Examining the signal-detection account of visual working memory.
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: The study of visual working memory has long centered on debates between signal-detection theory (SDT) and discrete-slots models. A notable limitation of these debates is the strong reliance on parametric assumptions and selective-influence manipulations that rarely receive direct test. Here we take a different approach by examining whether visual working-memory judgments satisfy the structural constraints implied by a random-scale representation-a general latent-variable framework from which both SDT and discrete-slots models can be derived. In Experiments 1a and 1b, multiple-alternative forced-choice judgments conformed to these constraints, allowing the reconstruction of single-item receiver operating characteristic functions without response-bias manipulations. The reconstructed receiver operating characteristic functions were curved and asymmetric, contradicting the linear predictions of discrete-slots accounts. Experiment 2 provided a complementary failure case, showing that random-scale constraints break down precisely when their theoretical conditions are not met. Experiment 3 extended the findings to item-location bindings in change detection, again yielding an asymmetric receiver operating characteristic function that neither equal-variance SDT nor discrete-slots models can accommodate. Together, the results show that visual working-memory judgments respect the general assumptions underlying SDT while undermining the core commitments of discrete-slots theories. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
DOI: 10.1037/xlm0001613
Authors: Yiou He, David Kellen, Henrik Singmann
Institutions: University College London, Syracuse University
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Funder: National Science Foundation
OpenAlex ID: W7160866848
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