The role of attention in the maintenance of feature bindings in visual short-term memory

J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 2008 Feb;34(1):41-55. doi: 10.1037/0096-1523.34.1.41.

Abstract

This study examined the role of attention in maintaining feature bindings in visual short-term memory. In a change-detection paradigm, participants attempted to detect changes in the colors and orientations of multiple objects; the changes consisted of new feature values in a feature-memory condition and changes in how existing feature values were combined in a binding-memory condition. In the critical experiment, a demanding visual search task requiring sequential shifts of spatial attention was interposed during the delay interval of the change-detection task. If attention is more important for the maintenance of feature bindings than for the maintenance of unbound feature values, the attention-requiring search task should specifically disrupt performance in the binding-memory task. Contrary to this proposal, it was found that memory for bindings and memory for features were equally impaired by the search task.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Attention*
  • Female
  • Fixation, Ocular
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Memory, Short-Term*
  • Visual Perception*