The Storage Mechanism Of Repeated Obiects In Visual Working Memory

Visual working memory (VWM), characterized by its limited capacity, has been under heated discussion in the field of psychology. Many studies concerning its capacity and storage mode have been done by using independent objects. However, there are usually strong associations between the input stimuli, and few studies have ever concerned the storage mechanism of repeated information in VWM. From evolutionary perspective, grouping and compression can help enlarge the number of objects which stored in VWM. In visual perception field correspondingly, various grouping principles were proposed (e.g. Gestalt and Booleanmap). Given the dynamic interaction between on-line visual perception and VWM, it is possible to predict a similar grouping mode in VWM during the storage of repeated information.Aimed at exploring how those similar objects are stored in VWM, and further speculating the grouping mode of the storage, we take Contralateral Delay Activity (CDA) as an index to reflect the representation maintenance in VWM.Three experiments were conducted. Adopting change-detection paradigm, Experiment1examined whether the repeated information was grouped in VWM or not. In Experiment2, we manipulated the proximity of the objects (i.e. to compromise the Gestalt principles) to further examine whether the repeated information grouped in VWM was based on Gestalt or Booleanmap principle. Finally in Experiment3, we excluded the influence of position to confirm the impact of grouping principle on the construction of VWM representation.The main findings are as follows:(1) Repeated information can be grouped in VWM(2) The repeated information grouped in VWM was not based on booleanmap principle;(3) Gestalt principle has great impact on the constrction of VWM representation.