Comprehensive Exploration of Visual Working Memory Mechanisms Using Large-scale Behavioral Experiment

Overview

Journal Nat Commun

Date 2025 Feb 5

PMID 39910088

Authors

Liqiang Huang

Affiliations

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Abstract

Two decades of research on visual working memory have produced substantial yet fragmented knowledge. This study aims to integrate these findings into a cohesive framework. Drawing on a large-scale behavioral experiment involving 40 million responses to 10,000 color patterns, a quasi-comprehensive exploration model of visual working memory, termed QCE-VWM, is developed. Despite its significantly reduced complexity (57 parameters versus 30,796), QCE-VWM outperforms neural networks in data fitting. The model provides an integrative framework for understanding human visual working memory, incorporating a dozen mechanisms-some directly adopted from previous studies, some modified, and others newly identified. This work underscores the value of large-scale behavioral experiments in advancing comprehensive models of cognitive mechanisms.

Citing Articles

Comprehensive exploration of visual working memory mechanisms using large-scale behavioral experiment.

Huang L Nat Commun. 2025; 16(1):1383.

PMID: 39910088 PMC: 11799313. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-56700-5.

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