title: A controlled-attention view of working-memory capacity.
abstract: In 2 experiments the authors examined whether individual differences in working-memory (WM) capacity are related to attentional control. Experiment 1 tested high- and low-WM-span (high-span and low-span) participants in a prosaccade task, in which a visual cue appeared in the same location as a subsequent to-be-identified target letter, and in an antisaccade task, in which a target appeared opposite the cued location. Span groups identified targets equally well in the prosaccade task, reflecting equivalence in automatic orienting. However, low-span participants were slower and less accurate than high-span participants in the antisaccade task, reflecting differences in attentional control. Experiment 2 measured eye movements across a long antisaccade session. Low-span participants made slower and more erroneous saccades than did high-span participants. In both experiments, low-span participants performed poorly when task switching from antisaccade to prosaccade blocks. The findings support a controlled-attention view of WM capacity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, USA. mjkane@uncg.edu
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Kane
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Bleckley
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Conway
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Engle
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D009949:Orientation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D012438:Saccades; D014706:Verbal Learning