Competition for the focus of attention in visual working memory: perceptual recency versus executive control

Hitch, Graham J.; Hu, Yanmei; Allen, Richard J.; Baddeley, Alan · 2018 · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

DOI: 10.1111/nyas.13631

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Summary

This study investigates the competition for the focus of attention (FoA) within visual working memory, specifically examining the interplay between automatic perceptual recency and strategic executive control. The FoA is conceptualized as a limited-capacity subregion of working memory that enhances retention but is vulnerable to interference. The authors hypothesize that items compete for access to this narrow FoA through two mechanisms: bottom-up perceptual input, which favors the most recent item, and top-down executive processes, which allow participants to prioritize specific items based on instructions. The research comprised three experiments using a cued recall task where participants viewed sequences of colored shapes. Experiment 1 generalized previous findings by showing that prioritizing mid-sequence items (positions 2 or 3) boosted their retention but rendered them vulnerable to interference from a post-stimulus visual distractor (suffix). Crucially, this prioritization came at the cost of reduced recency for the final item, suggesting a trade-off for FoA access. Experiment 2 introduced a baseline condition and tested the simultaneous prioritization of two items. Results confirmed that prioritizing items increased their recall accuracy relative to baseline but significantly impaired memory for the most recent item, with no net increase in total recall capacity. This indicated that the benefits of prioritization are offset by costs to recency, consistent with a limited-capacity FoA. Experiment 3 demonstrated that when two items were prioritized simultaneously, both became susceptible to suffix interference, whereas unprioritized items remained unaffected. The findings indicate that prioritized and recent items share a common status characterized by heightened accessibility and vulnerability to perceptual overwriting, properties attributed to the FoA. The data support a model where the FoA has a narrow capacity, likely holding only one item at a time, rather than the broader capacity of three or four items proposed by some alternative theories. The competition for this space is determined by a combination of automatic recency biases and executive control via attentional refreshing. The study concludes that visual working memory involves a dynamic flux where items circulate in and out of the FoA, with prioritization increasing the probability of an item occupying this state but simultaneously exposing it to interference.

Key finding

Prioritized items and recently presented items compete for a limited-capacity focus of attention, resulting in enhanced retention for prioritized items at the expense of recency, with both states being vulnerable to interference from post-stimulus distractors.

Methodology

lab_experiment

Sample size: 64

Provenance

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Topics

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• working memory