Visual Search Facilitation in Repeated Displays Depends on Visuospatial Working Memory

2012 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela A. Manginelli ◽  
Franziska Geringswald ◽  
Stefan Pollmann
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Control Experiment ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Contextual Cueing ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Visuospatial Working Memory ◽  
Working Memory Load ◽  
Memory Resources

When distractor configurations are repeated over time, visual search becomes more efficient, even if participants are unaware of the repetition. This contextual cueing is a form of incidental, implicit learning. One might therefore expect that contextual cueing does not (or only minimally) rely on working memory resources. This, however, is debated in the literature. We investigated contextual cueing under either a visuospatial or a nonspatial (color) visual working memory load. We found that contextual cueing was disrupted by the concurrent visuospatial, but not by the color working memory load. A control experiment ruled out that unspecific attentional factors of the dual-task situation disrupted contextual cueing. Visuospatial working memory may be needed to match current display items with long-term memory traces of previously learned displays.

Interference of working memory load with long-term memory formation

2009 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 1501-1513 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolai Axmacher ◽  
Sven Haupt ◽  
Michael X Cohen ◽  
Christian E. Elger ◽  
Juergen Fell
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Memory Formation ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Working Memory Load ◽  
Term Memory

scholarly journals The Control of Single-color and Multiple-color Visual Search by Attentional Templates in Working Memory and in Long-term Memory

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (12) ◽  
pp. 1947-1963 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Grubert ◽  
Nancy B. Carlisle ◽  
Martin Eimer
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Target Selection ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Attentional Guidance ◽  
Color Search ◽  
Constant Color

The question whether target selection in visual search can be effectively controlled by simultaneous attentional templates for multiple features is still under dispute. We investigated whether multiple-color attentional guidance is possible when target colors remain constant and can thus be represented in long-term memory but not when they change frequently and have to be held in working memory. Participants searched for one, two, or three possible target colors that were specified by cue displays at the start of each trial. In constant-color blocks, the same colors remained task-relevant throughout. In variable-color blocks, target colors changed between trials. The contralateral delay activity (CDA) to cue displays increased in amplitude as a function of color memory load in variable-color blocks, which indicates that cued target colors were held in working memory. In constant-color blocks, the CDA was much smaller, suggesting that color representations were primarily stored in long-term memory. N2pc components to targets were measured as a marker of attentional target selection. Target N2pcs were attenuated and delayed during multiple-color search, demonstrating less efficient attentional deployment to color-defined target objects relative to single-color search. Importantly, these costs were the same in constant-color and variable-color blocks. These results demonstrate that attentional guidance by multiple-feature as compared with single-feature templates is less efficient both when target features remain constant and can be represented in long-term memory and when they change across trials and therefore have to be maintained in working memory.

scholarly journals Learning to suppress a distractor is not affected by working memory load

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ya Gao ◽  
Jan Theeuwes
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
High Probability ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Automatic Process ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Working Memory Load ◽  
Statistical Regularities

AbstractWhere and what we attend to is not only determined by our current goals but also by what we have encountered in the past. Recent studies have shown that people learn to extract statistical regularities in the environment resulting in attentional suppression of high-probability distractor locations, effectively reducing capture by a distractor. Here, we asked whether this statistical learning is dependent on working memory resources. The additional singleton task in which one location was more likely to contain a distractor was combined with a concurrent visual working memory task (Experiment 1) and a spatial working memory task (Experiment 2). The result showed that learning to suppress this high-probability location was not at all affected by working memory load. We conclude that learning to suppress a location is an implicit and automatic process that does not rely on visual or spatial working memory capacity, nor on executive control resources. We speculate that extracting regularities from the environment likely relies on long-term memory processes.

scholarly journals A long-term cyclic plus tonic regimen of 17β-estradiol improves the ability to handle a high spatial working memory load in ovariectomized middle-aged female rats

2020 ◽  
Vol 118 ◽  
pp. 104656 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie V. Koebele ◽  
Kenji J. Nishimura ◽  
Heather A. Bimonte-Nelson ◽  
Salma Kemmou ◽  
J. Bryce Ortiz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Female Rats ◽  
Middle Aged ◽  
Working Memory Load ◽  
17Β Estradiol
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document