The influence of a feature in visual working memory on rapid visual categorization of multiple objects

Context and relevance. The perception of a set of objects with variability of features within this group is referred as ensemble perception. The process of rapid visual categorization is the ability to form categorical groups from a set of objects and is based on the mechanism of ensemble perception. The visual system evaluates the variability of features in a group by forming a distribution of features with peaks representing the mean. If several distributions with significantly distant peaks are formed, this leads to the creation of two groups. Studies have shown that maintaining features in visual working memory can influence ensemble perception. Objective: to analyze whether the categorical boundary will change under the influence of the feature stored in the visual working memory that is irrelevant for rapid visual categorization. Hypothesis. The maintained feature in visual working memory will shift the categorical boundary in rapid visual categorization toward the subgroup corresponding to the maintained feature. Methods and materials. To test the hypothesis, an experiment was conducted in which participants (N = 31, 86% female) performed two tasks within the same trial: a visual working memory task and a rapid visual categorization task. Results. The results of the study showed that feature maintenance in visual working memory affects the speed of rapid visual categorization, although it did not affect categorical boundary. Conclusions. Directions for future research in the area of rapid visual categorization of multiple objects are discussed.

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