Towards a better understanding of information storage in visual working memory

ABSTRACT

Chota, S., & Van der Stigchel, S. (2021). Dynamic and flexible transformation and reallocation of visual working memory representations (this issue); Iamshchinina, P., Christophel, T. B., Gayet, S., & Rademaker, R. L. (2021). Essential considerations for exploring visual working memory storage in the human brain (this issue); Lorenc, E. S., & Sreenivasa, K. K. (2021). Reframing the debate: the distributed systems view of working memory (this issue); and Teng, C., & Postle, B. R. (2021). Understanding occipital and parietal contributions to visual working memory: Commentary to Xu (2020) (this issue) each present a commentary regarding Xu, Y. (2020). Revisit once more the sensory storage account of visual working memory. Visual Cognition, 28(5-8), 433–446. https://doi.org/10.1080/13506285.2020.1818659 where I conclude that sensory regions are nonessential for the storage of information in visual working memory (VWM). They argue instead that sensory regions are critical to VWM storage. Here I briefly reiterate some of the key evidence against this account, some of which has not been accounted by the four commentaries. I also provide a detailed reanalysis of why the main evidence supporting this account may be problematic. Collectively, existence evidence from human neuroimaging and TMS studies and that from monkey neurophysiology studies does not provide strong support for the sensory storage account of VWM. To form an accurate understanding of the distinctive role each brain region may play in perception and VWM as well as how they may interact to collectively support a VWM task, it is important that we properly survey and evaluate all the available evidence.

KEYWORDS:

• Visual working memory
• attention
• fMRI
• early visual areas
• posterior parietal cortex

Acknowledgement

I thank Christian Olivers for organizing these commentaries.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services: [Grant Number 1R01EY030854].