A neural measure of precision in visual working memory
Open accessAbstract
Recent studies suggest that the temporary storage of visual detail in working memory is mediated by sensory recruitment or sustained patterns of stimulus-specific activation within feature-selective regions of visual cortex. According to a strong version of this hypothesis, the relative "quality" of these patterns should determine the clarity of an individual's memory. Here, we provide a direct test of this claim. We used fMRI and a forward encoding model to characterize population-level orientation-selective responses in visual cortex while human participants held an oriented grating in memory. This analysis, which enables a precise quantitative description of multivoxel, population-level activity measured during working memory storage, revealed graded response profiles whose amplitudes were greatest for the remembered orientation and fell monotonically as the angular distance from this orientation increased. Moreover, interparticipant differences in the dispersion-but not the amplitude-of these response profiles were strongly correlated with performance on a concurrent memory recall task. These findings provide important new evidence linking the precision of sustained population-level responses in visual cortex and memory acuity.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Decoding accuracy was higher for people who could more accurately form mental images during both working memory and mental imagery tasks.
“Interestingly, decoding accuracy was higher for people who could more accurately form mental images during both tasks (WM: r = 20.51,p = 0.0053; IM: r = 20.37,p = 0.039; Figure S2), providing a strong link between mental imagery ability and the precision of population-level responses [21,22].”
From Shared representations for working memory and mental imagery in early visual cortex (2013) · cites this paper as [22]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
1 retracted
Precision in Visual Working Memory Reaches a Stable Plateau When Individual Item Limits Are Exceeded
Anderson, D. E., Vogel, E. K., & Awh, E. (2011) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.4125-10.2011 · Cited by 151 · see citing works
Self-citationRetractedBrainard, D. H. (1997) · Spatial Vision · doi:10.1163/156856897x00357 · Cited by 19,308 · see citing works
The VideoToolbox software for visual psychophysics: transforming numbers into movies
Pelli, D. G. (1997) · Spatial Vision · doi:10.1163/156856897x00366 · Cited by 11,110 · see citing works
Neural activity predicts individual differences in visual working memory capacity
Vogel, E. K., & Machizawa, M. G. (2004) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature02447 · Cited by 1,813 · see citing works
The Cognitive Neuroscience of Working Memory
D'Esposito, M., & Postle, B. R. (2015) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-010814-015031 · Cited by 1,653 · see citing works
Discrete fixed-resolution representations in visual working memory
Zhang, W., & Luck, S. J. (2008) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature06860 · Cited by 1,624 · see citing works
Capacity limit of visual short-term memory in human posterior parietal cortex
Todd, J. J., & Marois, R. (2004) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature02466 · Cited by 1,477 · see citing works
Neural Mechanisms of Visual Working Memory in Prefrontal Cortex of the Macaque
Miller, E. K., Erickson, C. A., & Desimone, R. (1996) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.16-16-05154.1996 · Cited by 1,441 · see citing works
Decoding reveals the contents of visual working memory in early visual areas
Harrison, S. A., & Tong, F. (2009) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature07832 · Cited by 1,347 · see citing works
Working memory as an emergent property of the mind and brain
Postle, B. R. (2005) · Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2005.06.005 · Cited by 1,151 · see citing works
On the capacity of attention: Its estimation and its role in working memory and cognitive aptitudes
Cowan, N., Elliott, E. M., Scott Saults, J., Morey, C. C., Mattox, S., Hismjatullina, A., & Conway, A. R. A. (2005) · Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.cogpsych.2004.12.001 · Cited by 1,144 · see citing works
Changing concepts of working memory
Ma, W. J., Husain, M., & Bays, P. M. (2014) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn.3655 · Cited by 1,127 · see citing works
Dissociable neural mechanisms supporting visual short-term memory for objects
Yaoda Xu, A., & Chun, M. M. (2005) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature04262 · Cited by 931 · see citing works
Stimulus-Specific Delay Activity in Human Primary Visual Cortex
Serences, J. T., Ester, E. F., Vogel, E. K., & Awh, E. (2009) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02276.x · Cited by 833 · see citing works
Self-citationFrom cognitive to neural models of working memory
D’Esposito, M. (2007) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2007.2086 · Cited by 792 · see citing works
Visual Working Memory Represents a Fixed Number of Items Regardless of Complexity
Awh, E., Barton, B., & Vogel, E. K. (2007) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01949.x · Cited by 709 · see citing works
Self-citationWorking memory in primate sensory systems
Pasternak, T., & Greenlee, M. W. (2005) · Nature reviews. Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn1603 · Cited by 678 · see citing works
The Cognitive Neuroscience of Attention
(2020) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781003048916 · Cited by 653 · see citing works
Orientation Selectivity in Macaque V1: Diversity and Laminar Dependence
Ringach, D. L., Shapley, R. M., & Hawken, M. J. (2002) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.22-13-05639.2002 · Cited by 653 · see citing works
Decoding and Reconstructing Color from Responses in Human Visual Cortex
Brouwer, G. J., & Heeger, D. J. (2009) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.3577-09.2009 · Cited by 586 · see citing works
Shared representations for working memory and mental imagery in early visual cortex
Albers, A. M., Kok, P., Toni, I., Dijkerman, H. C., & de Lange, F. P. (2013) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2013.05.065 · Cited by 528 · see citing works
Revisiting the role of persistent neural activity during working memory
Sreenivasan, K. K., Curtis, C. E., & D’Esposito, M. (2014) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2013.12.001 · Cited by 433 · see citing works
Riggall, A. C., & Postle, B. R. (2012) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.1892-12.2012 · Cited by 385 · see citing works
