Object-based grouping benefits without integrated feature representations in visual working memory
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Object-based grouping benefits without integrated feature representations in visual working memory Siyi Chen 1
&
Anna Kocsis 1 & Heinrich R. Liesefeld 1 & Hermann J. Müller 1 & Markus Conci 1
Accepted: 16 September 2020 # The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Visual working memory (VWM) is typically considered to represent complete objects—that is, separate parts of an object are maintained as bound objects. Yet it remains unclear whether and how the features of disparate parts are integrated into a wholeobject memory representation. Using a change detection paradigm, the present study investigated whether VWM performance varies as a function of grouping strength for features that either determine the grouped object (orientation) or that are not directly grouping relevant (color). Our results showed a large grouping benefit for grouping-relevant orientation features and, additionally, a much smaller, albeit reliable, benefit for grouping-irrelevant color features when both were potentially task relevant. By contrast, when color was the only task-relevant feature, no grouping benefit from the orientation feature was revealed both under lower or relatively high demands for precision. Together, these results indicate that different features of an object are stored independently in VWM; and an emerging, higher-order grouping structure does not automatically lead to an integrated representation of all available features of an object. Instead, an object benefit depends on the specific task demands, which may generate a linked, task-dependent representation of independent features. Keywords Visual working memory . Kanizsa figure . Object-based representation . Feature-specific representation
Organizing the retinal image into coherent and meaningful objects is one of the fundamental operations of human vision. Gestalt principles, such as grouping by proximity, similarity, and good continuation, support the perceptual organization of the ambient array and make grouped objects appear to “belong together” and be processed as a whole. For example, in the Kanizsa figure (Kanizsa 1955; Fig. 1a, grouped), the presentation of Pac-Man-shaped inducer elements gives rise to the perception of an integrated star-shaped object, which is perceived as lying in front of the adjacent circular elements. Thus, in this example, spatial grouping processes effectively combine disparate parts to form a complete illusory figure. This operation of binding smaller units into integrated whole objects supports the efficient structuring of incoming sensory information, thereby reducing capacity limitations in visual working memory (VWM; Delvenne & Bruyer, 2006; Luck & Vogel, 1997; Morey, 2019; Morey, Cong, Zheng, * Siyi Chen [email protected] 1
Allgemeine und Experimentelle Psychologie, Department Psychologie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Leopoldstr 13, D-80802 München, Germany
Price, & Morey, 2015; Nie, Müller, & Conci, 2017; Peterson & Berryhill, 2013; Quinlan & Cohen, 2012; Vogel, Woodman, & Luck, 2001; Zhang & Luck, 2008). For instance,
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