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Related Experiment Video

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A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions
10:38

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions

Published on: July 16, 2015

Visual working memory is disrupted by covert verbal retrieval.

Timothy J Ricker1, Nelson Cowan, Candice C Morey

  • 1Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA. tjr899@mail.mizzou.edu

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
|August 13, 2010
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Cognitive tasks, even those using different senses, can interfere if they share a central resource. This study shows verbal memory retrieval disrupts visual working memory (WM), suggesting a shared attention resource.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Human Memory Research

Background:

  • Theories of working memory (WM) propose varying degrees of a shared central resource.
  • Investigating task interference can reveal underlying resource dependencies in cognitive functions.
  • Previous research has not fully explored interference between tasks with minimal feature overlap.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine if auditory-verbal memory retrieval interferes with visual working memory storage.
  • To test the hypothesis that distinct cognitive tasks can compete for a shared central resource.
  • To ascertain if interference occurs even without visual processing or overt responses in the interfering task.

Main Methods:

  • Experiment 1: Participants performed a visual working memory task while engaging in an auditory-verbal memory retrieval task.
  • Experiment 1 involved covert verbal memory retrieval, comparing it with nonretrieval control conditions.
  • Experiment 2: Controlled for the possibility of verbal recoding of visual array stimuli as a confounding factor.

Main Results:

  • Covert verbal memory retrieval significantly disrupted the storage of visual items in working memory.
  • This interference effect was observed despite the auditory-verbal nature of the interfering task.
  • Results were not attributable to verbal recoding of the visual stimuli.

Conclusions:

  • Visual working memory and verbal long-term retrieval share a common central resource, likely attention.
  • Cognitive tasks do not need to share perceptual or response modalities to interfere.
  • The findings support theories positing a limited, central resource for cognitive operations.