The role of visuospatial and verbal working memory in perceptual category learning.
The role of verbal and visuospatial working memory in rule-based and information-integration category learning was examined. Previously, Maddox, Ashby, Ing, and Pickering found that a sequentially presented verbal working memory task did not affect information-integration learning, but disrupted rule-based learning when the rule was on the spatial frequency of a Gabor stimulus. This pattern was replicated in Experiment 1, in which the same category structures were used, but in which the verbal working memory task was replaced with a visuospatial analog. Experiment 2A examined rule-based learning on an oblique orientation and also found both verbal and visuospatial working memory tasks disrupting learning. Experiment 2B examined rule-based learning on a cardinal orientation and found a minimal effect of the verbal working memory task, but a large effect of the visuospatial working memory task. The conceptual significance of cardinal orientations and the role of visuospatial and verbal working memory in category learning are discussed.
Zeithamova
Dagmar
D
Department of Psychology, University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712, USA. zeithamova@mail.utexas.edu
Maddox
W Todd
WT
D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D013028:Space Perception; D014796:Visual Perception; D014825:Vocabulary