Cognitive Neuroscience of Attention
(1998) · Psychology Press eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781410603906 · Cited by 354 · see citing works
Discrete capacity limits in visual working memory
Fukuda, K., Awh, E., & Vogel, E. K. (2010) · Current Opinion in Neurobiology · doi:10.1016/j.conb.2010.03.005 · Cited by 305 · see citing works
Self-citationA Neural Correlate of Working Memory in the Monkey Primary Visual Cortex
Supèr, H., Spekreijse, H., & Lamme, V. A. F. (2001) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1060496 · Cited by 305 · see citing works
Tuning Curves, Neuronal Variability, and Sensory Coding
Butts, D. A., & Goldman, M. S. (2006) · PLoS Biology · doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0040092 · Cited by 261 · see citing works
Role of Prefrontal Persistent Activity in Working Memory
Riley, M. R., & Constantinidis, C. (2016) · Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnsys.2015.00181 · Cited by 251 · see citing works
Spatially Global Representations in Human Primary Visual Cortex during Working Memory Maintenance
Ester, E. F., Serences, J. T., & Awh, E. (2009) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.4388-09.2009 · Cited by 231 · see citing works
Self-citationCross-orientation suppression in human visual cortex
Brouwer, G. J., & Heeger, D. J. (2011) · Journal of Neurophysiology · doi:10.1152/jn.00540.2011 · Cited by 222 · see citing works
Reconstructions of Information in Visual Spatial Working Memory Degrade with Memory Load
Sprague, T. C., Ester, E. F., & Serences, J. T. (2014) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2014.07.066 · Cited by 197 · see citing works
Self-citationDistributed and Dynamic Storage of Working Memory Stimulus Information in Extrastriate Cortex
Sreenivasan, K. K., Vytlacil, J. J., & D’Esposito, M. (2014) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/jocn_a_00556 · Cited by 140 · see citing works
Executive control processes underlying multi-item working memory
Lara, A. H., & Wallis, J. D. (2014) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn.3702 · Cited by 137 · see citing works
Decoding and reconstructing color from responses in human visual cortex
Brouwer, G. J., & Heeger, D. J. (2010) · Journal of Vision · doi:10.1167/9.8.365 · Cited by 128 · see citing works
Computational advances towards linking BOLD and behavior
Serences, J. T., & Saproo, S. (2011) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2011.07.013 · Cited by 102 · see citing works
Self-citationDiscrete resource allocation in visual working memory.
Barton, B., Ester, E. F., & Awh, E. (2009) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance · doi:10.1037/a0015792 · Cited by 97 · see citing works
Self-citationNeural Anatomy of Primary Visual Cortex Limits Visual Working Memory
Bergmann, J., Genç, E., Kohler, A., Singer, W., & Pearson, J. (2014) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bhu168 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
Asymmetrical access to color and location in visual working memory
Rajsic, J., & Wilson, D. E. (2014) · Attention Perception & Psychophysics · doi:10.3758/s13414-014-0723-2 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
The short- and long-term fates of memory items retained outside the focus of attention
LaRocque, J. J., Eichenbaum, A., Starrett, M. J., et al. (2014) · Memory & Cognition · doi:10.3758/s13421-014-0486-y · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Peterson, D. J., Gurariy, G., Dimotsantos, G., Arciniega, H., Berryhill, M. E., & Caplovitz, G. P. (2014) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.08.020 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Evidence for working memory storage operations in perceptual cortex
Sreenivasan, K. K., Gratton, C., Vytlacil, J. J., & D’Esposito, M. (2014) · Cognitive Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.3758/s13415-013-0246-7 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Visual Working Memory in Human Cortex
Barton, B., & Brewer, A. A. (2013) · Psychology · doi:10.4236/psych.2013.48093 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Bancroft, T. D., Hockley, W. E., & Servos, P. (2014) · Attention Perception & Psychophysics · doi:10.3758/s13414-013-0604-0 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The Distributed Nature of Working Memory
Christophel, T. B., Klink, P. C., Spitzer, B., Roelfsema, P. R., & Haynes, J.-D. (2017) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2016.12.007 · Cited by 882 · see citing works
Shared representations for working memory and mental imagery in early visual cortex
Albers, A. M., Kok, P., Toni, I., Dijkerman, H. C., & de Lange, F. P. (2013) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2013.05.065 · Cited by 528 · see citing works
Factorial comparison of working memory models.
van den Berg, R., Awh, E., & Ma, W. J. (2014) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/a0035234 · Cited by 311 · see citing works
Self-citationThe cognitive neuroscience of visual short-term memory
Postle, B. R. (2015) · Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2014.08.004 · Cited by 149 · see citing works
Jia, K., Li, Y., Gong, M., Huang, H., Wang, Y., & Li, S. (2021) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.2780-20.2021 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
- Authors
- Ester, E. F., Anderson, D. E., Serences, J. T., & Awh, E.
- Affiliations
- University of California San Diego (US)
- University of Oregon (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
- Publisher
- MIT Press - Journals
- Published
- 2013-05-01
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 754-761
- ISSN
- 0898-929X (ISSN-L)
- 1530-8898
- PMC
- PMC4041615
- OpenAlex
- W2164118194
- Cited by
- 207
- References
- 43
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 16 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 20 · 2013: 3
- FWCI
- 10.24
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH087214)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural dynamics and brain function
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Keywords
- visual working memory, memory precision, visual cortex, memory retrieval, individual differences, sustained neural activity
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Analysis of Variance, Brain, Brain Mapping, Choice Behavior, Female, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Functional Laterality, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Memory, Short-Term, Orientation, Oxygen, Pattern Recognition, Visual, Photic Stimulation, Reaction Time, Mental Recall, Time Factors, Visual Pathways, Young Adult
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
