Abstract
The capacity of visual working memory (VWM) is found to be extremely limited. Past research shows that VWM can be facilitated by Gestalt principles of grouping, however, it remains controversial whether factors like the type of Gestalt principles, the characteristics of stimuli and the nature of experimental design could affect the beneficial effect of grouping. In particular, studies have shown that perceptual grouping could improve memory performance for a feature that is relevant for grouping, but it is unclear whether the same improvement exists for a feature that is irrelevant for grouping. In this article, an empirical study and a meta-analytic study were conducted to investigate the effect of perceptual grouping on VWM. In the empirical study, we examined the grouping effect by employing a Kanizsa illusion in which memory items were grouped by illusory contour. We found that the memory performance was improved for the grouped items even though the tested feature was grouping irrelevant, and the improvement was not significantly different from the effect of grouping by physical connectedness or by solid occlusion. In the meta-analytic study, we systematically and quantitatively examined the effect of perceptual grouping on VWM by pulling the results from all eligible studies, and found that the beneficial grouping effect was robust but the magnitude of the effect can be affected by several moderators. Factors like the types of grouping methods, the duration and the layout of the memory display, and the characteristics of the tested feature moderated the grouping effect, whereas whether employing a cue or a verbal suppression task did not. Our study suggests that the underlying mechanism of the grouping benefit may be distinct with regard to grouping relevancy of the to-be-stored feature. The grouping effect on VWM may be independent of attention for a grouping relevant feature, but may rely on attentional prioritization for a grouping irrelevant feature.
Highlights
One of the major research topics in cognitive psychology is how information is temporarily retained and stored in working memory
We investigated the effect of perceptual grouping by illusory contour on visual working memory (VWM) by testing the color of the sectors, and we predicted that the items grouped by illusory contour would be better remembered, regardless of the relevancy of the tested feature for forming an Kanizsa illusion
Since research showed that space-based selective attention could prioritize visual processing of stimulus near fixation[46,47] and enhance the memory performance[48], it was possible that the performance for the central item was better improved than the other grouped items. Could it be attentional selection, not grouping, that accounted for the beneficial effect we observed in Experiment 2? In Experiment 3, we further investigated the grouping effect of illusory contour by disassociating the VWM performance for the central item and the other two grouped items
Summary
One of the major research topics in cognitive psychology is how information is temporarily retained and stored in working memory. Proximity refers to grouping objects according to spatial nearness; and similarity refers to grouping based on repetition of similar features like color or shape. These Gestalt principles make the grouped objects appear to ‘belong together’ and be processed as a whole, and facilitate visual perception. Among these grouping principles, proximity, similarity, and connectedness were most frequently tested with various perceptual tasks. Perceptual grouping appears to happen at an early stage in the processing stream independent of attentional resources
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