Location and binding in visual working memory
DOI: 10.3758/bf03195932
URL: https://doi.org/10.3758/bf03195932
archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified
Summary
Treisman & Zhang (Memory & Cognition, 2006) examined whether features (color, shape) and their bindings to locations are stored together or separately in visual working memory. Across five change-detection experiments, participants saw three colored shapes/letters, then a probe display in which the probe could retain or change locations and bindings. Articulatory suppression prevented verbal coding. Features were recognized well even when locations were changed, but binding memory deteriorated when locations changed, indicating that locations play a central role in maintaining bound objects in VWM while features can be accessed somewhat independently from feature maps.
Key finding
Visual working memory holds features in distributed feature maps that survive location changes, but binding of features into integrated objects is location-dependent: changing locations selectively impairs binding memory while leaving feature memory largely intact.
Methodology
lab_experiment
Sample size: 16
Quality score: 5 / 5