Jiang Yuhong V, Shim Won Mok, Makovski Tal
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
Percept Psychophys. 2008 Nov;70(8):1581-91. doi: 10.3758/PP.70.8.1581.
Previous studies have shown that the number of objects we can actively hold in visual working memory is smaller for more complex objects. However, complex objects are not just more complex but are often more similar to other complex objects used as test probes. To separate effects of complexity from effects of similarity, we measured visual memory following a 1-sec delay for complex and simple objects at several levels of memory-to-test similarity. When memory load was one object, memory accuracy for a face (a complex attribute) was similar to a line orientation (a simple attribute) when the face changed in steps of 10% along a morphing continuum and the line changed in steps of 5 degrees in orientation. Performance declined with increasing memory load and increasing memory-to-test similarity. Remarkably, when memory load was three or four objects, face memory was better than orientation memory at similar changed steps. These results held when memory for line orientations was compared with that for inverted faces. We conclude that complex objects do not always exhaust visual memory more quickly than simple objects do.
先前的研究表明，对于更为复杂的物体，我们能够在视觉工作记忆中主动保持的物体数量更少。然而，复杂物体不仅更复杂，而且往往与用作测试探针的其他复杂物体更为相似。为了区分复杂性的影响和相似性的影响，我们在记忆与测试相似性的几个水平上，测量了对复杂物体和简单物体延迟1秒后的视觉记忆。当记忆负荷为一个物体时，沿着变形连续体以10%的步长变化的面部（一种复杂属性）的记忆准确性与以5度的步长变化的线条方向（一种简单属性）的记忆准确性相似。随着记忆负荷的增加以及记忆与测试相似性的增加，表现会下降。值得注意的是，当记忆负荷为三个或四个物体时，在相似的变化步长下，面部记忆比方向记忆更好。当将线条方向的记忆与倒置面部的记忆进行比较时，这些结果依然成立。我们得出结论，复杂物体并不总是比简单物体更快地耗尽视觉记忆。
