Working memory can both impair and improve selective attention: Evidence from the Navon paradigm.

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Ahmed, Lubna and De Fockert, J. W.. 2012. Working memory can both impair and improve selective attention: Evidence from the Navon paradigm. Attention, Perception & Psychophysics, ISSN 1943-3921 [Article]

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Official URL: http://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13414-01...

Abstract or Description

Selective attention to relevant targets has been shown to depend on the availability of working memory (WM). Under conditions of high WM load, processing of irrelevant distractors is enhanced. Here we showed that this detrimental effect of WM load on selective attention efficiency is reversed when the task requires global- rather than local-level processing. Participants were asked to attend to either the local or the global level of a hierarchical Navon stimulus while keeping either a low or a high load in WM. In line with previous findings, during attention to the local level, distractors at the global level produced more interference under high than under low WM load. By contrast, loading WM had the opposite effect of improving selective attention during attention to the global level. The findings demonstrate that the impact of WM load on selective attention is not invariant, but rather is dependent on the level of the to-be-attended information.

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Article

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https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-012-0357-1