title: Encoding location and serial order in auditory working memory: evidence for separable processes.
abstract: In this study, we investigated the interactions between temporal and spatial information in auditory working memory. In two experiments, participants were presented with sequences of sounds originating from different locations in space and were then asked to recall either their position or their serial order. In Experiment 1, attention during encoding was manipulated by contrasting 'pure' blocks (i.e., location-only or serial-order-only trials) to 'mixed' blocks (i.e., different percentages of spatial and serial-order trials). In Experiment 2, 'pure' blocks were contrasted to blocks in which spatial and serial-order trials were intermixed with a third task requiring a semantic categorization of sounds. Results from both experiments showed that, whereas serial-order recall is linearly affected by the simultaneous encoding of a concurrent feature, the recall of position is mostly unaffected by concurrent feature encoding. Contrastingly, overall performance level was lower for spatial recall than serial recall. We concluded that serial order and location of items appear to be independently encoded in auditory working memory. Serial order is easier to recall, but strongly affected by the processing of concurrent item dimensions, while item location is more difficult to recall, but relatively automatic, as shown by its strong resistance to interfering dimensions in encoding.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 2, 3584 CS Utrecht, The Netherlands. f.delogu@uu.nl
authors.forename: Franco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Delogu
authors.forename: Tanja C W
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Nijboer
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Postma
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011571:Psychoacoustics; D011930:Reaction Time; D012660:Semantics; D012691:Serial Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D013017:Sound Localization / Q000502:physiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult