SONG Chao LIU Wan-yi LU Xi-qian GU Quan*

    (Department of Psychology,Zhejiang University,Hangzhou 310007,China)

    Building Blocks of Visual Working Memory:Objects,Features,or Hybrid？*

    SONG Chao**LIU Wan-yi**LU Xi-qianGU Quan***

    (Department of Psychology,Zhejiang University,Hangzhou 310007,China)

    Introduction

    Visual working memory(VWM)stores a very limited set of information(for reviews see Brady,Konkle,& Alvarez,2011;Eriksson,Vogel,& Nyberg,2015;Fukuda,Awh,& Vogel,2010;Luck & Vogel,2013),yet plays a critical role in many cognitive activities(e.g.,Cowan et al.,2005;Unsworth,Fukuda,Awh,& Vogel,2014;Vogel,McCollough,& Machizawa,2005).Consequently,extensive studies have investigated the mechanisms of VWM in the last 15 years(see Baddeley,2012;Luck & Vogel,2013;Luria,Balaban,Awh & Vogel,2016;Suchow,Fougnie,Brady,& Alvarez,2014 for reviews).However,as a fundamental question,the unit of object representation in VWM remains unresolved.Currently,mainly three distinct views exist that claim that objects(object-based view)(e.g.,Vogel,Woodman,& Luck,2001;Xu,2002b),features(feature-based view)(e.g.,Fougnie & Alvarez,2011;Vul & Rich,2010;Wheeler & Treisman,2002),or both objects and features(hybrid view)(e.g.,Brady et al.,2011;Shen,Yu,Xu,& Gao,2013)form the building blocks of VWM. ......