Resources masquerading as slots: Flexible allocation of visual working memory

Cognitive Psychology
Chris DonkinRobert Taylor

Abstract

Whether the capacity of visual working memory is better characterized by an item-based or a resource-based account continues to be keenly debated. Here, we propose that visual working memory is a flexible resource that is sometimes deployed in a slot-like manner. We develop a computational model that can either encode all items in a memory set, or encode only a subset of those items. A fixed-capacity mnemonic resource is divided among the items in memory. When fewer items are encoded, they are each remembered with higher fidelity, but at the cost of having to rely on an explicit guessing process when probed about an item that is not in memory. We use the new model to test the prediction that participants will more often encode the entire set of items when the demands on memory are predictable.

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Citations

Jan 10, 2017·Topics in Cognitive Science·Bella Z VekslerWayne D Gray
Aug 16, 2017·The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology : QJEP·Amy L AtkinsonRichard J Allen
Sep 8, 2018·Journal of Vision·Tal Yatziv, Yoav Kessler
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Nov 27, 2019·ELife·Robert C Wilson, Anne Ge Collins
May 4, 2020·Cortex; a Journal Devoted to the Study of the Nervous System and Behavior·Sisi WangYixuan Ku
Sep 4, 2021·Attention, Perception & Psychophysics·Peter Shepherdson

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