Individual Differences in Working Memory and the N2pc

Couperus, Jane W.; Lydic, Kirsten O.; Hollis, Juniper E.; Roy, Jessica L.; Lowe, Amy R.; Bukach, Cindy M.; Reed, Catherine L. · 2021 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.620413

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Summary

This study investigates how individual differences in visual working memory (VWM) and spatial working memory (SPWM) influence visual search performance and the neural marker of attentional selection, the N2pc component. While previous research has established that working memory guides visual search by holding target templates, it remains unclear whether VWM (holding features like color) and SPWM (holding locations) contribute distinctively to this process. Prior studies often manipulated working memory load within the search task itself, potentially conflating task demands with inherent capacity. This research addresses this gap by assessing VWM and SPWM abilities independently of the visual search task to determine if these specific individual differences predict behavioral accuracy and N2pc amplitude and latency. The study included 205 adult participants who completed three tasks: a visual search task eliciting the N2pc, a VWM assessment involving delayed match-to-sample of colored squares, and an SPWM assessment involving delayed match-to-sample of spatial locations. During the visual search task, participants identified the gap orientation of a colored target among distractors while EEG was recorded. The N2pc was calculated as the difference in activity between electrodes contralateral and ipsilateral to the target, measured within a 240–290 ms window. Statistical analyses included Pearson correlations and multiple linear regressions to examine relationships between working memory scores and visual search metrics. Results indicated that greater SPWM ability was significantly correlated with higher visual search accuracy and predicted greater N2pc amplitudes. In contrast, VWM ability showed no significant correlation with visual search accuracy or N2pc amplitude. Furthermore, neither VWM nor SPWM scores were related to N2pc latency. These findings suggest that spatial working memory, rather than visual working memory, plays a critical role in the efficiency of visual search and the neural processes underlying target selection. The study provides evidence that the capacity to maintain spatial locations in working memory directly supports the deployment of selective attention during visual search tasks. The significance of these findings lies in clarifying the functional dissociation between VWM and SPWM in attentional control. By demonstrating that SPWM, but not VWM, predicts both behavioral performance and neural markers of attention, the study supports theories proposing that spatial working memory and selective attention share common limited-capacity mechanisms. This distinction helps refine models of visual search, indicating that the spatial component of working memory is specifically recruited to guide attention to target locations, whereas feature-based visual memory may operate through different or less direct pathways in this context.

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• cognitive capacity variation