The Function of Visual Short-term Memory Representations
VSTM is thought to be the visual component of the working memory system, and as such it is used as a buffer for temporary information storage during the process of naturally occurring tasks. But what naturally occurring tasks actually require VSTM? Most work on this issue has focused on the role of VSTM in bridging the sensory gaps caused by saccadic eye movements. These sudden shift of gaze typically occur 2-4 times per second, and vision is briefly suppressed while the eyes are moving. Thus, the visual input consists of a series of spatially shifted snapshots of the overall scene, separated by brief gaps. Over time, a rich and detailed long-term memory representation is constructed from these brief glimpses of the input, and VSTM is thought to bridge the gaps between these glimpses and to allow the relevant portions of one glimpse to be aligned with the relevant portions of the next glimpse. Both spatial and object VSTM systems may play important roles in the integration of information across eye movements.
Read more about this topic: Visual Short-term Memory
Famous quotes containing the words function, visual, short-term and/or memory:
“If the children and youth of a nation are afforded opportunity to develop their capacities to the fullest, if they are given the knowledge to understand the world and the wisdom to change it, then the prospects for the future are bright. In contrast, a society which neglects its children, however well it may function in other respects, risks eventual disorganization and demise.”
—Urie Bronfenbrenner (b. 1917)
“I may be able to spot arrowheads on the desert but a refrigerator is a jungle in which I am easily lost. My wife, however, will unerringly point out that the cheese or the leftover roast is hiding right in front of my eyes. Hundreds of such experiences convince me that men and women often inhabit quite different visual worlds. These are differences which cannot be attributed to variations in visual acuity. Man and women simply have learned to use their eyes in very different ways.”
—Edward T. Hall (b. 1914)
“I still believe that if your aim is to change the world, journalism is a more immediate short-term weapon.”
—Tom Stoppard (b. 1937)
““One thought in agony of strife
The bravest would have by for friend,
The memory that he chose the life ...””
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)