Ruyi Liu （刘茹邑）

Ruyi Liu （刘茹邑）

MA student focused on visual working memory

Publications

Sustained attention required for effective dimension-based retro-cue benefit in visual working memory

Published in Journal of Vision, 2023

In visual working memory (VWM) tasks, participants’ performances can be improved through the use of dimension-based retro-cues, which direct internal attention to prioritize a particular dimension (e.g., color or orientation) of VWM representations even after the stimuli disappear. This phenomenon is known as the dimension-based retro-cue benefit (RCB). The present study investigates whether sustained attention is required for the dimension-based RCB by inserting interference or interruption between the retro-cue and the test array to distract attention. We tested the effects of perceptual interference or cognitive interruption on dimension-based RCB when the interference (Experiments 1 and 2 with masks) or interruption (Experiments 3 and 4 with an odd-even task) occurred concurrently with the stages for the maintenance of prioritized information (long cue-and-interference/interruption interstimulus interval, e.g., Experiments 1 and 3) or the deployment of attention (short cue-and-interference/interruption interstimulus interval, e.g., Experiments 2 and 4). Our results demonstrate that perceptual interference or cognitive interruption attenuates the dimension-based RCB. These findings suggest that sustained attention is necessary for the effective prioritization of a specific dimension of VWM representations.

Recommended citation: Liu, R., Guo, L., Sun, H., Parviainen, T., Zhou, Z., Cheng, Y., Liu, Q., & Ye, C. (2023). Sustained attention required for effective dimension-based retro-cue benefit in visual working memory. Journal of Vision, 23(5), 13. https://doi.org/10.1167/jov.23.5.13 http://ruyil.github.io/Ruyi_Liu.github.io/paper/paper5.pdf

Encoding specificity instead of online integration of real-world spatial regularities for objects in working memory

Published in Journal of Vision, 2022

Most objects show high degrees of spatial regularity (e.g. beach umbrellas appear above, not under, beach chairs). The spatial regularities of real-world objects benefit visual working memory (VWM), but the mechanisms behind this spatial regularity effect remain unclear. The “encoding specificity” hypothesis suggests that spatial regularity will enhance the visual encoding process but will not facilitate the integration of information online during VWM maintenance. The “perception-alike” hypothesis suggests that spatial regularity will function in both visual encoding and online integration during VWM maintenance. We investigated whether VWM integrates sequentially presented real-world objects by focusing on the existence of the spatial regularity effect. Throughout five experiments, we manipulated the presentation (simultaneous vs. sequential) and regularity (with vs. without regularity) of memory arrays among pairs of real-world objects. The spatial regularity of memory objects presented simultaneously, but not sequentially, improved VWM performance. We also examined whether memory load, verbal suppression and masking, and memory array duration hindered the spatial regularity effect in sequential presentation. We found a stable absence of the spatial regularity effect, suggesting that the participants were unable to integrate real-world objects based on spatial regularities online. Our results support the encoding specificity hypothesis, wherein the spatial regularity of real-world objects can enhance the efficiency of VWM encoding, but VWM cannot exploit spatial regularity to help organize sampled sequential information into meaningful integrations.

Recommended citation: Liu, X., Liu, R., Guo, L., Astikainen, P., & Ye, C. (2022). Encoding specificity instead of online integration of real-world spatial regularities for objects in working memory. Journal of Vision, 22(9), 8. https://doi.org/10.1167/jov.22.9.8 http://ruyil.github.io/Ruyi_Liu.github.io/paper/paper4.pdf

The Performance Difference of Visual Working Memory between Various Emotional Faces

Published in Advances in Psychology (Chinese Journal), 2022

Among social-emotional stimuli, emotional faces occupy an important position, which specifically refer to human faces with certain facial expressions. The visual working memory is a limited workspace where information can be saved online and can be accessed and operated by advanced cognitive function during the maintenance period. A large number of behavioral and electrophysiological studies have shown that there are differences in visual working memory performance of different emotional faces. Specifically, angry faces can enhance the visual working memory performance; fearful faces may cause some damage to visual working memory; sad faces will impair face recognition encoding in visual working memory. However, the visual working memory of happy emotional faces is mainly reflected in the choice of attention compared with other emotional faces, and the time is slightly delayed compared with that of angry faces. This paper sorts out the relevant research on the differences in visual working memory performance produced by different emotional faces as stimuli, and tries to summarize the possible reasons for these differences.

Recommended citation: Li, Q., Guo, L., Zhou, Z., Liu, R., Cheng, Y., & Ye, C. (2022). The Performance Difference of Visual Working Memory between Various Emotional Faces. Advances in Psychology, 12(05):1638-1646. https://doi.org/10.12677/AP.2022.125196 http://ruyil.github.io/Ruyi_Liu.github.io/paper/paper3.pdf

The Influencing Factors of Retro-Cue Effect in Visual Working Memory

Published in Advances in Psychology (Chinese Journal), 2022

The visual working memory is a temporary storage system, which encodes, maintains and retrieves visual information. The researchers have found that adding retro-cues to the maintenance phase of memory leads to changes in participants’ memory performance, which is the retro-cue effect. The magnitude of the retro-cue effect is not set in stone, but changes with the changes of its influencing factors. However, there is no study to summarize the influencing factors of the retro-clue effect. This paper looked into the articles related to the study of the retro-cue effect and summarized the influencing factors of the retro-cue effect: memory items, maintenance interval time, interference in maintenance interval, and types of retro-cue. Based on this, future research can explore the factors that influence the retro-cue effect in other dimensions. At the same time, since retro-cue can improve memory performance and cognitive processing, these influencing factors should be reasonably controlled when using retro-cues. The internal attention mechanism of visual working memory could be further explored and the understanding of visual working memory mechanism could be promoted.

Recommended citation: Cheng, Y., Guo, L., Zhou, Z., Liu, R., Li, Q., & Ye, C. (2022). The Influencing Factors of Retro-Cue Effect in Visual Working Memory. Advances in Psychology, 12(04):1079-1087. https://doi.org/10.12677/AP.2022.124128 http://ruyil.github.io/Ruyi_Liu.github.io/paper/paper2.pdf

The Representation Unit of Visual Working Memory

Published in Advances in Psychology (Chinese Journal), 2022

The visual working memory is a limited storage system in which people could flexibly process the representations to complete the task. Among studies on the capacity of visual working memory, the representation unit is a prior subject. Previous research employs the change-detection paradigm and the recall paradigm to explore the nature of representations when features of diverse dimensions and different-level features of the same dimension are stored in the visual working memory. These studies elicit two binary hypotheses: the object-based representation hypothesis backs that those diverse features are bound on the object and form a whole, while the feature-based representation hypothesis supports that independent feature representations have a specific capacity limitation on each dimension. Besides, as a target-drive memory system, the visual working memory receives an undeniable impact from the experiment process and the task demand. By comparing and concluding previous debates on the representation unit, we attempt to reach a united explanation of two hypotheses. This benefits our comprehension of the capacity of visual working memory. The exploration of relevant problems might consider the impact of task demand to improve the experimental design.

Recommended citation: Liu, R., Guo, L., Cheng, Y., Li, Q., & Ye, C. (2022). The Representation Unit of Visual Working Memory. Advances in Psychology, 12. (3), 868-875. https://doi.org/10.12677/AP.2022.123103 http://ruyil.github.io/Ruyi_Liu.github.io/paper/paper1.pdf