Citation

Magnussen S, Greenlee MW. J. Exp. Psychol. Learn. Mem. Cogn. 1992; 18(1): 151-156.

Affiliation

Vision Laboratory Institute of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1992, American Psychological Association)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

1532017

Abstract

Velocity discrimination thresholds for drifting luminance gratings were measured as a function of the time interval between test and reference gratings, using a two-interval, forced-choice procedure. Discrimination thresholds, expressed as Weber fractions (delta V/V), were independent of interstimulus intervals (ISIs) ranging from 1-30 s, demonstrating perfect short-term retention of velocity information. When a third grating was briefly presented halfway through a 10-s ISI, memory masking was observed. Discrimination thresholds in memory masking were unaffected by maskers of the same velocity but increased by 100% when test and masker velocity differed by a factor of 2. The results are interpreted with reference to a model where the short-term memory for simple stimulus attributes is assumed to be organized in terms of arrays of memory stores linked in a lateral inhibitory network.

Language: en