A common discrete resource for visual working memory and visual search

Visual search, a dominant paradigm within attention research, requires observers to rapidly identify targets hidden among distractors. Major models of search presume that working memory (WM) provides the on-line work space for evaluating potential targets. According to this hypothesis, individuals with higher WM capacity should search more efficiently, because they should be able to apprehend a larger number of search elements at a time. Nevertheless, no compelling evidence of such a correlation has emerged, and this null result challenges a growing consensus that there is strong overlap between the neural processes that limit internal storage and those that limit external selection. Here, we provide multiple demonstrations of robust correlations between WM capacity and search efficiency, and we document a key boundary condition for observing this link. Finally, examination of a neural measure of visual selection capacity (the N2pc) demonstrates that visual search and WM storage are constrained by a common discrete resource.