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Working Memory

Working Memory

Working memory refers to a combination of components, including short-term memory and attention, that allow an individual to hold information temporarily as we perform cognitive tasks. It is an essential cognitive function that enables the execution of complex tasks such as problem-solving, comprehension, and reasoning. Unlike short-term memory, which simply involves the storage of information for a brief period, working memory involves the active manipulation and processing of this information.

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 29, 2026

Measuring Attention and Visual Processing Speed by Model-based Analysis of Temporal-order Judgments

Measuring Attention and Visual Processing Speed by Model-based Analysis of Temporal-order Judgments

Published on: January 23, 2017

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

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.