Investigating the relationship between working memory and spatial attention.

空间注意受外部事件的控制，称为外生注意;空间注意受自身意图的控制，称为内生注意。近年来对工作记忆的神经影像学研究表明，注意控制，尤其是注意的随意控制是由额叶背外侧作为工作记忆的执行控制器来完成的。本研究探讨了空间注意与工作记忆容量的关系。为此，空间工作记忆任务是评估工作记忆容量，因为空间注意力是基于将注意力引导到视野的空间局部区域的能力。空间工作记忆与注意的内源性控制有关，而与注意的外源性控制无关。然而，所获得的结果表明，空间工作记忆高的参与者的注意力增益较低（即，有效和无效RT之间的差异）相对于那些空间工作记忆较低的人。这被解释为是由于那些空间工作记忆高的人在控制内源性注意力方面很灵活。

Spatial attention is controlled by external event, which is called exogenous attention, or internally by one's own intention, which is called endogenous attention. Recent neuroimaging studies on working memory have shown that attentional control, especially its voluntary control is performed by the dorsolateral frontal lobe, which works as an executive controller of working memory. In this research project, the relationship between spatial attention and the working memory capacity was explored. For this purpose, spatial working memory task was to assess working memory capacity because spatial attention is based on the capacity of directing attention to a spatially localized area of the visual field. It was hypothesized that spatial working memory was related to the endogenous, but not to the exogenous control of attention. However, the obtained results showed that the participants high in the spatial working memory were lower in the attentional gain (i.e., difference between valid and invalid RTs) relative to those who were lower in their spatial working memory. This was interpreted to be due to the fact that those who were high in spatial working memory were flexible in their control of endogenous attention.