Working Memory Has Better Fidelity Than Long-Term Memory The Fidelity Constraint Is Not a General Property of Memory After All

• Published in: Psychological science Vol. 30; no. 2; pp. 223 - 237
• Main Authors: Biderman, Natalie, Luria, Roy, Teodorescu, Andrei R., Hajaj, Ron, Goshen-Gottstein, Yonatan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA Sage Publications, Inc 01.02.2019; SAGE Publications; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Adult; Bayesian analysis; Color; Color Perception - physiology; Discovery; Female; Fidelity; Humans; Justification; Long term memory; Male; Memory; Memory, Long-Term - physiology; Memory, Short-Term - physiology; Property; Research Article; Short term memory; Variability; Young Adult; replication; preregistered; working memory; fidelity; color memory; continuous-report paradigm; open data; long-term memory
• ISSN: 0956-7976; 1467-9280; 1467-9280
• DOI: 10.1177/0956797618813538

How detailed are long-term-memory representations compared with working memory representations? Recent research has found an equal fidelity bound for both memory systems, suggesting a novel general constraint on memory. Here, we assessed the replicability of this discovery. Participants (total N = 72) were presented with colored real-life objects and were asked to recall the colors using a continuous color wheel. Deviations from study colors were modeled to generate two estimates of color memory: the variability of remembered colors—fidelity—and the probability of forgetting the color. Estimating model parameters using both maximum-likelihood estimation and Bayesian hierarchical modeling, we found that working memory had better fidelity than long-term memory (Experiments 1 and 2). Furthermore, within each system, fidelity worsened as a function of time-correlated mechanisms (Experiments 2 and 3). We conclude that fidelity is subject to decline across and within memory systems. Thus, the justification for a general fidelity constraint in memory does not seem to be valid.