Abstract
Visual working memory and attention are commonly studied using laboratory tasks with static 2D screens. In recent years, virtual reality (VR) has opened new opportunities for investigating visual working memory and attention in more naturalistic, dynamic 3D environments – while allowing simultaneous eye- and head-tracking. Capitalising on such opportunities, we developed a visual working memory task in VR in which we manipulated the mode of object disappearance. Condition A mimicked the artificial nature of “default” laboratory tasks in which visual objects were held static in front of the participant before being removed from view arbuptly – as if suddenly disappearing from the environment. In condition B, the same visual objects were in motion and flew by participants, thereby disappearing from view gradually in a more naturalistic manner. We compared conditions with regard to (i) visual working-memory capacity and (ii) subtle eye and head signatures when orienting attention to particular objects inside visual working memory. Despite vastly distinct modes of object disappearance, we found comparable memory capacity as well as comparable bodily signatures of internal selective attention. This showcases how VR brings new questions and opportunities in the study of visual cognition, while also bringing the reassuring insight that classic findings from visual working memory research – including a capacity of approximately three objects – generalise under immersive conditions and with more naturalistic modes of object disappearance.