We know that our cognitive capacity, specifically our ability to retain information temporarily, is limited, and that this can impact our performance of everyday tasks. There is much debate surrounding the nature of representations in visuospatial working memory: is there a fixed limit on the number of items that can be retained (Slot model), or is there a limit to the precision with which a potentially unlimited number of items can be retained (Resource model)?
For my PhD, I am looking at extending Bays and Husain’s “Resource” model of visual working memory to include a continuous measure of spatial working memory. In the second half of my project, I aim to use this measure to investigate the role of eye movements in spatial working memory. In this, I want to understand whether eye movements specifically aid in encoding, rehearsing, or retrieving high-quality representations of items in spatial working memory.
