Short‐term visual memory for contour curvature in a delayed discrimination task

Abstract

Abstract: A two‐interval forced‐choice of constant stimuli was used to measure the point of subjective equality (PSE) and discrimination threshold for standard contour curvature (1.91, 3.24 deg−1) held in short‐term visual memory (STVM). At both standard curvatures, the PSE for remembered curvature was nearly constant for standard curvature from 2 s to 16 s retention intervals, while the discrimination threshold increased as a linear function of retention interval. These results show that the decay in STVM for contour curvature is due to the noisy representation of curvature, neither to fading of the represented curvature nor to converging to the constant curvature. Furthermore, the Weber fraction was nearly constant for both standard curvatures at any delay from 2 to 16 s.