Visual working memory (VWM) can selectively filter task-irrelevant information from incoming visual stimuli. However, whether a similar filtering process applies to task-irrelevant information retrieved from visual long-term memory (VLTM) remains elusive. We assume a \"resource-limited retrieval mechanism\" in VWM in charge of the retrieval of irrelevant VLTM information. To make a comprehensive understanding of this mechanism, we conducted three experiments using both a VLTM learning task and a VWM task combined with pupillometry. The presence of a significant pupil light response (PLR) served as empirical evidence that VLTM information can indeed make its way into VWM. Notably, task-relevant VLTM information induced a sustained PLR, contrasting with the transient PLR observed for task-irrelevant VLTM information. Importantly, the transience of the PLR occurred under conditions of low VWM load, but this effect was absent under conditions of high load. Collectively, these results show that task-irrelevant VLTM information can enter VWM and then fade away only under conditions of low VWM load. This dynamic underscores the resource-limited retrieval mechanism within VWM, exerting control over the entry of VLTM information.

Human observers often exhibit remarkable consistency in remembering specific visual details, such as certain face images. This phenomenon is commonly attributed to visual memorability, a collection of stimulus attributes that enhance the long-term retention of visual information. However, the exact contributions of visual memorability to visual memory formation remain elusive as these effects could emerge anywhere from early perceptual encoding to post-perceptual memory consolidation processes. To clarify this, we tested three key predictions from the hypothesis that visual memorability facilitates early perceptual encoding that supports the formation of visual short-term memory (VSTM) and the retention of visual long-term memory (VLTM). First, we examined whether memorability benefits in VSTM encoding manifest early, even within the constraints of a brief stimulus presentation (100-200 ms; Experiment 1). We achieved this by manipulating stimulus presentation duration in a VSTM change detection task using face images with high- or low-memorability while ensuring they were equally familiar to the participants. Second, we assessed whether this early memorability benefit increases the likelihood of VSTM retention, even with post-stimulus masking designed to interrupt post-perceptual VSTM consolidation processes (Experiment 2). Last, we investigated the durability of memorability benefits by manipulating memory retention intervals from seconds to 24 h (Experiment 3). Across experiments, our data suggest that visual memorability has an early impact on VSTM formation, persisting across variable retention intervals and predicting subsequent VLTM overnight. Combined, these findings highlight that visual memorability enhances visual memory within 100-200 ms following stimulus onset, resulting in robust memory traces resistant to post-perceptual interruption and long-term forgetting.

Some visual stimuli are consistently better remembered than others across individuals, due to variations in memorability (the stimulus-intrinsic property that determines ease of encoding into visual long-term memory (VLTM)). However, it remains unclear what cognitive processes give rise to this mnemonic benefit. One possibility is that this benefit is imbued within the capacity-limited bottleneck of VLTM encoding, namely visual working memory (VWM). More precisely, memorable stimuli may be preferentially encoded into VLTM because fewer cognitive resources are required to store them in VWM (efficiency hypothesis). Alternatively, memorable stimuli may be more competitive in obtaining cognitive resources than forgettable stimuli, leading to more successful storage in VWM (competitiveness hypothesis). Additionally, the memorability benefit might emerge post-VWM, specifically, if memorable stimuli are less prone to be forgotten (i.e., are \"stickier\") than forgettable stimuli after they pass through the encoding bottleneck (stickiness hypothesis). To test this, we conducted two experiments to examine how memorability benefits emerge by manipulating the stimulus memorability, set size, and degree of competition among stimuli as participants encoded them in the context of a working memory task. Subsequently, their memory for the encoded stimuli was tested in a VLTM task. In the VWM task, performance was better for memorable stimuli compared to forgettable stimuli, supporting the efficiency hypothesis. In addition, we found that when in direct competition, memorable stimuli were also better at attracting limited VWM resources than forgettable stimuli, supporting the competitiveness hypothesis. However, only the efficiency advantage translated to a performance benefit in VLTM. Lastly, we found that memorable stimuli were less likely to be forgotten after they passed through the encoding bottleneck imposed by VWM, supporting the \"stickiness\" hypothesis. Thus, our results demonstrate that the memorability benefit develops across multiple cognitive processes.

Disengaging from the external world-a phenomenon referred to as mind wandering-is a common experience that has been shown to be associated with detriments in cognitive performance across a large range of tasks. In the current web-based study, we used a continuous delayed estimation paradigm to investigate the impact of task disengagement at encoding on subsequent recall of location. Task disengagement was assessed with thought probes on a dichotomous (off- vs. on-task) and a continuous response scale (from 0% to 100% on-task). This approach allowed us to consider perceptual decoupling in both a dichotomous and a graded manner. In the first study (n = 54), we found a negative relationship between levels of task disengagement at encoding and subsequent recall of location measured in degrees. This finding supports a graded perceptual decoupling process rather than a decoupling that happens in an all-or-none manner. In the second study (n = 104), we replicated this finding. An analysis of 22 participants showing enough off-task trials to fit the data with the standard mixture model revealed that in this particular subsample, being disengaged from the task at encoding was related to worse long-term memory performance in terms of likelihood to recall but not in terms of precision with which information is recalled. Overall, the findings suggest a graded nature of task disengagement that covaries with fine-grained differences in subsequent recall of location. Going forwards, it will be important to test the validity of continuous measures of mind-wandering.

