Abstract
We investigated the effects of spatial complexity on the capacity of visual short-term memory (VSTM) in individual differences along the Autism-spectrum Quotient (AQ). Spatial complexity was defined by Garner’s equivalent set size (ESS). We used a change-detection task in which nine line-segments contained several orientations were presented in simple (ESS 4) or complex (ESS 8) configurations with encoding times for 300, 500, or 900ms. From preliminary investigation of AQ (n = 120), the participants were divided into the High AQ (n = 11) and Low AQ (n = 9). We found that the VSTM capacity for ESS 4 was larger than for ESS 8 in the Low AQ with the encoding time of 900ms, whereas, in the High AQ group, there were no significant differences between ESS 4 and 8, suggesting that the effects of spatial complexity on VSTM were observed in the Low AQ but not in the High AQ.
