Individual differences in working memory capacity predict visual attention allocation.

M Kathryn Bleckley; Francis T Durso; Jerry M Crutchfield; Randall W Engle; Maya M Khanna

doi:10.3758/bf03196548

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PubMed · 15000535

Individual differences in working memory capacity predict visual attention allocation.

M Kathryn Bleckley·Francis T Durso·Jerry M Crutchfield·Randall W Engle·Maya M Khanna

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Abstract

To the extent that individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) reflect differences in attention (Baddeley, 1993; Engle, Kane, & Tuholski, 1999), differences in WMC should predict performance on visual attention tasks. Individuals who scored in the upper and lower quartiles on the OSPAN working memory test performed a modification of Egly and Homa's (1984) selective attention task. In this task, the participants identified a central letter and localized a displaced letter flashed somewhere on one of three concentric rings. When the displaced letter occurred closer to fixation than the cue implied, high-WMC, but not low-WMC, individuals showed a cost in the letter localization task. This suggests that low-WMC participants allocated attention as a spotlight, whereas those with high WMC showed flexible allocation.

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Attention Discrimination Learning Fixation, Ocular Humans Individuality Memory, Short-Term Paired-Associate Learning Pattern Recognition, Visual Problem Solving Psychophysics Reaction Time Serial Learning Signal Detection, Psychological Journal Article Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

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M Kathryn Bleckley, Francis T Durso, Jerry M Crutchfield, Randall W Engle, Maya M Khanna. 2003. Individual differences in working memory capacity predict visual attention allocation.. https://doi.org/10.3758/bf03196548

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