Piecing it together: Examining the processing of single features and feature bindings in visual working memory

The goal of this thesis was to examine how visual features are prioritised during goal-orientated processing in working memory. It was examined whether attention is required for the maintenance of features in visual working memory (Chapters 2 and 3), and whether there are differences between the prioritisation of location and non-location features during goal-orientated processing (Chapter 4). Additionally, it was examined whether during the prioritisation of updated information, outdated information is temporarily (i.e., outdated information is still present and accessible) or permanently (i.e., outdated information is no longer present or accessible) removed (Chapters 5 and 6). Chapters 2 and 3 observed that manipulating attention did not affect the likelihood of binding errors occurring (i.e., the probability of a feature becoming misbound). However, it was observed that the likelihood of a target feature being in memory (target memory) was affected by manipulating attention. In Chapter 4 it was observed that there are no distinct differences between the prioritisation of location and non-location features during goal-oriented processing. Similarly to Experiment 2 of Chapter 2, it was observed that guiding attention improved target memory. Chapters 5 and 6 investigated whether the prioritisation of outdated information relies on the temporary or permanent removal of outdated information, by altering the to-be-updated feature type. In both Chapters 5 and 6, it was observed that the model simulating temporary removal best fit the data. Thus, prioritising updated information relies on temporary removal, irrespective of the feature type. Therefore, the findings of this thesis suggest that the processing of visual information occurs in an object-based manner, but additional resources aid the prioritisation of goal-relevant feature bindings.