Setting and changing feature priorities in visual short-term memory.
Many everyday tasks require prioritizing some visual features over competing ones, both during the selection from the rich sensory input and while maintaining information in visual short-term memory (VSTM). Here, we show that observers can change priorities in VSTM when, initially, they attended to a different feature. Observers reported from memory the orientation of one of two spatially interspersed groups of black and white gratings. Using colored pre-cues (presented before stimulus onset) and retro-cues (presented after stimulus offset) predicting the to-be-reported group, we manipulated observers' feature priorities independently during stimulus encoding and maintenance, respectively. Valid pre-cues reliably increased observers' performance (reduced guessing, increased report precision) as compared to neutral ones; invalid pre-cues had the opposite effect. Valid retro-cues also consistently improved performance (by reducing random guesses), even if the unexpected group suddenly became relevant (invalid-valid condition). Thus, feature-based attention can reshape priorities in VSTM protecting information that would otherwise be forgotten.
Department of Psychology, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany. zampeta@bccn-berlin.de.|Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Phillipstrasse 13, Haus 6, 10115, Berlin, Germany. zampeta@bccn-berlin.de.
Zampeta
Z
Kalogeropoulou
Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Akshay V
AV
Jagadeesh
Department of Psychology, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.|Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Phillipstrasse 13, Haus 6, 10115, Berlin, Germany.
Sven
S
Ohl
Department of Psychology, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.|Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Phillipstrasse 13, Haus 6, 10115, Berlin, Germany.
Martin
M
Rolfs
D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D003118:Color Perception; D003463:Cues; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005260:Female; D005364:Field Dependence-Independence; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D009949:Orientation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D055815:Young Adult
Feature-based attention; Mixture model; Retro-cue; Visual short-term memory