Working memory load can both improve and impair selective attention: Evidence from the Navon paradigm
Working memory load can both improve and impair selective attention: Evidence from the Navon paradigm
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DOI：
10.3758/s13414-012-0357-1
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发表时间：
2012-10-01
影响因子：
1.7
通讯作者：
de Fockert, Jan W.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Ahmed, Lubna;de Fockert, Jan W.
对相关目标的选择性注意依赖于工作记忆（WM）的可用性。在高工作记忆负荷条件下，对无关干扰项的加工增强。在这里，我们表明，这种有害的影响WM负载的选择性注意效率是逆转的任务时，需要全球而不是本地水平的处理。参与者被要求参加本地或全球层次的Navon刺激，同时保持低或高负荷WM。与先前的研究结果一致，在注意到本地水平，在全球水平的干扰产生更多的干扰下高比低WM负载。相比之下，负载WM有相反的效果，提高选择性注意在注意到全球水平。研究结果表明，工作记忆负荷对选择性注意的影响不是一成不变的，而是依赖于被注意信息的水平。
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.