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Evidence for the beneficial effect of perceptual grouping on visual working memory: an empirical study on illusory contour and a meta-analytic study
- Source :
- Scientific Reports, Vol 8, Iss 1, Pp 1-20 (2018), Scientific Reports
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- Nature Portfolio, 2018.
-
Abstract
- The capacity of visual working memory (VWM) is found to be extremely limited. Past research shows that VWM can be facilitated by Gestalt principles of grouping, however, it remains controversial whether factors like the type of Gestalt principles, the characteristics of stimuli and the nature of experimental design could affect the beneficial effect of grouping. In particular, studies have shown that perceptual grouping could improve memory performance for a feature that is relevant for grouping, but it is unclear whether the same improvement exists for a feature that is irrelevant for grouping. In this article, an empirical study and a meta-analytic study were conducted to investigate the effect of perceptual grouping on VWM. In the empirical study, we examined the grouping effect by employing a Kanizsa illusion in which memory items were grouped by illusory contour. We found that the memory performance was improved for the grouped items even though the tested feature was grouping irrelevant, and the improvement was not significantly different from the effect of grouping by physical connectedness or by solid occlusion. In the meta-analytic study, we systematically and quantitatively examined the effect of perceptual grouping on VWM by pulling the results from all eligible studies, and found that the beneficial grouping effect was robust but the magnitude of the effect can be affected by several moderators. Factors like the types of grouping methods, the duration and the layout of the memory display, and the characteristics of the tested feature moderated the grouping effect, whereas whether employing a cue or a verbal suppression task did not. Our study suggests that the underlying mechanism of the grouping benefit may be distinct with regard to grouping relevancy of the to-be-stored feature. The grouping effect on VWM may be independent of attention for a grouping relevant feature, but may rely on attentional prioritization for a grouping irrelevant feature.
- Subjects :
- Male
Perceptual Grouping
Social connectedness
media_common.quotation_subject
Illusory Contours
Science
Illusion
Affect (psychology)
Article
050105 experimental psychology
Young Adult
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Empirical research
Perception
Humans
0501 psychology and cognitive sciences
Visual Working Memory (VWM)
media_common
Multidisciplinary
Working memory
05 social sciences
Illusions
Memory, Short-Term
Display Memory
Feature (computer vision)
Grouping Relevant Feature
Visual Perception
Gestalt psychology
Medicine
Female
Psychology
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Cognitive psychology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 20452322
- Volume :
- 8
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Scientific Reports
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....2ab1fc63f7360cb1fc58f3639a591402