CBB talk series

Better memory for simple features when embedded in naturalistic objects

Understanding the limits of working memory is critical as it is related to fluid intelligence, academic achievement, and other important abilities. Prior work on visual working memory has predominantly used isolated simple stimuli such as oriented lines or colored squares, and has concluded that working memory capacity -- how much information you can actively maintain -- is fixed and that memory capacity for simple features remains uninfluenced of what contexts they are presented in. However, recent studies have demonstrated that working memory capacity can increase when using more meaningful stimuli. Here we demonstrate that this memory benefit is present even for simple features (i.e. colors) when they are embedded in real-world objects. That is, participants remember a simple color better when it is superimposed on a realistic object relative to an unrecognizable shape. This finding significantly changes how we ordinarily think about memory capacity, as it is not bound by a fixed amount of resources, but rather can flexibly be adjusted depending on the context.