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Why some colors appear more memorable than others: A model combining categories and particulars in color working memory

Bae, G.-Y.; Olkkonen, M.; Allred, S.R.; Flombaum, J.I.

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Authors

G.-Y. Bae

M. Olkkonen

S.R. Allred

J.I. Flombaum



Abstract

Categorization with basic color terms is an intuitive and universal aspect of color perception. Yet research on visual working memory capacity has largely assumed that only continuous estimates within color space are relevant to memory. As a result, the influence of color categories on working memory remains unknown. We propose a dual content model of color representation in which color matches to objects that are either present (perception) or absent (memory) integrate category representations along with estimates of specific values on a continuous scale (“particulars”). We develop and test the model through 4 experiments. In a first experiment pair, participants reproduce a color target, both with and without a delay, using a recently influential estimation paradigm. In a second experiment pair, we use standard methods in color perception to identify boundary and focal colors in the stimulus set. The main results are that responses drawn from working memory are significantly biased away from category boundaries and toward category centers. Importantly, the same pattern of results is present without a memory delay. The proposed dual content model parsimoniously explains these results, and it should replace prevailing single content models in studies of visual working memory. More broadly, the model and the results demonstrate how the main consequence of visual working memory maintenance is the amplification of category related biases and stimulus-specific variability that originate in perception.

Citation

Bae, G., Olkkonen, M., Allred, S., & Flombaum, J. (2015). Why some colors appear more memorable than others: A model combining categories and particulars in color working memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 144(4), 744-763. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000076

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Mar 31, 2015
Online Publication Date May 18, 2015
Publication Date Aug 1, 2015
Deposit Date Nov 6, 2015
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Journal of Experimental Psychology: General
Print ISSN 0096-3445
Electronic ISSN 1939-2222
Publisher American Psychological Association
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 144
Issue 4
Pages 744-763
DOI https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000076

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© 2015 APA, all rights reserved. This article may not exactly replicate the final version published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record.





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