The Influence Of Similar,spatial Proximity And Working Memory Load To The Representation Of Visual Working Memory

In our daily life,our experience suggests that we think we have remembered something however when we recall them we will recall other things.This may associates with the processing mechanism of visual working memory.Visual working memory is a limited-capacity system.The system holds a small number of objects online simultaneously.It means that the objects will compete for limited storage resources.Recently,researchers begin to pay attention to how the properties of object influence the interaction between objects in visual working memory.However,how similarity and spatial proximity influence the representation of objects in visual working memory.When the stimulates are complex,whether this effects still exist under different working memory load.All of the questions are unclear.In our study,we will examine the effect of similarity,spatial proximity and working memory load on the representation of objects in visual working memory,so that we can further reveal the representation mechanism of visual working memory.The study included three experiments.In experiment 1,we used similarity of object2(similarity,dissimilarity)×space distance 2(near,far)two-factors within subjects design,examining the effect of similarity and spatial proximity on the representation of objects in visual working memory by simultaneous presentation method.In experiment 2,we used similarity of object 2(similarity,dissimilarity)×space distance 2(near,far)two-factors within subjects design,examining whether the effect of similarity can override the negative effect of spatial proximity.In this experiment,we used sequential(rather than simultaneous)memory display,so that we can rule out the effect of spatial configuration.In experiment 3,we used working memory load 2×(low,high)similarity of object 2(similarity,dissimilarity)×space distance 2(near,far)three-factors within subjects design,examining the effect of similarity,spatial proximity and working memory load on the representation of objects in visual working memory.In this experiment,we used location report task and all the objects in each trial were similar or dissimilar.The results and conclusions are as follows.(1)In dissimilar condition,compared with the near space distance condition,the accuracy of far space distance condition was lower.In similar condition,there was no significant difference between near space distance condition and far space distance condition.So,similar effect can influence the effect of spatial proximity.Only when the objects is dissimilar,the negative effect of spatial proximity will exist.(2)The error rate of similar and far space distance condition was higher than dissimilar and near space distance condition.The effect of similar can override the negative effect of spatial proximity.(3)In low working memory load and dissimilar condition,compared with the far space distance condition,the error rate of far space distance condition was higher.In low working memory load and similar condition,there was no significant difference between near space distance condition and far space distance condition.In low working memory load,neither similar condition nor dissimilar condition,there was significant difference between near space distance condition and far space distance condition.So,when the stimulate is complex,the negative effect of spatial proximity is influenced by working memory load and effect of similar.The negative effect of spatial proximity emerges when the working memory load is low and the objects was dissimilar.