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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 23, 2026

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

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

Published on: July 16, 2015

Visual working memory simultaneously guides facilitation and inhibition during visual search.

Blaire Dube¹, April Basciano², Stephen M Emrich³

¹Department of Psychology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1, Canada. bdube@uoguelph.ca.

Attention, Perception & Psychophysics

|April 9, 2016

Summary

Visual working memory (VWM) can simultaneously guide attention by representing search targets and inhibiting distractors. This dual function supports efficient visual search, even with multiple VWM representations influencing attention.

Keywords:

Inhibition Visual search Visual working memory

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Last Updated: Mar 23, 2026

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

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Published on: July 16, 2015

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Published on: March 25, 2011

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Published on: April 11, 2025

Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Neuroscience
Visual Perception

Background:

Visual working memory (VWM) is crucial for guiding attention during visual search.
VWM can store target identity for selection and track distractors for inhibition.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if VWM can simultaneously support target selection and distractor inhibition.
To determine if multiple VWM representations can bias attention concurrently.

Main Methods:

Two experiments using a preview search task where distractors appeared before targets.
Manipulated the number of distractors to test VWM capacity for inhibition.
Introduced singleton distractors to assess attentional capture and facilitation.

Main Results:

Evidence of VWM-based inhibition, with performance impaired when distractor load exceeded VWM capacity.
Confirmed VWM's ability to represent target templates while inhibiting distractors.
Observed attentional capture by distractors matching target features, indicating facilitation.

Conclusions:

VWM can maintain multiple representations that simultaneously bias attention.
These representations can independently influence selection via facilitation or inhibition.
Findings challenge existing models of VWM-guided attention, suggesting a more flexible role.