Selective storage and maintenance of an object's features in visual working memory.
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.
Woodman
Geoffrey F
GF
Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37240-1103, USA. geoffrey.f.woodman@vanderbilt.edu
Vogel
Edward K
EK
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D003118:Color Perception / Q000502:physiology; D003463:Cues; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010470:Perceptual Masking / Q000502:physiology; D011601:Psychophysics; D012153:Retention, Psychology / Q000502:physiology