Auditory short-term memory behaves like visual short-term memory

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Auditory short-term memory behaves like visual short-term memory (2006)

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by Kristina M. Visscher , Elina Kaplan , Michael J. Kahana , Robert Sekuler

Venue:	PLoS Biology
Citations:	27 - 16 self

BibTeX

@ARTICLE{Visscher06auditoryshort-term,
    author = {Kristina M. Visscher and Elina Kaplan and Michael J. Kahana and Robert Sekuler},
    title = {Auditory short-term memory behaves like visual short-term memory},
    journal = {PLoS Biology},
    year = {2006},
    pages = {56}
}

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Abstract

Are the information processing steps that support short-term sensory memory common to all the senses? Systematic, psychophysical comparison requires identical experimental paradigms and comparable stimuli, which can be challenging to obtain across modalities. Participants performed a recognition memory task with auditory and visual stimuli that were comparable in complexity and in their neural representations at early stages of cortical processing. The visual stimuli were static and moving Gaussian-windowed, oriented, sinusoidal gratings (Gabor patches); the auditory stimuli were broadband sounds whose frequency content varied sinusoidally over time (moving ripples). Parallel effects on recognition memory were seen for number of items to be remembered, retention interval, and serial position. Further, regardless of modality, predicting an item’s recognizability requires taking account of (1) the probe’s similarity to the remembered list items (summed similarity), and (2) the similarity between the items in memory (interitem homogeneity). A model incorporating both these factors gives a good fit to recognition memory data for auditory as well as visual stimuli. In addition, we present the first demonstration of the orthogonality of summed similarity and inter-item homogeneity effects. These data imply that auditory and visual representations undergo very similar transformations while they are encoded and retrieved from memory.

Keyphrases

auditory short-term memory behaves visual stimulus visual short-term memory summed similarity information processing step memory data retention interval comparable stimulus short-term sensory memory parallel effect gabor patch neural representation visual representation recognition memory early stage serial position cortical processing inter-item homogeneity effect broadband sound item recognizability sinusoidal grating interitem homogeneity psychophysical comparison auditory stimulus similar transformation probe similarity frequency content recognition memory task identical experimental paradigm first demonstration good fit remembered list item

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