Spatial working memory maintenance: does attention play a role?

L.K. Chan, W.G. Hayward, J. Theeuwes

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Recent studies have proposed that a common mechanism may underlie spatial attention and spatial working memory. One proposal is that spatial working memory is maintained by attention-based rehearsal [Awh, E., Jonides, J., & Reuter-Lorenz, P. A. (1998). Rehearsal in spatial working memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 24(3), 780-790], and so a spatial attention shift during the retention interval of a spatial location should impair its memory performance. In the present study, participants engaged in single-item, parallel or serial search tasks while remembering a spatial location. Although memory tended to bias all searches, the need for an attentional shift during the retention interval impaired memory performance only in single-item search, but not in other searches. These findings suggest that previous evidence for the attention-based rehearsal account does not generalize to visual search. Results are discussed with regard to the relationship between spatial attention and spatial working memory. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)115-123
JournalActa Psychologica
Volume132
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2009

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