A response binding effect in visual short-term memory

Abstract

The current study aimed to investigate the effect of action on the preservation of stored feature bindings. Prior research suggests that stimuli presented after a memory array can disrupt the feature bindings of memory array items. Here, we conducted three experiments to examine whether response to targets disrupts feature bindings. Two of four letters (A, B, C, D) were presented in a memory array, and were followed by a second array containing a single target letter. After either identifying or localizing the target letter, participants were required to report the identity or location of the memory array items. There was a deficit in memory performance involving spatial repetition when participants were required to localize targets, and involving identity repetition when participants were required to identify targets. We conclude that response codes are fundamentally linked to stimulus representations, and can affect retrieval from visual working memory.

Keywords:

• Visual working memory
• Feature binding
• Event integration
• Perception-action

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Grant awarded to Bruce Milliken, and a NSERC Canadian Graduate Scholarship awarded to Jessica N. Cali.