TY - JOUR
T1 - The binding pool
T2 - A model of shared neural resources for distinct items in visual working memory
AU - Swan, Garrett
AU - Wyble, Brad
N1 - Funding Information:
G.S. was responsible for a majority of the computational work and graphics. B.W. was responsible for a majority of the writing and the original conception of the model. The authors would like to thank Howard Bowman for his input during the development of this model that has been ongoing for several years. We would also like to thank Rich Carlson, John Collins, Mark Nieuwenstein, Adam Reeves, Michael Mozer, Jeremy Wolfe and Christopher Stevens for helpful comments. This study was supported in part by an NSF grant (BCS-1331073) to B.W.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2014, Psychonomic Society, Inc.
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Visual working memory (VWM) refers to the ability to encode, store, and retrieve visual information. The two prevailing theories that describe VWM assume that information is stored either in discrete slots or within a shared pool of resources. However, there is not yet a good understanding of the neural mechanisms that would underlie such theories. To address this gap, we provide a computationally realized neural account that uses a pool of shared neurons to store information about one or more distinct stimuli. The binding pool model is a neural network that is essentially a hybrid of the slot and resource theories. It describes how information can be stored and retrieved from a pool of shared resources using a type/token architecture (Bowman & Wyble in Psychological Review 114(1), 38–70, 2007; Kanwisher in Cognition 27, 117–143, 1987; Mozer in Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 15(2), 287–303, 1989). The model can store multiple distinct objects, each containing binding links to one or more features. The binding links are stored in a pool of shared resources and, thus, produce mutual interference as memory load increases. Given a cue, the model retrieves a specific object and then reconstructs other features bound to that object, along with a confidence metric. The model can simulate data from continuous report and change detection paradigms and generates testable predictions about the interaction of report accuracy, confidence, and stimulus similarity. The testing of such predictions will help to identify the boundaries of shared resource theories, thereby providing insight into the roles of ensembles and context in explaining our ability to remember visual information.
AB - Visual working memory (VWM) refers to the ability to encode, store, and retrieve visual information. The two prevailing theories that describe VWM assume that information is stored either in discrete slots or within a shared pool of resources. However, there is not yet a good understanding of the neural mechanisms that would underlie such theories. To address this gap, we provide a computationally realized neural account that uses a pool of shared neurons to store information about one or more distinct stimuli. The binding pool model is a neural network that is essentially a hybrid of the slot and resource theories. It describes how information can be stored and retrieved from a pool of shared resources using a type/token architecture (Bowman & Wyble in Psychological Review 114(1), 38–70, 2007; Kanwisher in Cognition 27, 117–143, 1987; Mozer in Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 15(2), 287–303, 1989). The model can store multiple distinct objects, each containing binding links to one or more features. The binding links are stored in a pool of shared resources and, thus, produce mutual interference as memory load increases. Given a cue, the model retrieves a specific object and then reconstructs other features bound to that object, along with a confidence metric. The model can simulate data from continuous report and change detection paradigms and generates testable predictions about the interaction of report accuracy, confidence, and stimulus similarity. The testing of such predictions will help to identify the boundaries of shared resource theories, thereby providing insight into the roles of ensembles and context in explaining our ability to remember visual information.
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U2 - 10.3758/s13414-014-0633-3
DO - 10.3758/s13414-014-0633-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 24634029
AN - SCOPUS:84895915265
SN - 1943-3921
VL - 76
SP - 2136
EP - 2157
JO - Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics
JF - Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics
IS - 7
ER -