Attention allocation between item and order information in short-term memory

Guitard, Dominic; Cowan, Nelson

doi:10.1177/17470218221118451

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 75 publications

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“…In both studies, moreover, the costs of dual encoding were more severe for order than for items. The same was true for Guitard and Cowan (2022), who found that attention could be allocated to items and order in a fine-grained manner. Here, using a single list per trial (Guitard et al, 2022) and, unlike previous studies, we manipulate the rate of presentation, along with the attention conditions during encoding (like Guitard et al, prepare for a test of items, their order, or both).…”

Section: Rate Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 70%

“…Finally, it is theoretically possible that item information needs more allocation of attention because the item task included a cue to each item (the word fragment), which might circumvent the need for attention to some extent. Guitard and Cowan (2022) examined this possibility by conducting an experiment instead using free recall as the measure of item information, inasmuch as no cue to recall is included, and found a tradeoff with order similar to the fragment-completion case. They also found that their results with the fragment completion task were unchanged using a probability-of-knowing measure corrected for guessing.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The tradeoff between item and order information in short-term memory does not depend on encoding time.

Guitard¹,

Cowan²

2023

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Perfor

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Participants can optimize encoding of an immediate verbal memory test for item or for order information, or they can try to be ready for either type of test. Dividing encoding between both kinds of information, however, comes at a cost. Recently, it has been shown that the cost is more severe for order information compared to item information . Here, for the first time, we evaluated which factor can better account for this asymmetry by contrasting two hypotheses. According to a rate hypothesis, divided attention affects the rate of encoding more for order than for items. According to an alternative, asymptote hypothesis, divided attention does not affect the rates but diminishes the endpoint, or asymptotic level, of order encoding more than item encoding. In three experiments to distinguish these hypotheses, participants prepared for an item fragment completion test, an order reconstruction test, or both types of tests, in trials with different durations of presentation. Overall, our results were better accounted for by a model which assumes that dividing attention between preparation for item and order testing affects the asymptote of encoding more for order than for items, with no effects on the rates of order or item encoding compared to preparation for a single test. The findings not only replicate our prior results, but also demonstrate that the allocation of attention to item or order processing can be disentangled from the time on task. Public Significance StatementWhen remembering a list of items, information about the items (such as ingredients in your favorite recipe) and their order (such as which ingredients to add first, second, and so on) are important theoretically and practically. Here we show that the way attention is divided between words and their list order is stable regardless of whether each item is presented for a short time (fraction of a second) or a relatively long time (several seconds). In all cases, attention proves to be more critical for order information in short-term memory, a finding relevant to many cognitive activities (including communication, eating, and learning).

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Section: Rate Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 70%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The tradeoff between item and order information in short-term memory does not depend on encoding time.

Guitard¹,

Cowan²

2023

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Perfor

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The Relation Between Attention and Memory

Cowan,

Bao,

Bishop-Chrzanowski

et al. 2024

Annu. Rev. Psychol.

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The relation between attention and memory has long been deemed important for understanding cognition, and it was heavily researched even in the first experimental psychology laboratory by Wilhelm Wundt and his colleagues. Since then, the importance of the relation between attention and memory has been explored in myriad subdisciplines of psychology, and we incorporate a wide range of these diverse fields. Here, we examine some of the practical consequences of this relation and summarize work with various methodologies relating attention to memory in the fields of working memory, long-term memory, individual differences, life-span development, typical brain function, and neuropsychological conditions. We point out strengths and unanswered questions for our own embedded processes view of information processing, which is used to organize a large body of evidence. Last, we briefly consider the relation of the evidence to a range of other theoretical views before drawing conclusions about the state of the field. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Psychology, Volume 75 is January 2024. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

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How are patterned movements stored in working memory?

Tian²,

He³

et al. 2023

Front. Psychol.

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IntroductionIn this study, the change detection paradigm was used to study the working memory of patterned movements and the relationship of this type of memory with the visuospatial sketchpad in three experiments.MethodsExperiment 1 measured participants’ working memory capacity for patterned movements and explored the influence of stimulus type with indicators such as response time and accuracy rate. Experiments 2 and 3 explored the relationship between patterned movements and the visual and spatial subsystems, respectively.ResultsThe results of Experiment 1 indicated that individuals can store 3–4 patterned movements in working memory; however, a change in stimulus format or an increase in memory load may decrease the speed and efficiency of working memory processing. The results of Experiment 2 showed that working memory and visual working memory are independent when processing patterned movements. The results of Experiment 3 showed that the working memory of patterned movements was affected by spatial working memory.DiscussionChanges in stimulus type and memory load exerted different effects on the working memory capacity of participants. These results provide behavioral evidence that the storage of patterned movement information is independent of the visual subsystem but requires the spatial subsystem of the visuospatial sketchpad.

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Attention allocation between item and order information in short-term memory

Cited by 4 publications

References 75 publications

The tradeoff between item and order information in short-term memory does not depend on encoding time.

The tradeoff between item and order information in short-term memory does not depend on encoding time.

The Relation Between Attention and Memory

How are patterned movements stored in working memory?

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