title: Distinctiveness as a function of spatial expansion in verbal working memory: comment on Kreitz, Furley, Memmert, and Simons (2015).
abstract: In a recent study, Kreitz et al. (Psychological Research 79:1034-1041, 2015) reported on a relationship between verbal working memory capacity and visuo-spatial attentional breadth. The authors hinted at attentional control to be the major link underlying this relationship. We put forward an alternative explanation by framing it within the context of a recent theory on serial order in memory: verbal item sequences entering in working memory are coded by adding a spatial context that can be derived from reading/writing habits. The observation by Kreitz et al. (Psychological Research 79:1034-1041, 2015) enriches this framework by suggesting that a larger visuo-spatial attentional breadth allows for internal coding of the verbal items in a more (spatially) distinct manner-thereby increasing working memory performance. As such, Kreitz et al. (Psychological Research 79:1034-1041, 2015) is the first study revealing a functional link between visuo-spatial attentional breadth and verbal working memory size, which strengthens spatial accounts of serial order coding in working memory.
authors.affiliation: Département de Psychologie, CRPCC, Université Rennes 2-Haute Bretagne, Place du Recteur Henri Le Moal CS 24 307, 35 043, Rennes Cedex, France. alessandro.guida@univ-rennes2.fr.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Guida
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Jean-Philippe
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: van Dijck
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Elger
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Abrahamse
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention; D006801:Humans; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D011932:Reading