Visual selective attention is equally functional for individuals with low and high working memory capacity: Evidence from accuracy and eye movements

Mall, Jonathan T., Morey, Candice ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7644-5239, Wolff, Michael J. and Lehnert, Franziska 2014. Visual selective attention is equally functional for individuals with low and high working memory capacity: Evidence from accuracy and eye movements. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics 76 (7) , pp. 1998-2014. 10.3758/s13414-013-0610-2

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Abstract

Selective attention and working memory capacity (WMC) are related constructs, but debate about the manner in which they are related remains active. One elegant explanation of variance in WMC is that the efficiency of filtering irrelevant information is the crucial determining factor, rather than differences in capacity per se. We examined this hypothesis by relating WMC (as measured by complex span tasks) to accuracy and eye movements during visual change detection tasks with different degrees of attentional filtering and allocation requirements. Our results did not indicate strong filtering differences between high- and low-WMC groups, and where differences were observed, they were counter to those predicted by the strongest attentional filtering hypothesis. Bayes factors indicated evidence favoring positive or null relationships between WMC and correct responses to unemphasized information, as well as between WMC and the time spent looking at unemphasized information. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that individual differences in storage capacity, not only filtering efficiency, underlie individual differences in working memory.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Psychology
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Publisher:	Springer
ISSN:	1943-3921
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	10 October 2017
Date of Acceptance:	11 December 2013
Last Modified:	29 Nov 2024 09:15
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/105362

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