color or only the direction-of-motion of both objects, would be relevant for the remainder of the trial, which then proceeded with the standard dual serial retrocuing procedure. Thus, on “object-relevant” trials, the ensuingpriority cuesprompted the selection of one from among two features (“color” or “direction”) bound to the same object, whereas on “feature-relevant” trials thepriority cuesprompted the selection of one from among two features each belonging to a different object. Results of analyses with multivariate inverted encoding models (IEM) revealed a same-object benefit on object-relevant trials: Whereas, on feature-relevant trials, the firstpriority cuetriggered a strengthening of the neural representation of the cued feature and a concomitant weakening-to-baseline of the uncued feature; on object-relevant trials the cued item remained active but did not increase in strength, and the uncued item weakened, but remained significantly elevated throughout the delay period. Of additional interest, on both types of trials the secondpriority cueprompted an active recoding of the uncued item into a different neural representation, perhaps to minimize its ability to interfere with recall of the cued item. Finally, although stimulus-specific representation in parietal and frontal cortex was weak and uneven, these regions closely tracked the higher-order information of which stimulus category was relevant for behavior at all points during the trial, indicating an important role in controlling the prioritization of information in visual working memory.

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EXPRESS: Object-based Encoding in Visual Working Memory: A Critical Revisit

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology ◽

10.1177/17470218211052502 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 174702182110525

Author(s):

Quan Gu ◽

Alessandro Dai ◽

Tian Ye ◽

Bo Huang ◽

Xiqian Lu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Visual Perception ◽

Visual Working Memory ◽

Visual Information ◽

High Capacity ◽

The Other ◽

Irrelevant Feature ◽

Object Based ◽

Feature Dimension ◽

Task Irrelevant

Visual working memory (VWM) is responsible for the temporal retention and manipulation of visual information. It has been suggested that VWM employs an object-based encoding (OBE) manner to extract highly-discriminable information from visual perception: Whenever one feature dimension of the objects is selected for entry into VWM, the other task-irrelevant highly-discriminable dimension is also extracted into VWM involuntarily. However, the task-irrelevant feature in OBE studies might reflect a high capacity fragile VWM trace (FVWM for short) that stores maskable sensory representations. To directly compare the VWM storage hypothesis and the FVWM storage hypothesis, we used a unique characteristic of FVWM that the representations in FVWM could be erased by backward masks presented at the original locations of the memory array. We required participants to memorize the orientations of three colored bars while ignoring their colors, and presented backward masks during the VWM maintenance interval. In four experiments, we consistently observed that the OBE occurs regardless of the presentation of the backward masks, except when even the task-relevant features in VWM were significantly interrupted by immediate backward masks, suggesting that the task-irrelevant features of objects are stored in VWM rather than in FVWM.

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Different features are stored independently in visual working memory but mediated by object-based representations

10.31234/osf.io/axvrh ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Yuri Markov ◽

Natalia Tiurina ◽

Igor Utochkin

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Visual Working Memory ◽

Set Size ◽

Object Based ◽

Feature Based ◽

Different Dimensions ◽

Feature Dimension ◽

Types Of Information ◽

Recall Probability ◽

Integrated Or

The question whether visual working memory (VWM) stores individual features or bound objects as basic units is actively debated. Evidence exists for both feature-based and object-based storages, as well as hierarchically organized representations maintaining both types of information at different levels. One argument for feature-based storage is that features belonging to different dimensions (e.g., color and orientations) can be stored without interference suggesting independent capacities for every dimension. Here, whether the lack of cross-dimensional interference reflects genuinely independent feature storages or mediated by common objects. In three experiments, participants remembered and recalled the colors and orientations of sets of objects. We independently manipulated set sizes within each feature dimension (making colors and orientations either identical or differing across objects). Critically, we assigned to-be-remembered colors and orientations either to same spatially integrated or to different spatially separated objects. We found that the precision and recall probability within each dimension was not affected be set size manipulations in a different dimension when the features belonged to integrated objects. However, manipulations with color set sizes did affect orientation memory when the features were separated. We conclude therefore that different feature dimensions can be encoded and stored independently but the advantage of the independent storages are mediated at the object-based level. This conclusion is consistent with the idea of hierarchically organized VWM.

