Capacity limits in visual short-term memory

Visual short-term memory (VSTM) is the system that temporarily holds relevant visual information that is useful for a particular ongoing cognitive task. Most studies on VSTM have particularly focused on its storage capacity. Even though they have not yet resolved the fundamental question of why there is a capacity limit in the first place, those studies have converged to the conclusion that VSTM is extremely limited in capacity, holding only about three to four objects simultaneously. In this chapter, I will review the different techniques that have been used to reveal the capacity limits in VSTM as well as the different factors that have been shown to influence this capacity. This review will consider both behavioural and Neuroimaging work.