A Process Model of Ensemble Coding within Working Memory

The cognitive science literature has recently noted a large body of effects attributed to ensemble codes, or the ability to integrate environmental information into summary representations. While the prevalence of summary effects has been well documented, a description of the process by which the ensemble code arises within the more general visual information processing stream is still missing. Within the current work, a description of such a process is given. The ensemble code forms over information that has been encoded into working memory, forming an approximation of the external environment from a fidelity-weighted integrated representation. The nature of the information that contributes to the summary is vulnerable to bottom-up perceptual effects as well as goal-driven top-down effects. The resulting model gives a description of how the wide range of newly noted summary effects arise within the wider systems of memory and perceptual processing.