A note on the identification of change detection task models to measure storage capacity and attention in visual working memory

The change detection task is a common method for assessing the storage capacity of working memory, but estimates of memory capacity from this task can be distorted by lapses of attention. When combined with appropriate mathematical models, some versions of the change detection task make it possible to separately estimate working memory and the probability of attentional lapses. In principle, these models should allow researchers to isolate the effects of experimental manipulations, group differences, and individual differences on working memory capacity and on the rate of attentional lapses. However, the present research found that two variants of a widely accepted model of the change detection task are not mathematically identified.

[1]  E. Vogel,et al.  Visual Search Demands Dictate Reliance upon Working Memory Storage , 2011 .

[2]  Paul M Bays,et al.  The precision of visual working memory is set by allocation of a shared resource. , 2009, Journal of vision.

[3]  John A. Nelder,et al.  A Simplex Method for Function Minimization , 1965, Comput. J..

[4]  Nelson Cowan,et al.  Life-span development of visual working memory: when is feature binding difficult? , 2006, Developmental psychology.

[5]  Nelson Cowan,et al.  Working Memory Capacity , 2005 .

[6]  Paul M Bays,et al.  Noise in Neural Populations Accounts for Errors in Working Memory , 2014, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[7]  Jonathan Smallwood,et al.  Journal of Experimental Psychology : General The Role of Mind-Wandering in Measurements of General Aptitude , 2012 .

[8]  P. Cavanagh,et al.  The Capacity of Visual Short-Term Memory is Set Both by Visual Information Load and by Number of Objects , 2004, Psychological science.

[9]  E. Vogel,et al.  Quantity, not quality: the relationship between fluid intelligence and working memory capacity , 2010, Psychonomic bulletin & review.

[10]  John R. Anderson,et al.  ACT-R: A Theory of Higher Level Cognition and Its Relation to Visual Attention , 1997, Hum. Comput. Interact..

[11]  D E Kieras,et al.  A computational theory of executive cognitive processes and multiple-task performance: Part 1. Basic mechanisms. , 1997, Psychological review.

[12]  N. Cowan.  The magical number 4 in short-term memory: A reconsideration of mental storage capacity , 2001, Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

[13]  Jeffrey N Rouder,et al.  An assessment of fixed-capacity models of visual working memory , 2008, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[14]  Carly J. Leonard,et al.  The relationship between working memory capacity and broad measures of cognitive ability in healthy adults and people with schizophrenia. , 2013, Neuropsychology.

[15]  Randall W Engle,et al.  Working memory, short-term memory, and general fluid intelligence: a latent-variable approach. , 1999, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[16]  A. Tversky,et al.  Choices, Values, and Frames , 2000 .

[17]  W. Ma,et al.  Factorial comparison of working memory models. , 2014, Psychological review.

[18]  W. Ma,et al.  A detection theory account of change detection. , 2004, Journal of vision.

[19]  S. Luck,et al.  Discrete fixed-resolution representations in visual working memory , 2008, Nature.

[20]  R Core Team,et al.  R: A language and environment for statistical computing. , 2014 .

[21]  R. Cusack,et al.  Encoding strategy and not visual working memory capacity correlates with intelligence , 2009, Psychonomic bulletin & review.

[22]  A. Baddeley.  Working memory: looking back and looking forward , 2003, Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

[23]  Edward K. Vogel,et al.  The Contribution of Attentional Lapses to Individual Differences in Visual Working Memory Capacity , 2015, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[24]  George Sperling,et al.  The information available in brief visual presentations. , 1960 .

[25]  E. Vogel,et al.  Visual working memory capacity: from psychophysics and neurobiology to individual differences , 2013, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[26]  Edward K. Vogel,et al.  The capacity of visual working memory for features and conjunctions , 1997, Nature.

[27]  S. Luck,et al.  Qualitative Similarities in the Visual Short-term Memory of Pigeons and People , 2011 .

[28]  H Pashler,et al.  Familiarity and visual change detection , 1988, Perception & psychophysics.

[29]  Jonathan I. Flombaum,et al.  Correspondence problems cause repositioning costs in visual working memory , 2012 .

[30]  G. Woodman,et al.  Storage of features, conjunctions and objects in visual working memory. , 2001, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[31]  S. Solomon,et al.  Contrast sensitivity in natural scenes depends on edge as well as spatial frequency structure. , 2009, Journal of vision.

[32]  Jeffrey N. Rouder,et al.  How to measure working memory capacity in the change detection paradigm , 2011, Psychonomic bulletin & review.