title: Feature-specific encoding flexibility in visual working memory.
abstract: The current study examined selective encoding in visual working memory by systematically investigating interference from task-irrelevant features. The stimuli were objects defined by three features (color, shape, and location), and during a delay period, any of the features could switch between two objects. Additionally, single- and whole-probe trials were randomized within experimental blocks to investigate effects of memory retrieval. A series of relevant-feature switch detection tasks, where one feature was task-irrelevant, showed that interference from the task-irrelevant feature was only observed in the color-shape task, suggesting that color and shape information could be successfully filtered out, but location information could not, even when location was a task-irrelevant feature. Therefore, although location information is added to object representations independent of task demands in a relatively automatic manner, other features (e.g., color, shape) can be flexibly added to object representations.
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. aki.kon10@gmail.com
authors.forename: Aki
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kondo
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Saiki
mesh_terms: D003116:Color; D006801:Humans; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*