Spatial working memory maintenance: does attention play a role? A visual search study.
Recent studies have proposed that a common mechanism may underlie spatial attention and spatial working memory. One proposal is that spatial working memory is maintained by attention-based rehearsal [Awh, E., Jonides, J., & Reuter-Lorenz, P. A. (1998). Rehearsal in spatial working memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 24(3), 780-790], and so a spatial attention shift during the retention interval of a spatial location should impair its memory performance. In the present study, participants engaged in single-item, parallel or serial search tasks while remembering a spatial location. Although memory tended to bias all searches, the need for an attentional shift during the retention interval impaired memory performance only in single-item search, but not in other searches. These findings suggest that previous evidence for the attention-based rehearsal account does not generalize to visual search. Results are discussed with regard to the relationship between spatial attention and spatial working memory.
Chan
Louis K H
LK
Department of Psychology, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong. clouis@graduate.hku.hk
Hayward
William G
WG
Theeuwes
Jan
J
D001288:Attention; D005403:Fixation, Ocular; D006723:Hong Kong; D006801:Humans; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D011930:Reaction Time; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D013028:Space Perception