Load effect of visual working memory on distractor interference: An investigation with two replication experiments

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Human Perception

Background:

• Prior research reported conflicting findings on the effect of visual short-term memory (VSTM) load on distractor interference in flanker tasks.
• Konstantinou et al. (2014) found VSTM load reduced interference, while Yao et al. (2020) found no modulation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the inconsistency in findings regarding VSTM load and distractor interference.
• To determine if task design differences explain the conflicting results between Konstantinou et al. and Yao et al.

Main Methods:

• Replicated the experimental designs of Konstantinou et al. and Yao et al. (Experiments 1 and 2).
• Conducted a third experiment incorporating articulatory suppression to control for verbalization effects.
• Utilized ANOVA analyses to compare distractor interference across conditions and experiments.

Main Results:

• The VSTM load did not significantly alter the level of distractor interference in any of the three experiments.
• Results indicate that differences in task design alone do not account for the inconsistency in previous findings.

Conclusions:

• The current study's findings suggest that VSTM load does not modulate distractor interference in the flanker task.
• The inconsistency between prior studies is not explained by task design variations or verbalization effects.