Parallel processing in visual short-term memory.

Visual short-term memory for the contrast and spatial frequency of sinusoidal gratings was measured in a delayed discrimination task in which the 2 stimuli to be compared were separated in time by 1-10 s interstimulus intervals (ISIs). Delayed discrimination thresholds for spatial frequency and contrast were compared, both when the 2 types of thresholds were measured in separate blocks of trials and when the 2 types of measures were randomly intermixed in an uncertainty paradigm, which required participants to process information about both dimensions on each trial. In both cases, accuracy of memory for spatial frequency was independent of ISI, but memory for contrast decreased as ISI increased. Performance was lower in the uncertainty case, but only by an amount predicted by statistical decision theory for independent sources. The results are consistent with a model assuming a set of parallel special-purpose visual discrimination and short-term memory mechanisms.

[1]  S Magnussen,et al.  Visual Half-Field Symmetry in Orientation Perception , 1985, Perception.

[2]  Stephen M. Kosslyn,et al.  Visual mental images in the brain: Current issues , 1994 .

[3]  S. F. Bowne.  Contrast discrimination cannot explain spatial frequency, orientation or temporal frequency discrimination , 1990, Vision Research.

[4]  J. Robson,et al.  Discrimination at threshold: Labelled detectors in human vision , 1981, Vision Research.

[5]  C. A. Burbeck,et al.  Locus of spatial-frequency discrimination. , 1987, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics and image science.

[6]  G. Lynch,et al.  Memory: Organization and locus of change , 1994 .

[7]  M. J. Mayer,et al.  Smooth frequency discrimination functions for foveal, high-contrast, mid spatial frequencies. , 1986, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics and image science.

[8]  J P Thomas,et al.  Simultaneous discrimination of the spatial frequency and contrast of periodic stimuli. , 1993, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics and image science.

[9]  Barry B. Lee,et al.  From pigments to perception : advances in understanding visual processes , 1991 .

[10]  F K Chua,et al.  The processing of spatial frequency and orientation information , 1990, Perception & psychophysics.

[11]  D Regan,et al.  Independence of orientation and size in spatial discriminations. , 1983, Journal of the Optical Society of America.

[12]  Alan M. Wing,et al.  Multidimensional encoding of visual form , 1972 .

[13]  Mark W. Greenlee,et al.  Spatial frequency discrimination of band-limited periodic targets: Effects of stimulus contrast, bandwidth and retinal eccentricity , 1992, Vision Research.

[14]  E Tulving,et al.  Priming and human memory systems. , 1990, Science.

[15]  E. Tulving.  Concepts of human memory. , 1991 .

[16]  D Laming,et al.  Retention in perceptual memory: A review of models and data , 1985, Perception & psychophysics.

[17]  E H Adelson,et al.  Spatiotemporal energy models for the perception of motion. , 1985, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics and image science.

[18]  M. Greenlee,et al.  Retention and disruption of motion information in visual short-term memory. , 1992, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[19]  C. B. Cave,et al.  Intact and long-lasting repetition priming in amnesia. , 1992, Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory and Cognition.

[20]  William A. Phillips,et al.  Short-Term Visual Memory , 1983 .

[21]  J P Thomas,et al.  Underlying psychometric function for detecting gratings and identifying spatial frequency. , 1983, Journal of the Optical Society of America.

[22]  Alex Pentland,et al.  Microcomputer-based estimation of psychophysical thresholds: The Best PEST , 1982 .

[23]  A. Treisman.  Strategies and models of selective attention. , 1969, Psychological review.

[24]  D. Regan.  Storage of spatial-frequency information and spatial-frequency discrimination , 1985 .

[25]  J P Thomas,et al.  Bandwidths of orientation channels in human vision. , 1979, Journal of the Optical Society of America.

[26]  D. Alanallport.  Parallel encoding within and between elementary stimulus dimensions , 1971 .

[27]  Different Neural Codes for Spatial Frequency and Contrast , 1991 .

[28]  A. Damasio.  Time-locked multiregional retroactivation: A systems-level proposal for the neural substrates of recall and recognition , 1989, Cognition.

[29]  E. Adelson,et al.  Directionally selective complex cells and the computation of motion energy in cat visual cortex , 1992, Vision Research.

[30]  J. P. Thomas,et al.  Why are some spatial discriminations independent of contrast? , 1989, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics and image science.

[31]  G. Orban,et al.  Decision processes in visual discrimination of line orientation. , 1986, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[32]  Martha J. Farah,et al.  The Neuropsychology of High-Level Vision , 1994 .

[33]  Mark W. Greenlee,et al.  Stimulus-specific mechanisms of visual short-term memory , 1991, Vision Research.

[34]  J Hirsch,et al.  Limits of spatial-frequency discrimination as evidence of neural interpolation. , 1982, Journal of the Optical Society of America.

[35]  D. Laming,et al.  F. Hegelmaier: On memory for the length of a line , 1992, Psychological research.

[36]  M. Fahle,et al.  Visual memory for vernier offsets , 1992, Vision Research.

[37]  Arthur Bradley,et al.  The effects of large orientation and spatial frequency differences on spatial discriminations , 1984, Vision Research.

[38]  Svem Magnussen,et al.  High-Fidelity Perceptual Long-Term Memory , 1994 .

[39]  HighWire Press.  Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London , 1781, The London Medical Journal.

[40]  Kenneth R. Boff,et al.  Sensory processes and perception , 1986 .

[41]  R H Logie,et al.  Interference with visual short-term memory. , 1990, Acta psychologica.

[42]  M. Greenlee,et al.  Perfect visual short-term memory for periodic patterns , 1990 .