Were you paying attention to where you looked? The role of executive working memory in visual search.
Recent evidence has indicated that performing a working memory task that loads executive working memory leads to less efficient visual search (Han & Kim, 2004). We explored the role that executive functioning plays in visual search by examining the pattern of eye movements while participants performed a search task with or without a secondary executive working memory task. Results indicate that executive functioning plays two roles in visual search: the identification of objects and the control of the disengagement of attention.
Peterson
Matthew S
MS
Department of Psychology, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia 22030, USA. mpeters2@gmu.edu
Beck
Melissa R
MR
Wong
Jason H
JH
D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D012438:Saccades; D014796:Visual Perception