Competition in saccade target selection reveals attentional guidance by simultaneously active working memory...

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Visual Perception

Background:

• Visual working memory (VWM) content is known to guide attention.
• A key debate exists whether this attentional guidance is limited to a single VWM representation or extends to multiple representations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether multiple representations in VWM can simultaneously interact with visual selection.
• To examine the competition between multiple cue-matching objects within VWM.

Main Methods:

• A gaze-contingent search paradigm was employed.
• Participants engaged in a task involving a dual-color cue and sequential object presentation.
• Selection history was manipulated to observe competition between saccade target objects matching cued colors.

Main Results:

• When a second cued color was present with the first cued color in the second pair of objects, significant competition for selection was observed.
• The selection probability of the first cued color was substantially reduced in the presence of the second cued color.
• This competition indicates simultaneous interaction between VWM representations and the selection process.

Conclusions:

• The findings provide strong evidence that multiple VWM representations interact simultaneously with visual selection.
• This simultaneous interaction leads to competition between cue-matching objects.
• The study resolves the debate regarding the scope of VWM's influence on attention.