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Individual differences in working memory capacity are unrelated to the magnitudes of retrocue benefits

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-86515-5 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Chaoxiong Ye ◽

Qianru Xu ◽

Xinyang Liu ◽

Piia Astikainen ◽

Yongjie Zhu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Individual Differences ◽

Significant Positive Correlation ◽

Working Memory Capacity ◽

Memory Capacity ◽

Capacity Measurement ◽

Object Based ◽

Feature Dimension ◽

The Relationship ◽

Internal Attention

AbstractPrevious studies have associated visual working memory (VWM) capacity with the use of internal attention. Retrocues, which direct internal attention to a particular object or feature dimension, can improve VWM performance (i.e., retrocue benefit, RCB). However, so far, no study has investigated the relationship between VWM capacity and the magnitudes of RCBs obtained from object-based and dimension-based retrocues. The present study explored individual differences in the magnitudes of object- and dimension-based RCBs and their relationships with VWM capacity. Participants completed a VWM capacity measurement, an object-based cue task, and a dimension-based cue task. We confirmed that both object- and dimension-based retrocues could improve VWM performance. We also found a significant positive correlation between the magnitudes of object- and dimension-based RCB indexes, suggesting a partly overlapping mechanism between the use of object- and dimension-based retrocues. However, our results provided no evidence for a correlation between VWM capacity and the magnitudes of the object- or dimension-based RCBs. Although inadequate attention control is usually assumed to be associated with VWM capacity, the results suggest that the internal attention mechanism for using retrocues in VWM retention is independent of VWM capacity.

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Simultaneous estimation procedure reveals the object-based, but not space-based, dependence of visual working memory representations

Cognition ◽

10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104579 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 209 ◽

pp. 104579

Author(s):

Hirotaka Sone ◽

Min-Suk Kang ◽

Aedan Y. Li ◽

Hiroyuki Tsubomi ◽

Keisuke Fukuda

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Visual Working Memory ◽

Estimation Procedure ◽

Simultaneous Estimation ◽

Object Based ◽

Memory Representations

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Different features are stored independently in visual working memory but mediated by object-based representations

Acta Psychologica ◽

10.1016/j.actpsy.2019.05.003 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 197 ◽

pp. 52-63 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Yuri A. Markov ◽

Natalia A. Tiurina ◽

Igor S. Utochkin

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Visual Working Memory ◽

Object Based

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Comparing the prioritisation of items and feature-dimensions in visual working memory

10.1101/863191 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jasper E. Hajonides ◽

Freek van Ede ◽

Mark G. Stokes ◽

Anna C. Nobre

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Visual Working Memory ◽

Recall Performance ◽

Relevant Information ◽

Recall Accuracy ◽

Sensory Inputs ◽

Item Level ◽

Feature Based ◽

Feature Dimension ◽

Directing Attention

AbstractSelective attention can be directed not only to external sensory inputs, but also to internal sensory representations held within visual working memory (VWM). To date, this has been studied predominantly following retrospective cues directing attention to particular items, or their locations in memory. In addition to item-level attentional prioritisation, recent studies have shown that selectively attending to feature dimensions in VWM can also improve memory recall performance. However, no study to date has directly compared item-based and feature-based attention in VWM, nor their neural bases. Here, we compared the benefits of retrospective cues (retro-cues) that were directed either at a multi-feature item or at a feature-dimension that was shared between two spatially segregated items. Behavioural results revealed qualitatively similar attentional benefits in both recall accuracy and response time, but also showed that cueing benefits were larger following item cues. Concurrent EEG measurements further revealed a similar attenuation of posterior alpha oscillations following both item and feature retro-cues when compared to non-informative, neutral retro-cues. We argue that attention can act flexibly to prioritise the most relevant information – at either the item or the feature-level – to optimise ensuing memory-based task performance, and we discuss the implications of the observed commonalities and differences between item-level and feature-level prioritisation in VWM.

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