Attending object features interferes with visual working memory regardless of eye-movements

There is currently a debate about the relationship between feature-based attention (FBA) and visual working memory (VWM). One theory proposes that the 2 constructs should be synthesized into a single concept (Kiyonaga & Egner, 2013). In this unified theory, VWM is defined as attention directed toward internal representations that competes with attention for a shared limited resource. Contrary to this account, it has been reported that only overt attention shifts (saccades), but not covert attention shifts, interfere with VWM (Tas, Luck, & Hollingworth, 2016). However, covert attention may only have required spatial attention, not FBA, so that the lack of interference may be because of the fact that spatial attention does not interfere with VWM. The current experiment varied feature versus spatial attention and overt versus covert effects upon VWM performance, as measured with a change detection paradigm. Results across three experiments show that memory interference arises when objects features are attended, regardless of whether attention was directed overtly or covertly. In a fourth experiment we show that attending spatial information interferes with spatial working memory, whereas attending feature information does not. These findings demonstrate a dissociation between spatial attention and VWM, which leaves unified concepts of FBA and VWM intact. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).