Dynamic Shifts of Limited Working Memory Resources in Human Vision

by: Paul M Bays, Masud Husain

Science, Vol. 321, No. 5890. (8 August 2008), pp. 851-854.

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Abstract

Our ability to remember what we have seen is very limited. Most current views characterize this limit as a fixed number of items--only four objects--that can be held in visual working memory. We show that visual memory capacity is not fixed by the number of objects, but rather is a limited resource that is shared out dynamically between all items in the visual scene. This resource can be shifted flexibly between objects, with allocation biased by selective attention and toward targets of upcoming eye movements. The proportion of resources allocated to each item determines the precision with which it is remembered, a relation that we show is governed by a simple power law, allowing quantitative estimates of resource distribution in a scene. 10.1126/science.1158023

@article{citeulike:3101284, abstract = {Our ability to remember what we have seen is very limited. Most current views characterize this limit as a fixed number of items--only four objects--that can be held in visual working memory. We show that visual memory capacity is not fixed by the number of objects, but rather is a limited resource that is shared out dynamically between all items in the visual scene. This resource can be shifted flexibly between objects, with allocation biased by selective attention and toward targets of upcoming eye movements. The proportion of resources allocated to each item determines the precision with which it is remembered, a relation that we show is governed by a simple power law, allowing quantitative estimates of resource distribution in a scene. 10.1126/science.1158023}, author = {Bays, Paul M. and Husain, Masud }, citeulike-article-id = {3101284}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1158023}, journal = {Science}, keywords = {arash, bob, general, heather, jie, kristina, shiva, working-memory}, month = {August}, number = {5890}, pages = {851--854}, posted-at = {2008-08-08 15:47:52}, priority = {4}, title = {Dynamic Shifts of Limited Working Memory Resources in Human Vision}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1158023}, volume = {321}, year = {2008} }

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TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:3101284 L3 - citeulike-article-id:3101284 TI - Dynamic Shifts of Limited Working Memory Resources in Human Vision JF - Science VL - 321 IS - 5890 SP - 851 EP - 854 N2 - Our ability to remember what we have seen is very limited. Most current views characterize this limit as a fixed number of items--only four objects--that can be held in visual working memory. We show that visual memory capacity is not fixed by the number of objects, but rather is a limited resource that is shared out dynamically between all items in the visual scene. This resource can be shifted flexibly between objects, with allocation biased by selective attention and toward targets of upcoming eye movements. The proportion of resources allocated to each item determines the precision with which it is remembered, a relation that we show is governed by a simple power law, allowing quantitative estimates of resource distribution in a scene. 10.1126/science.1158023 KW - arash KW - bob KW - general KW - heather KW - jie KW - kristina KW - shiva KW - working-memory AU - Bays, Paul AU - Husain, Masud PY - 2008/08/08/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1158023 ER -

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