Are visual features of real-world objects stored as bound units? Previous research has shown that simple visual features (e.g., colored squares or geometric shapes) can be effectively bound together when forming predictable pairs in memory tasks. Through a \"memory compression\" process, observers can take advantage of these features to compress them into a chunk. However, a recent study found that visual features in real-world objects are stored independently. In the present study, we explored this issue by using drawings of fruits as memory stimuli, presenting four pictures of fruit in separate test trials in which we required observers to remember eight total features (i.e., four colors and four shapes). In the congruent trials, the color of the fruit matched its natural appearance (e.g., a red apple), while in incongruent trials, the color of the fruit mismatched its natural appearance (e.g., a red banana). We paired the shape of the fruits randomly with a color (without replacement). According to chunking theory, if visual features of real-world objects are stored in a chunk, the highest memory capacity should be accompanied by the longest response time in congruent trials due to an extra decoding process required from the chunk. We did find that participants had the highest memory capacity in the congruent condition, but their response times in the congruent condition were significantly faster than in the incongruent condition. Thus, observers did not undergo a decoding process in the congruent condition, and we concluded that visual features in real-world objects are not stored in a chunk.

Recent research indicates that visual long-term memory (vLTM) representations directly interface with perception and guide attention. This may be accomplished through a state known as activated LTM, however, little is known about the nature of activated LTM. Is it possible to enhance the attentional effects of these activated representations? And furthermore, is activated LTM discrete (i.e., a representation is either active or not active, but only active representations interact with perception) or continuous (i.e., there are different levels within the active state that all interact with perception)? To answer these questions, in the present study, we measured intrusion effects during a modified Sternberg task. Participants saw two lists of three complex visual objects, were cued that only one list was relevant for the current trial (the other list was, thus, irrelevant), and then their memory for the cued list was probed. Critically, half of the trials contained repeat objects (shown 10 times each), and half of the trials contained non-repeat objects (shown only once each). Results indicated that repetition enhanced activated LTM, as the intrusion effect (i.e., longer reaction times to irrelevant list objects than novel objects) was larger for repeat trials compared with non-repeat trials. These initial findings provide preliminary support that LTM activation is continuous, as the intrusion effect was not the same size for repeat and non-repeat trials. We conclude that researchers should repeat stimuli to increase the size of their effects and enhance how LTM representations interact with perception.

Research within visual cognition has made tremendous strides in uncovering the basic operating characteristics of the visual system by reducing the complexity of natural vision to artificial but well-controlled experimental tasks and stimuli. This reductionist approach has for example been used to assess the basic limitations of visual attention, visual working memory (VWM) capacity, and the fidelity of visual long-term memory (VLTM). The assessment of these limits is usually made in a pure sense, irrespective of goals, actions, and priors. While it is important to map out the bottlenecks our visual system faces, we focus here on selected examples of how such limitations can be overcome. Recent findings suggest that during more natural tasks, capacity may be higher than reductionist research suggests and that separable systems subserve different actions, such as reaching and looking, which might provide important insights about how pure attentional or memory limitations could be circumvented. We also review evidence suggesting that the closer we get to naturalistic behavior, the more we encounter implicit learning mechanisms that operate \"for free\" and \"on the fly.\" These mechanisms provide a surprisingly rich visual experience, which can support capacity-limited systems. We speculate whether natural tasks may yield different estimates of the limitations of VWM, VLTM, and attention, and propose that capacity measurements should also pass the real-world test within naturalistic frameworks. Our review highlights various approaches for this and suggests that our understanding of visual cognition will benefit from incorporating the complexities of real-world cognition in experimental approaches.

Pictures in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) stream are better remembered when they are simultaneously presented with targets of an unrelated detection task than when they are presented with distractors. However, it is unclear whether this so-called \"attentional boost effect\" depends on the intentionality of encoding. While there are studies suggesting that the attentional boost effect even occurs when encoding is incidental, there are several methodological issues with these studies, which may have undermined the incidental encoding instructions. The present study (N = 141) investigated the role of the intentionality of encoding with an improved experimental design. Specifically, to prevent a spill-over of intentional resources to the pictures in the RSVP stream, the speed of the stream was increased (to four pictures per second) and each picture was presented only once during the course of the experiment. An attentional boost effect was only found when encoding was intentional but not when encoding was incidental. Interestingly, memory performance for incidentally encoded pictures was nevertheless substantially above chance, independently of whether images were presented with search-relevant targets or distractors. These results suggest that the attentional boost effect is a memory advantage that occurs only under intentional encoding conditions, and that perceptual long-term memory representations are formed as a natural product of perception, independently of the presence of behaviorally relevant events.

Recognition-induced forgetting, whereby the recognition of targeted memories induces the forgetting of related memories, results from the recognition of old objects and rejection of new objects. Here we asked whether both these tasks are necessary to induce forgetting. Our unique design allowed us to isolate the recognition of old objects from the rejection of new objects by presenting subjects with only new objects, only old objects, and a mixture of both in separate conditions of an old-new recognition task. In all three conditions, we successfully induced forgetting. The magnitude of forgetting was statistically indistinguishable across all three conditions, showing that recognition of old objects and rejection of new objects are each building blocks of forgetting. These findings pinpoint both recognition and rejection as mechanisms underlying recognition-induced forgetting and demonstrate the ubiquity of this forgetting effect.

Recognition-induced forgetting is a within-category forgetting effect that results from accessing memory representations. Advantages of this paradigm include the possibility of testing the memory of young children using visual objects before they can read, the testing of multiple types of stimuli, and use with animal models. Yet it is unknown whether just episodic memory tasks (Have you seen this before?) or also semantic memory tasks (Is this bigger than a loaf of bread?) will lead to this forgetting effect. This distinction will be critical in establishing a model of recognition-induced forgetting. Here, we implemented a design in which both these tasks were used in the same experiment to determine which was leading to recognition-induced forgetting. We found that episodic memory tasks, but not semantic memory tasks, created within-category forgetting. These results show that the difference-of-Gaussian forgetting function of recognition-induced forgetting is triggered by episodic memory tasks and is not driven by the same underlying memory signal as semantic memory.