Working memory can guide pop-out search.
Top-down feedback from working memory (WM) can exert an early and involuntary influence on visual selection for targets that are relatively difficult to discriminate [Soto, D., Heinke, D., Humphreys, G. W., & Blanco, M. J. (2005) Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 31, 248]. Here, we demonstrate similar effects even on search for a pop-out target. At the beginning of each trial, participants memorized a prime that could contain either the search target or a distracter in the subsequent search array. Targets and distractors were easily discriminable. Despite this, the prime in WM affected responses latencies and the direction of the first saccade. Top-down search, guided by the contents of WM, can modulate selection even when salient bottom-up cues are present.
Soto
David
D
Behavioural Brain Sciences, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK. d.soto@bham.ac.uk
Humphreys
Glyn W
GW
Heinke
Dietmar
D
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D005364:Field Dependence-Independence; D005403:Fixation, Ocular / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012438:Saccades / Q000502:physiology