Abstract
Limits on the storage capacity of working memory significantly affect cognitive abilities in a wide range of domains, but the nature of these capacity limits has been elusive. Some researchers have proposed that working memory stores a limited set of discrete, fixed-resolution representations, whereas others have proposed that working memory consists of a pool of resources that can be allocated flexibly to provide either a small number of high-resolution representations or a large number of low-resolution representations. Here we resolve this controversy by providing independent measures of capacity and resolution. We show that, when presented with more than a few simple objects, human observers store a high-resolution representation of a subset of the objects and retain no information about the others. Memory resolution varied over a narrow range that cannot be explained in terms of a general resource pool but can be well explained by a small set of discrete, fixed-resolution representations.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 233-5 |
Number of pages | 3 |
Journal | Nature |
Volume | 453 |
Issue number | 7192 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 8 May 2008 |
Keywords
- Adolescent
- Adult
- Color
- Cues
- Humans
- Memory, Short-Term
- Mental Recall
- Models, Neurological
- Photic Stimulation
- Visual Perception