Object Feature Memory Is Distorted by Category Structure

Bibliographic Data

ID22157754
AuthorsMarlie C Tandoc (0000-0002-0963-2421, University of Pennsylvania), Cody V Dong (0009-0006-8141-4783, Princeton University), Anna C Schapiro (0000-0001-8086-0331, University of Pennsylvania)
Year2024
Volume8
Pages1348-1368
Publication date2024-11-22
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueOpen MIND (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2470-2986 • E-ISSN: 2470-2986
PublisherMIT Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1162/opmi_a_00170
PMID39654820
OpenAlexW4405103407
LanguageEN
References cited69

Memory systems constantly confront the challenge of capturing both the shared features that connect experiences together and the unique features that distinguish them. Across two experiments, we leveraged a color memory distortion paradigm to investigate how we handle this representational tension when learning new information. Over a thirty-minute period, participants learned shared and unique features of categories of novel objects, where each feature was assigned a particular color. While participants did not differ in how accurately they remembered these features overall, when inaccurate, participants misremembered the color of shared (relative to unique) features as more similar to the category’s average color, suggesting more integration of shared features in memory. This same rapid representational warping manifested in a neural network model trained on the same categories. The work reveals how memories for different features are rapidly and differentially warped as a function of their roles in a category

Linguistics · Advanced Image and Video Retrieval Techniques · Communication · Computer Science · Domain Adaptation and Few-Shot Learning · Memory and Neural Mechanisms · Psychology · Artificial Intelligence

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