Visual-spatial attention aids the maintenance of object representations in visual working memory

Author(s)

M. Williams
P. Pouget
Leanne Boucher, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow
G.F. Woodman

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2013

Publication Title

Memory and Cognition

Volume

41

Issue/Number

5

First Page

698

ISSN

0090-502X

Last Page

715

Abstract/Excerpt

Theories have proposed that the maintenance of object representations in visual working memory is aided by a spatial rehearsal mechanism. In this study, we used two different approaches to test the hypothesis that overt and covert visual-spatial attention mechanisms contribute to the maintenance of object representations in visual working memory. First, we tracked observers' eye movements while they remembered a variable number of objects during change-detection tasks. We observed that during the blank retention interval, participants spontaneously shifted gaze to the locations that the objects had occupied in the memory array. Next, we hypothesized that if attention mechanisms contribute to the maintenance of object representations, then drawing attention away from the object locations during the retention interval should impair object memory during these change-detection tasks. Supporting this prediction, we found that attending to the fixation point in anticipation of a brief probe stimulus during the retention interval reduced change-detection accuracy, even on the trials in which no probe occurred. These findings support models of working memory in which visual-spatial selection mechanisms contribute to the maintenance of object representations.

DOI

10.3758/s13421-013-0296-7.

NSUWorks Citation

Williams, M., Pouget, P., Boucher, L., Woodman, G. (2013). Visual-spatial attention aids the maintenance of object representations in visual working memory. Memory and Cognition, 41(5), 698-715.
Available at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cps_facarticles/1016