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Abstract:
Using a simple change detection paradigm, Luck and Vogel
(1997) found that the capacity for visual working memory (VWM) was
about 4 items regardless of the set size of the display. Moreover,
this limitation was object based rather than feature based because
subjects remembered the same number of objects whether each object
had a single feature or multiple features that could vary. In an
attempt to replicate and extend the above results, we found that
(1) when set size was increased, the capacity for VWM did not
remain constant, but instead increased; (2) when two features
(e.g., color and orientation) of the same item were changed on a
given trial, the change was more likely to be detected than if only
one feature was changed. If VWM is purely object based (such that
all the features of an object are registered if the object is in
VWM), then changing more than one feature of the same object should
not improve change detection. The results modifies the Luck &
Vogel claim that VWM is based on a representation of (about) four
whole objects.
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