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Updated: May 31, 2026
10:38
A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions
Published on: July 16, 2015
Feature- and space-based interference with functionally active and passive items in working memory
Sophia A Wilhelm1, Yuanyuan Weng1, Jelmer P Borst2
1Experimental Psychology Unit, Department of Psychology, University of Groningen.
Summary
Active and passive working memory items are equally susceptible to interference. This study found no difference in how prioritized and deprioritized memory items were affected by distracting tasks, challenging previous assumptions.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Psychology
Background:
- Working memory involves active (persistent firing) and passive (synaptic plasticity) states.
- These states were hypothesized to influence susceptibility to interference during memory maintenance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether active and passive working memory items exhibit differential susceptibility to interference.
- To determine if memory prioritization impacts vulnerability to distracting information.
Main Methods:
- Participants performed a working memory task with prioritized (active) and deprioritized (passive) items.
- An unpredictable interfering task, targeting feature or location, was introduced during memory maintenance.
- Experiments included variations in interference predictability and reward-based prioritization.
Main Results:
- Both active and passive memory items were similarly affected by interference across all experiments.
- Overall performance and parameters from the standard-mixture model (precision, probability) showed no significant differences between states.
- Prior knowledge of interference or reward cues did not alter the susceptibility to interference.
Conclusions:
- Active and passive memory items, despite potential differences in neural storage, do not display differential susceptibility to interference.
- Working memory prioritization does not confer greater robustness against distracting information.
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