Conscious visual memory with minimal attention.
Yair Pinto, Annelinde R. E. Vandenbroucke, Marte Otten, Ilja G. Sligte, Anil K. Seth, Victor A. F. Lamme
Journal of Experimental Psychology General January 30, 2017 DOI: 10.1037/xge0000255 via OpenAlex
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractChange blindness—the failure to notice unattended changes in a visual scene—has been taken as evidence that conscious perception requires spatial attention. However, change blindness tasks introduce visual interference that forces reliance on working memory, which has limited capacity. Before such interference, a larger-capacity store called fragile memory exists. Two experiments show that minimizing spatial attention nearly eliminates visual working memory but leaves fragile memory largely intact. Furthermore, minimally attended fragile memory responses produce accurate metacognition, indicating that conscious memory persists with limited spatial attention. These findings suggest that both visual consciousness and memory can be supported by only minimal attention.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Experimental study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Inattentional blindness Change blindness Cognitive psychology Iconic memory Consciousness |
| Citations | 23 |
| Key finding | Fragile memory remains largely intact even when spatial attention is minimized, and minimally attended fragile memory responses yield accurate metacognition, suggesting that conscious memory can persist with limited spatial attention. |
Abstract
Is conscious visual perception limited to the locations that a person attends? The remarkable phenomenon of change blindness, which shows that people miss nearly all unattended changes in a visual scene, suggests the answer is yes. However, change blindness is found after visual interference (a mask or a new scene), so that subjects have to rely on working memory (WM), which has limited capacity, to detect the change. Before such interference, however, a much larger capacity store, called fragile memory (FM), which is easily overwritten by newly presented visual information, is present. Whether these different stores depend equally on spatial attention is central to the debate on the role of attention in conscious vision. In 2 experiments, we found that minimizing spatial attention almost entirely erases visual WM, as expected. Critically, FM remains largely intact. Moreover, minimally attended FM responses yield accurate metacognition, suggesting that conscious memory persists with limited spatial attention. Together, our findings help resolve the fundamental issue of how attention affects perception: Both visual consciousness and memory can be supported by only minimal attention. (PsycINFO Database Record