Masters Theses
Date of Award
12-2025
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Major
Psychology
Major Professor
David W. Sutterer
Committee Members
Caglar A. Tas, Aaron T. Buss
Abstract
Do background landmarks enhance or reduce active working memory maintenance of target locations? To answer this question, we recorded electroencephalography (EEG) activity while participants completed two delayed spatial estimation tasks which involved alternating background conditions. We found that background cues allowed participants to better remember target locations. We also demonstrated that while simplistic useful cues result in stronger working memory representations than unhelpful cues, real-world images show lower decoding ability than we see when no image is present. Our results demonstrate that useful landmarks at remembered locations enhance sustained spatial memory representations for target locations and that visually complex real-world images can alter a model’s to decode working memory locations.
Recommended Citation
Schmitz, Nicholas R., "THE EFFECT OF NATURALISTIC SCENE PRESENTATION ON WORKING MEMORY REPRESENTATIONS. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 2025.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/15483