High cognitive load abolishes auditory distraction in short-term memory: Implications for working memory-based attentional control and an alternative task-engagement account

Hughes, Robert W., Hurlstone, Mark J., Marsh, John E. and Jones, Dylan M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8783-5542 2026. High cognitive load abolishes auditory distraction in short-term memory: Implications for working memory-based attentional control and an alternative task-engagement account. Journal of Memory and Language 149 , 104753. 10.1016/j.jml.2026.104753

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Abstract

The current study critically examined a common theoretical view in which there exists a distinct working memory (WM) system that not only temporarily stores information but also acts as an attentional controller (the Working Memory—Attentional Control account). A central prediction of this account is that an increase in cognitive load should take up some of the system’s capacity for attentional control and thereby render short-term storage more vulnerable to distraction by task-irrelevant stimuli. The present results directly contradict this prediction: The requirement to engage in an additional concurrent articulation task during short-term serial recall abolished not only the classical changing-state irrelevant sound effect but also attentional capture by an auditory deviant (Experiments 1a and 1b). The deviation effect was also abolished under concurrent articulation in a task involving little if any serial rehearsal (the missing-item task), as indicated independently by the fact this task was immune to a detrimental main effect of concurrent articulation and to a changing-state effect (Experiment 2). We argue that concurrent articulation not only specifically impedes serial rehearsal in the context of serial recall but also imposes a nonspecific cognitive load (regardless of task). However, rather than drain capacity from a distinct WM system, such increased load boosts task engagement which in turn shields performance against forms of distraction that are due to task-disengagement. The task-engagement view may also provide an alternative account of numerous findings that are typically cited in support of the Working Memory—Attentional Control view.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Psychology
Publisher:	Elsevier BV
ISSN:	0749-596X
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	20 April 2026
Date of Acceptance:	3 March 2026
Last Modified:	20 Apr 2026 13:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/186497

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