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Stream specificity and asymmetries in feature binding and content-addressable access in visual encoding and memory
Huynh, D.L. ; Tripathy, Srimant P. ; Bedell, H.E. ; Ogmen, Haluk
Huynh, D.L.
Tripathy, Srimant P.
Bedell, H.E.
Ogmen, Haluk
Publication Date
2015-09
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© 2015 The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Inc.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial–No Derivatives
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Abstract
Human memory is content addressable—i.e., contents of
the memory can be accessed using partial information
about the bound features of a stored item. In this study,
we used a cross-feature cuing technique to examine how
the human visual system encodes, binds, and retains
information about multiple stimulus features within a
set of moving objects. We sought to characterize the
roles of three different features (position, color, and
direction of motion, the latter two of which are
processed preferentially within the ventral and dorsal
visual streams, respectively) in the construction and
maintenance of object representations. We investigated
the extent to which these features are bound together
across the following processing stages: during stimulus
encoding, sensory (iconic) memory, and visual shortterm
memory. Whereas all features examined here can
serve as cues for addressing content, their effectiveness
shows asymmetries and varies according to cue–report
pairings and the stage of information processing and
storage. Position-based indexing theories predict that
position should be more effective as a cue compared to
other features. While we found a privileged role for
position as a cue at the stimulus-encoding stage, position
was not the privileged cue at the sensory and visual
short-term memory stages. Instead, the pattern that
emerged from our findings is one that mirrors the
parallel processing streams in the visual system. This
stream-specific binding and cuing effectiveness
manifests itself in all three stages of information
processing examined here. Finally, we find that the Leaky
Flask model proposed in our previous study is applicable
to all three features.
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Citation
Huynh DL, Tripathy SP, Bedell HE et al (2015) Stream specificity and asymmetries in
feature binding and content-addressable access in visual encoding and memory. Journal of
Vision. 15(13): Article 14.
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