Retro-cue benefits in working memory without sustained focal attention

Abstract

In working memory (WM) tasks, performance can be boosted by directing attention to one memory object: When a retro-cue in the retention interval indicates which object will be tested, responding is faster and more accurate (the retro-cue benefit). We tested whether the retro-cue benefit in WM depends on sustained attention to the cued object by inserting an attention-demanding interruption task between the retro-cue and the memory test. In the first experiment, the interruption task required participants to shift their visual attention away from the cued representation and to a visual classification task on colors. In the second and third experiments, the interruption task required participants to shift their focal attention within WM: Attention was directed away from the cued representation by probing another representation from the memory array prior to probing the cued object. The retro-cue benefit was not attenuated by shifts of perceptual attention or by shifts of attention within WM. We concluded that sustained attention is not needed to maintain the cued representation in a state of heightened accessibility.

In search of the focus of attention in working memory: 13 years of the retro-cue effect

“…Makovski et al (2008) were the first to demonstrate that retro-cue benefits are observed relative to a no-cue short baseline. This finding has since been replicated in several other reports (Murray et al, 2013;Rerko et al, 2014;Souza, Rerko, Lin, & Oberauer, 2014;. These studies show that there is more to the retro-cue benefit than protection from time-based decay.…”

“…The test display contains more information than the retro-cue: It identifies which item is tested, provides the probe to compare that item to, and allows decision making to start. Yet, robust retrocue benefits have been found in comparison to a no-cue short condition (Makovski et al, 2008;Murray et al, 2013;Rerko et al, 2014;Souza, Rerko, Lin, et al, 2014;. How can less information be helpful?…”

“…This hypothesis states that focused attention makes the representation of the retro-cued item, and possibly the binding to its context (e.g., its spatial location), stronger than it originally was after encoding, as is illustrated in Fig. 3B (Kuo, Yeh, Chen, & D'Esposito, 2011;Lepsien et al, 2011;Nobre et al, 2008;Rerko & Oberauer, 2013;Rerko et al, 2014;.…”

“…Although the visual search task impaired memory, it did not reduce the retro-cue benefit. Rerko, Souza, and Oberauer (2014) applied a similar logic to test the contribution of feature-based attention. The interruption task in this study required participants to make a perceptual judgment (warmcold color decision) on a centrally displayed stimulus during the retention interval (presented after the retro-cue in retro-cue trials).…”

Setting and changing feature priorities in visual short-term memory

“…Whereas spatial retro-cues are known to strongly affect the content of visual memory (Astle et al, 2012;Griffin & Nobre, 2003;Landman et al, 2003;Makovski, Sussman, & Jiang, 2008;Murray, Nobre, Clark, Cravo, & Stokes, 2013;Rerko & Oberauer, 2013;Rerko, Souza, & Oberauer, 2014;Sligte et al, 2008), few studies have addressed the role of FBA during VSTM maintenance. In these studies, colored retrocues identified one of several colored objects held in memory and participants reproduced their orientation (Heuer & Schubö, 2016;Li & Saiki, 2015;Pertzov et al, 2013).…”