Overestimation and contraction biases of depth information stored in working memory depend on spatial configuration

Priming effect of individual similarity and ensemble perception in visual search and working memory

Perceptual priming is a well-known phenomenon showing that the repetition of an object's feature can facilitate subsequent detection of that item. Although the priming effect has been rigorously studied in visual search, less is known about its effect on working memory and it is unclear whether the repetition of similar features, and furthermore, ensemble perception created by a large set of similar features, can induce priming. In this study, we investigated the priming effects of individual similarity and ensemble perception in visual search and visual working memory (VWM). We replicated the classic perceptual priming effect (Experiment 1a) and found that visual search was enhanced when the current target had a similar color to the previous target (Experiment 1b), but not when the similar color had been shown as a distractor before (Experiment 1c). However, if the target and distractors of similar colors formed ensemble perception, the search efficiency was again promoted even when the current target shared the same color with the previous distractor (Experiment 1d). For VWM, repeating the ensembles of the target- and nontarget-color subsets did not significantly affect the memory capacity, while switching the two harmed the memory fidelity but not capacity (Experiment 2). We suggest different underlying mechanisms for priming in visual search and VWM: in the former, the perception history of individual similarity and stimuli ensemble exert their effects on through the priority map, by forming a gradient distribution of attentional weights that peak at the previous target feature and diminish as stimulus diverges from the previously selected one; while in the latter, perception history of memory ensemble may influence the deployment of existing memory resources across trials, thereby affecting the memory fidelity but not its capacity.

Top-down modulation on depth processing: Visual searches for metric and ordinal depth information show a pattern of dissociation

Depending on the goal, one can selectively process the metric depth or the ordinal depth information in the same scene. It is unknown whether the metric depth and ordinal depth information are processed through a shared or different underlying mechanisms. Here, we investigated the processing of the metric depth and ordinal depth using visual search. Items were presented at multiple depth planes defined by the binocular disparity, with one item per depth plane. In the metric-search task, participants were required to search for the target on a particular depth plane, among one to three distractors. In the ordinal-search task, the target was specified by its depth order indicated by numbers (smaller numbers indicated nearer depth planes). We found that the ordinal search was faster and more accurate than the metric search, and the data showed a pattern of dissociation. Metric search, but not ordinal search, was slowed when the target and distractors were closer in depth, while ordinal search was slower for the middle than the edge positions but metric search was unaffected. These two opposite effects suggest that metric depth and ordinal depth may be processed differently.

Spatial attention based on 2D location and relative depth order modulates visual working memory in a 3D environment

The attentional effect on visual working memory (VWM) has been a heated research topic in the past two decades. Studies show that VWM performance for an attended memory item can be improved by cueing its two-dimensional (2D) spatial location during retention. However, few studies have investigated the effect of attentional selection on VWM in a three-dimensional setting, and it remains unknown whether depth information can produce beneficial attentional effects on 2D visual representations similar to 2D spatial information. Here we conducted four experiments, displaying memory items at various stereoscopic depth planes, and examined the retro-cue effects of four types of cues - a cue would either indicate the 2D or depth location of a memory item, and either in the form of physical (directly pointing to a location) or symbolic (numerically mapping onto a location) cues. We found that retro-cue benefits were only observed for cues directly pointing to a 2D location, whereas a null effect was observed for cues directly pointing to a depth location. However, there was a retro-cue effect when cueing the relative depth order, though the effect was weaker than that for cueing the 2D location. The selective effect on VWM based on 2D spatial attention is different from depth-based attention, and the divergence suggests that an object representation is primarily bound with its 2D spatial location, weakly bound with its depth order but not with its metric depth location. This indicates that attentional selection based on memory for depth, particularly metric depth, is ineffective.

The role of ensemble average differs in working memory for depth and planar information

The representation of individual planar locations and features stored in working memory can be affected by the average representation. However, less is known about how the average representation affects the short-term storage of depth information. To evaluate the possible different roles of the ensemble average in working memory for planar and depth information, we used mathematical models to fit the data collected from one study on working memory for depth and 12 studies on working memory for planar information. The pattern of recalled depth was well captured by models assuming that there was a probability of reporting the average depth instead of the individual depth, compressing the recalled front-back distance of the stimulus ensemble compared to the perceived distance. However, when modeling the recalled planar information, we found that participants tended to report individual nontarget features when the target was not memorized, and the assumption of reporting average information improves the data fitting only in very few studies. These results provide evidence for our hypothesis that average depth information can be used as a substitution for individual depth information stored in working memory, but for planar visual features, the substitution of target with the average works under a constraint that the average of to-be-remembered features is readily accessible.

The Short-Term Retention of Depth

We review research on the visual working memory for information portrayed by items arranged in depth (i.e., distance to the observer) within peri-personal space. Most items lose their metric depths within half a second, even though their identities and spatial positions are retained. The paradoxical loss of depth information may arise because visual working memory retains the depth of a single object for the purpose of actions such as pointing or grasping which usually apply to only one thing at a time.

Increasing perceptual separateness affects working memory for depth - re-allocation of attention from boundaries to the fixated center

For decades, working memory (WM) has been a heated research topic in the field of cognitive psychology. However, most studies on WM presented visual stimuli on a two-dimensional plane, rarely involving depth perception. Several previous studies have investigated how depth information is stored in WM, and found that WM for depth is even more limited in capacity and the memory performance is poor compared to visual WM. In the present study, we used a change detection task to investigate whether dissociating memory items by different visual features, thereby to increase their perceptual separateness, can improve WM performance for depth. Memory items presented at various depth planes were bound with different colors (Experiments 1 and 3) or sizes (Experiment 2). The memory performance for depth locations of visual stimuli with homogeneous and heterogeneous appearances were tested and compared. The results showed a consistent pattern that although separating items with various feature values did not affect the overall memory performance, the manipulation significantly improved memory performance for the middle depth locations but impaired the performance for the boundary locations when observers fixated at the center of the whole depth volume. The memory benefits of feature separation can be attributed to enhanced individuation of memory items, therefore facilitating a more balanced allocation of attention and memory resources.

Effect of attentional selection on working memory for depth in a retro-cueing paradigm

Recent studies have shown that the temporary storage and manipulation of depth information (working memory for depth; WMd) is largely different from that of visual information in a 2D context (visual working memory; VWM). Although there has been abundant evidence on VWM showing that cueing a memory item during retention could bias attention to its internal representation and thus improves its memory performance (a retro-cue effect), it is unknown whether such an effect differs for WMd that is nested in a 3D context compared with that in a conventional 2D context. Here, we used a change detection task to investigate the effect of attentional selection on WMd by testing several types of retro-cue. The memory array consisted of items positioned at various stereoscopic depth planes, and a cue was presented during retention. Participants needed to make judgments on whether the depth position of target (one memory item) had changed. Our study showed reliable valid retro-cue benefits but no invalid retro-cue cost, indicating that the relational information may be registered in WMd to prevent a strategical removal of the unattended item. There was also a slight improvement in memory performance for cueing depth order compared with that for cueing other feature dimensions or 2D locations. The attentional effect on memory representation in a 3D context is different from that in a 2D context, and the divergence may suggest the distinctive nature of working memory for depth.