Visual working memory load plays limited, to no role in encoding distractor objects during visual search

Activated long-term memory and visual working memory during hybrid visual search: Effects on target memory search and distractor memory

In hybrid visual search, observers must maintain multiple target templates and subsequently search for any one of those targets. If the number of potential target templates exceeds visual working memory (VWM) capacity, then the target templates are assumed to be maintained in activated long-term memory (aLTM). Observers must search the array for potential targets (visual search), as well as search through memory (target memory search). Increasing the target memory set size reduces accuracy, increases search response times (RT), and increases dwell time on distractors. However, the extent of observers' memory for distractors during hybrid search is largely unknown. In the current study, the impact of hybrid search on target memory search (measured by dwell time on distractors, false alarms, and misses) and distractor memory (measured by distractor revisits and recognition memory of recently viewed distractors) was measured. Specifically, we aimed to better understand how changes in behavior during hybrid search impacts distractor memory. Increased target memory set size led to an increase in search RTs, distractor dwell times, false alarms, and target identification misses. Increasing target memory set size increased revisits to distractors, suggesting impaired distractor location memory, but had no effect on a two-alternative forced-choice (2AFC) distractor recognition memory test presented during the search trial. The results from the current study suggest a lack of interference between memory stores maintaining target template representations (aLTM) and distractor information (VWM). Loading aLTM with more target templates does not impact VWM for distracting information.

Effects of object working memory load on visual search in basketball players: an eye movement study

BACKGROUND

Working memory may affect the athletes' visual search ability.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to examine the differences in the performance of visual search tasks among basketball players of varying sport levels, considering the influence of different object working memory loads.

METHOD

This study recruited forty-two participants who were divided into three groups based on the classification of elite athletes: competitive elite, semi-elite, and novice.

RESULTS

Objective working memory load significantly impacts the accuracy of visual search, reaction time, and gaze fixation in basketball players. In the visual search task of the basketball sports scene, the inclusion of object working memory load led to a significant decrease in the accuracy of visual search, a significant increase in reaction time, a significant increase in the number of fixation points, and a more complex gaze trajectory. In a visual search task with object working memory load, the difference in reaction time between basketball players of different sport levels was observed during the search initiation time and scanning time, with higher sport levels associated with shorter reaction times. The effect of object working memory load on the eye movement phase of visual search varied among basketball players of different sport levels. For the novice group, the effect was on the reaction time during the verification phase, while for the semi-elite and competitive elite groups, the effect was on the reaction time during the scanning phase.

CONCLUSION

The effect of object working memory load on visual search varied among basketball players of different sport levels.

Speakers of different languages remember visual scenes differently

Language can have a powerful effect on how people experience events. Here, we examine how the languages people speak guide attention and influence what they remember from a visual scene. When hearing a word, listeners activate other similar-sounding words before settling on the correct target. We tested whether this linguistic coactivation during a visual search task changes memory for objects. Bilinguals and monolinguals remembered English competitor words that overlapped phonologically with a spoken English target better than control objects without name overlap. High Spanish proficiency also enhanced memory for Spanish competitors that overlapped across languages. We conclude that linguistic diversity partly accounts for differences in higher cognitive functions such as memory, with multilinguals providing a fertile ground for studying the interaction between language and cognition.

How does searching for faces among similar-looking distractors affect distractor memory?

Prior research has shown that searching for multiple targets in a visual search task enhances distractor memory in a subsequent recognition test. Three non-mutually exclusive accounts have been offered to explain this phenomenon. The mental comparison hypothesis states that searching for multiple targets requires participants to make more mental comparisons between the targets and the distractors, which enhances distractor memory. The attention allocation hypothesis states that participants allocate more attention to distractors because a multiple-target search cue leads them to expect a more difficult search. Finally, the partial match hypothesis states that searching for multiple targets increases the amount of featural overlap between targets and distractors, which necessitates greater attention in order to reject each distractor. In two experiments, we examined these hypotheses by manipulating visual working memory (VWM) load and target-distractor similarity of AI-generated faces in a visual search (i.e., RSVP) task. Distractor similarity was manipulated using a multidimensional scaling model constructed from facial landmarks and other metadata of each face. In both experiments, distractors from multiple-target searches were recognized better than distractors from single-target searches. Experiment 2 additionally revealed that increased target-distractor similarity during search improved distractor recognition memory, consistent with the partial match hypothesis.

Moderating Effects of Self-Efficacy and Time Pressure on the Relationship Between Employee Aging and Work Performance

Purpose

The relationships among employee aging, working memory capacity, and task performance in the context of information technology were studied, and these investigations in turn provide insight into improving employee task performance and mitigating the negative effects of employee aging.

Participants and Methods

Based on the limited resource theory and the inhibitory deficit theory, a total of 296 valid questionnaires were collected and the relationships among the variables were examined using cascaded linear regression via SPSS 22.0.

Results

Aging negatively affects working memory capacity and task performance. Working memory capacity partially mediates the relationship between age and task performance. Time pressure can exacerbate the negative effects of age on task performance, and self-efficacy mitigates the negative effects of age on task performance.

Discussion

Employee information system learning and training can be enhanced to ameliorate the negative impact of aging on task performance. IT-related work can be limited to a manageable level to reduce the negative effects of reduced working memory capacity. Employees’ internal motivation can be gradually cultivated, and employees can be guided toward the improvement of their IT self-efficacy.

Memory after visual search: Overlapping phonology, shared meaning, and bilingual experience influence what we remember

How we remember the things that we see can be shaped by our prior experiences. Here, we examine how linguistic and sensory experiences interact to influence visual memory. Objects in a visual search that shared phonology (cat-cast) or semantics (dog-fox) with a target were later remembered better than unrelated items. Phonological overlap had a greater influence on memory when targets were cued by spoken words, while semantic overlap had a greater effect when targets were cued by characteristic sounds. The influence of overlap on memory varied as a function of individual differences in language experience -- greater bilingual experience was associated with decreased impact of overlap on memory. We conclude that phonological and semantic features of objects influence memory differently depending on individual differences in language experience, guiding not only what we initially look at, but also what we later remember.

The performance costs of interruption during visual search are determined by the type of search task

Prior research has shown that interruptions lead to a variety of performance costs. However, these costs are heterogenous and poorly understood. Under some circumstances, interruptions lead to large decreases in accuracy on the primary task, whereas in others task duration increases, but task accuracy is unaffected. Presently, the underlying cause of these costs is unclear. The Memory for Goals model suggests that interruptions interfere with the ability to represent the current goal of the primary task. Here, we test the idea that working memory (WM) may play a critical role in representing the current goal and thus may underlie the observed costs associated with interruption. In two experiments, we utilized laboratory-based visual search tasks, which differed in their WM demands, in order to assess how this difference influenced the observed interruption costs. Interruptions led to more severe performance costs when the target of the search changed on each trial. When the search target was consistent across trials, the cost of interruption was greatly reduced. This suggests that the WM demands associated with the primary task play an important role in determining the performance costs of interruption. Our findings suggest that it is important for research to consider the cognitive processes a task engages in order to predict the nature of the adverse effects of interruption in applied settings such as radiology.