Perceptual Grouping Benefits in Visual Working Memory
Presentation Type
Paper
Abstract
Researchers have disagreed on the factors that determine visual working memory (VWM) capacity. Luck & Vogel (1997) suggested that capacity is object based, while others found that the general cognitive load of a display influences VWM capacity (Brady, Konkle & Alvarez, 2011). For example, a display with complex objects leads to fewer objects being remembered (Alvarez & Cavanagh, 2004). Alternatively, grouping by Gestalt principles such as connectedness and proximity can influence the perception of a display and benefit VWM capacity (Woodman, Vecera & Luck, 2003). These grouping advantages are believed to develop from the object benefit that is often observed in VWM (Xu 2006). Grouping by closure promotes the perception of a coherent object without physical connections; however, it has not been investigated in VWM. We evaluated grouping by closure and proximity to determine whether grouping by closure provides similar benefits in VWM capacity as previously seen. Four L-shaped features were grouped in tilted clusters to either form the perception of an object or not, with a set size of either four (16 L features) or six clusters (24 L features). Following a brief mask (1000 ms), the orientation of one cluster was changed (tilted +20 or -20 degrees) on half the trials. Participants were more accurate to report the change when features induced a sense of closure (59% set size four, 55% set size six) compared to when they did not (54% set size four, 51% set size six), suggesting that closure affords better VWM benefits than proximity.
Perceptual Grouping Benefits in Visual Working Memory
Researchers have disagreed on the factors that determine visual working memory (VWM) capacity. Luck & Vogel (1997) suggested that capacity is object based, while others found that the general cognitive load of a display influences VWM capacity (Brady, Konkle & Alvarez, 2011). For example, a display with complex objects leads to fewer objects being remembered (Alvarez & Cavanagh, 2004). Alternatively, grouping by Gestalt principles such as connectedness and proximity can influence the perception of a display and benefit VWM capacity (Woodman, Vecera & Luck, 2003). These grouping advantages are believed to develop from the object benefit that is often observed in VWM (Xu 2006). Grouping by closure promotes the perception of a coherent object without physical connections; however, it has not been investigated in VWM. We evaluated grouping by closure and proximity to determine whether grouping by closure provides similar benefits in VWM capacity as previously seen. Four L-shaped features were grouped in tilted clusters to either form the perception of an object or not, with a set size of either four (16 L features) or six clusters (24 L features). Following a brief mask (1000 ms), the orientation of one cluster was changed (tilted +20 or -20 degrees) on half the trials. Participants were more accurate to report the change when features induced a sense of closure (59% set size four, 55% set size six) compared to when they did not (54% set size four, 51% set size six), suggesting that closure affords better VWM benefits than proximity.