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Gepubliceerd in:

27-10-2018 | Original Article

Attention scaling modulates the effective capacity of visual sensory memory

Auteurs: Leon Gmeindl, Lisa N. Jefferies, Steven Yantis

Gepubliceerd in: Psychological Research | Uitgave 4/2020

Abstract

Visual sensory memory (VSM) has a high capacity, but its contents are fleeting. Recent evidence that the breadth of attention strongly influences the efficiency of visual processing suggests that it might also modulate the effective capacity of VSM. We manipulated the breadth of attention with different cue sizes and used the partial-report technique to estimate the capacity of VSM. Whether attention was deployed voluntarily or captured by a salient cue, narrowly focused attention increased the effective capacity of VSM. This study reveals, for the first time, a direct influence of the breadth of attention on the effective capacity of VSM.

vorige artikel Individual movement features during prism adaptation correlate with after-effects and interlimb transfer

volgende artikel Explicit knowledge of sensory non-redundancy can reduce the strength of multisensory integration

It is worth noting that the present estimates of effective memory capacity, although expressed in terms of number of items or characters (Sperling, 1960), may simply reflect the total amount of stimulus information (e.g., bits) stored in VSM. The improved quality of visual information (e.g., increased detail) resulting from a narrow focus of attention should nevertheless result in a greater number of the display items being accurately reported.

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Titel: Attention scaling modulates the effective capacity of visual sensory memory
Auteurs: Leon Gmeindl
Lisa N. Jefferies
Steven Yantis
Publicatiedatum: 27-10-2018
Uitgeverij: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Gepubliceerd in: Psychological Research / Uitgave 4/2020
Print ISSN: 0340-0727
Elektronisch ISSN: 1430-2772
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-018-1114-4

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