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Independent working memory resources for egocentric and allocentric spatial information
Visuospatial working memory enables us to maintain access to visual information for processing even when a stimulus is no longer present, due to occlusion, our own movements, or transience of the stimulus. Here we show that, when localizing remembered stimuli, the precision of spatial recall does no...
Autores principales: | , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2019
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6400418/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30789899 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006563 |
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author | Aagten-Murphy, David Bays, Paul M. |
author_facet | Aagten-Murphy, David Bays, Paul M. |
author_sort | Aagten-Murphy, David |
collection | PubMed |
description | Visuospatial working memory enables us to maintain access to visual information for processing even when a stimulus is no longer present, due to occlusion, our own movements, or transience of the stimulus. Here we show that, when localizing remembered stimuli, the precision of spatial recall does not rely solely on memory for individual stimuli, but additionally depends on the relative distances between stimuli and visual landmarks in the surroundings. Across three separate experiments, we consistently observed a spatially selective improvement in the precision of recall for items located near a persistent landmark. While the results did not require that the landmark be visible throughout the memory delay period, it was essential that it was visible both during encoding and response. We present a simple model that can accurately capture human performance by considering relative (allocentric) spatial information as an independent localization estimate which degrades with distance and is optimally integrated with egocentric spatial information. Critically, allocentric information was encoded without cost to egocentric estimation, demonstrating independent storage of the two sources of information. Finally, when egocentric and allocentric estimates were put in conflict, the model successfully predicted the resulting localization errors. We suggest that the relative distance between stimuli represents an additional, independent spatial cue for memory recall. This cue information is likely to be critical for spatial localization in natural settings which contain an abundance of visual landmarks. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-6400418 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2019 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-64004182019-03-17 Independent working memory resources for egocentric and allocentric spatial information Aagten-Murphy, David Bays, Paul M. PLoS Comput Biol Research Article Visuospatial working memory enables us to maintain access to visual information for processing even when a stimulus is no longer present, due to occlusion, our own movements, or transience of the stimulus. Here we show that, when localizing remembered stimuli, the precision of spatial recall does not rely solely on memory for individual stimuli, but additionally depends on the relative distances between stimuli and visual landmarks in the surroundings. Across three separate experiments, we consistently observed a spatially selective improvement in the precision of recall for items located near a persistent landmark. While the results did not require that the landmark be visible throughout the memory delay period, it was essential that it was visible both during encoding and response. We present a simple model that can accurately capture human performance by considering relative (allocentric) spatial information as an independent localization estimate which degrades with distance and is optimally integrated with egocentric spatial information. Critically, allocentric information was encoded without cost to egocentric estimation, demonstrating independent storage of the two sources of information. Finally, when egocentric and allocentric estimates were put in conflict, the model successfully predicted the resulting localization errors. We suggest that the relative distance between stimuli represents an additional, independent spatial cue for memory recall. This cue information is likely to be critical for spatial localization in natural settings which contain an abundance of visual landmarks. Public Library of Science 2019-02-21 /pmc/articles/PMC6400418/ /pubmed/30789899 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006563 Text en © 2019 Aagten-Murphy, Bays http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Aagten-Murphy, David Bays, Paul M. Independent working memory resources for egocentric and allocentric spatial information |
title | Independent working memory resources for egocentric and allocentric spatial information |
title_full | Independent working memory resources for egocentric and allocentric spatial information |
title_fullStr | Independent working memory resources for egocentric and allocentric spatial information |
title_full_unstemmed | Independent working memory resources for egocentric and allocentric spatial information |
title_short | Independent working memory resources for egocentric and allocentric spatial information |
title_sort | independent working memory resources for egocentric and allocentric spatial information |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6400418/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30789899 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006563 |
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