title: Detection of the number of changes in a display in working memory.
abstract: Here we examine a new task to assess working memory for visual arrays in which the participant must judge how many items changed from a studied array to a test array. As a clue to processing, on some trials in the first 2 experiments, participants carried out a metamemory judgment in which they were to decide how many items were in working memory. Trial-to-trial fluctuations in these working memory storage judgments correlated with performance fluctuations within an individual, indicating a need to include trial-to-trial variation within capacity models (through either capacity fluctuation or some other attention parameter). Mathematical modeling of the results achieved a good fit to a complex pattern of results, suggesting that working memory capacity limits can apply even to judgments that involve an entire array rather than just a single item that may have changed, thus providing the expected conscious access to at least some of the contents of working memory.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri.
authors.forename: Nelson
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cowan
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri.
authors.forename: Kyle
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hardman
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri.
authors.forename: J Scott
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Saults
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri.
authors.forename: Christopher L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Blume
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri.
authors.forename: Katherine M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Sciences, Vanderbilt University.
authors.forename: Mackenzie A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Sunday
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention; D001364:Awareness; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D000067489:Metacognition; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011581:Psychological Tests; D014796:Visual Perception