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An ideal observer analysis of visual working memory
- Source :
- Psychological Review. 119:807-830
- Publication Year :
- 2012
- Publisher :
- American Psychological Association (APA), 2012.
-
Abstract
- Limits in visual working memory (VWM) strongly constrain human performance across many tasks. However, the nature of these limits is not well understood. In this paper we develop an ideal observer analysis of human visual working memory, by deriving the expected behavior of an optimally performing, but limited-capacity memory system. This analysis is framed around rate–distortion theory, a branch of information theory that provides optimal bounds on the accuracy of information transmission subject to a fixed information capacity. The result of the ideal observer analysis is a theoretical framework that provides a task-independent and quantitative definition of visual memory capacity and yields novel predictions regarding human performance. These predictions are subsequently evaluated and confirmed in two empirical studies. Further, the framework is general enough to allow the specification and testing of alternative models of visual memory (for example, how capacity is distributed across multiple items). We demonstrate that a simple model developed on the basis of the ideal observer analysis—one which allows variability in the number of stored memory representations, but does not assume the presence of a fixed item limit—provides an excellent account of the empirical data, and further offers a principled re-interpretation of existing models of visual working memory.
- Subjects :
- Visual perception
Psychometrics
Information Theory
Short-term memory
Information theory
Machine learning
computer.software_genre
Article
Visual memory
Humans
Ideal observer analysis
General Psychology
Observer Variation
Working memory
business.industry
Observer (special relativity)
Models, Theoretical
Memory, Short-Term
Visual Perception
Task analysis
Artificial intelligence
Psychology
business
computer
Photic Stimulation
Psychomotor Performance
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 19391471 and 0033295X
- Volume :
- 119
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Psychological Review
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....a24bdbb83c92ceae2c4850d624e66514