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Related Experiment Videos

Interactions between visual working memory and selective attention.

P E Downing1

  • 1Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. p.downing@bangor.ac.uk

Psychological Science
|February 24, 2001
PubMed
Summary

Visual working memory actively guides selective attention, not just the other way around. Holding an object in mind biases attention towards matching items when new objects appear.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Visual Perception

Background:

  • Traditionally, selective attention was viewed as filtering information for working memory.
  • The role of working memory in directing attention was less understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if the contents of visual working memory influence the guidance of selective attention.
  • To test the bidirectional relationship between working memory and attention.

Main Methods:

  • Participants held a sample object in visual working memory.
  • Subsequently, two objects were presented: one matching the sample, one novel.
  • A probe task measured attentional deployment.

Main Results:

  • Attention was significantly biased towards the object that matched the item held in working memory.
  • This effect was consistent across different object types and tasks.
  • A control task without memory requirements did not show this attentional bias.

Conclusions:

  • Working memory contents actively influence the guidance of selective attention.
  • This demonstrates a reciprocal interaction between working memory and attention.
  • Findings challenge the unidirectional model of attention influencing working memory.

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