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Categorical Distinction of Real Objects and Location Binding Are Separate Sources of Interference in Visual Working Memory
One of the important sources of failures in visual working memory (VWM) is that individual items can interfere with each other. Here, we tested how two causes of such interference—poor categorical distinctiveness and imperfect feature binding—interact. In three experiments, we showed low and high distinctive objects and tested VWM for objects alone, for locations alone and for object-location conjunctions. We found that low object distinctiveness impairs object recognition and increases the number of object-location binding errors. Also, we dissociated the probabilities that these binding errors are due to recognition impairment or a failure of correct binding. Results show that poor distinctiveness increases binding errors rate only due to lacking recognition but not to binding impairment. Together, our findings suggest that object distinction and object-location binding act upon different components of VWM and are separate sources of interference. This study was funded by RSCF #18-18-00334.