The impact of visual working memory constraints on object recognition

We explored the impact of visual working memory (VWM) constraints on the processing of complex objects, with a VWM task where participants (N = 75) adjusted the orientation of a bar to match a previously viewed one. Additionally, they performed a delayed match-to-sample task involving faces, houses, and pseudowords, where individual features or feature configurations were manipulated. Results showed a robust link between VWM precision for simple stimuli and memory for configural information in houses, beyond faces and pseudowords. Expert categories (faces, words) reduce VWM demands, while non-expert categories (houses) impose greater demands, especially for configural processing. Featural processing of non-expert categories places less demand on VWM. Extensive experience with an object category allows creating integrated chunks, facilitating rapid recognition and processing. Overall, configural processing of non-expert categories may place more demands on visual working memory than both featural processing of such categories and featural and configural processing of expert categories.