一些视觉刺激总是比其他个体更好地记住,由于记忆性的变化(刺激固有特性决定了编码成视觉长期记忆(VLTM)的容易性)。然而,目前尚不清楚是什么认知过程会产生这种记忆益处。一种可能性是,这种好处体现在VLTM编码的容量有限瓶颈内,即视觉工作记忆(VWM)。更确切地说,记忆刺激可以优先编码到VLTM中,因为需要较少的认知资源来将它们存储在VWM(效率假设)中。或者,难忘的刺激在获得认知资源方面可能比难忘的刺激更具竞争力,导致VWM更成功的存储(竞争力假设)。此外,VWM后可能会出现可记忆性的好处,具体来说,如果难忘的刺激不太容易被遗忘(即,在通过编码瓶颈后,它们比容易忘记的刺激“更粘”)(粘性假设)。为了测试这个,我们进行了两个实验来研究如何通过操纵刺激的记忆性来产生记忆性益处,设置大小,以及参与者在工作记忆任务的背景下对刺激进行编码时刺激之间的竞争程度。随后,在VLTM任务中测试了他们对编码刺激的记忆。在VWM任务中,与令人难忘的刺激相比,令人难忘的刺激表现更好,支持效率假设。此外,我们发现在直接竞争中,难忘的刺激在吸引有限的VWM资源方面也比难忘的刺激更好,支持竞争力假说。然而,在VLTM中,只有效率优势转化为性能优势。最后,我们发现,难忘的刺激在通过VWM施加的编码瓶颈后不太可能被遗忘,支持“粘性”假设。因此,我们的研究结果表明,可记忆性益处在多个认知过程中发展.
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.