Long-term memory-based control of attention in multi-step tasks requires working memory: evidence from...

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Long-term memory (LTM) influences attention during highly practiced tasks.
• The role of working memory (WM) in this LTM-based attentional control is unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether working memory (WM) processes are involved in long-term memory (LTM)-based attentional control.
• To determine if LTM directly controls attention or if WM mediates this process.

Main Methods:

• A dual-task paradigm was employed.
• Participants performed a practiced visuospatial sensorimotor task (speed stacking) or a verbal task (poem reciting) concurrently with a WM task (retaining visuospatial or verbal information).

Main Results:

• Neither the practiced sensorimotor nor the verbal task was affected by concurrent WM retention.
• Speed stacking interfered with visuospatial WM but not verbal WM.
• Poem reciting substantially impaired verbal WM and mildly affected visuospatial WM.

Conclusions:

• The selection of task-relevant information from LTM for overlearned tasks involves domain-specific working memory (WM).
• Working memory (WM) plays a crucial role in mediating attentional control during complex, practiced tasks.