Speaker
Description
Working memory capacity is limited, constraining memory precision. Chunking items into structured groups improves precision in other domains, but its role in visual working memory remains unclear. We tested whether people organize visual memories using geometric primitives (e.g., grouping symmetrically arranged gratings). In two whole-report experiments, participants memorized orientations of two or four simultaneously presented gratings, then reproduced each orientation and rated their confidence. Orientations were randomly assigned to equidistant positions around fixation. For each trial, we quantified how similar grating configurations were to predefined geometric primitives. Participants showed greater precision and confidence for configurations resembling primitives compared to non-structured configurations. This benefit was consistent across experiments and similarity thresholds. Responses were also biased towards a subset of primitives. Ongoing modeling aims to specify how primitive information integrates with item-level representations to predict both precision gains and biases. Our findings demonstrate that geometric regularities support chunking in visual working memory.