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Visual Selection Is Spatially Constrained During Working Memory Consolidation.

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Visual Selection Is Spatially Constrained During Working Memory Consolidation.

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Visual Selection Is Spatially Constrained During Working Memory Consolidation.

Ruoyu Lu^1,2, Jan Theeuwes^1,3, Zhi Li^1,2

¹Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology (2006)

|May 28, 2026

View abstract on PubMed

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Working memory consolidation impairs visual selection by creating a spatial suppression. This attentional window flexibly adjusts its size based on the memory being consolidated.

Keywords:

attentional window spatial cueing effect visual selection working memory consolidation

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Neuroscience
Attention Research

Background:

Working memory consolidation (WMC) consumes attentional resources, impacting subsequent tasks.
The precise mechanism of WMC's interference with visual selection is not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how working memory consolidation affects the initial stages of visual selection.
To differentiate between No-suppression, Pure-temporal-suppression, and Spatial-suppression hypotheses.

Main Methods:

A sequential target-matching task was employed.
Interstimulus intervals (ISIs) varied to manipulate consolidation state.
Spatial cues were used to assess attentional guidance.

Main Results:

Spatial cues failed to guide attention during early consolidation (10-ms ISI) but succeeded post-consolidation (1000-ms ISI).
Cueing effects were restored during consolidation when the target item spatially encompassed the cue (0 and 150-ms ISIs).

Conclusions:

Findings support the Spatial-suppression hypothesis.
Visual selection during WMC is controlled by a flexible spatial attentional window.
The attentional bottleneck in WMC is a spatial phenomenon.