Working Memory-Driven Attention in Real-World Search

Abstract

People's attention is well attracted to stimuli matching their working memory. This memory-driven attentional capture has been demonstrated in simplified and controlled laboratory settings. The present study investigated whether working memory contents capture attention in a setting that closely resembles real-world environment. In the experiment, participants performed a task of searching for a target object in real-world indoor scenes, while maintaining a visual object in working memory. To create a setting similar to real-world environment, images taken from IKEA®'s online catalogue were used. The results showed that participants' attention was biased toward a working memory-matching object, interfering with the target search. This was so even when participants did not expect that a memory-matching stimulus would appear in the search array. These results suggest that working memory can bias attention in complex, natural environment and this memory-driven attentional capture in real-world setting takes place in an automatic manner.

Eye movements in real-life search are guided by task-irrelevant working-memory content

“…To conclude, our results provide an important extension of previous findings (Bahle et al, 2018;Jung et al, 2018;Soto et al, 2005) by showing that VWM content guides attention in real-world search, even when it is irrelevant to the search task. Crucially, this effect appeared already at the very early stage of visual search, showing that attention is automatically driven toward working memory contents (Seidl-Rathkopf et al, 2015;Soto et al, 2005Soto et al, , 2008-not only on a computer screen, but also when you're looking for that lost set of keys in your living room.…”

The Modulation of Cognitive Performance with Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation: A Systematic Review of Frequency-Specific Effects

“…Attention and working memory assessments can be translated into settings that are more realistic too. One study investigated whether working memory-driven attentional capture could also be found in a real-world visual search with stimuli taken from the IKEA ® catalogue [101]. Another line of research has addressed the question of how attention operates in realistic viewing conditions.…”

The colorful memory

“…To conclude, our results provide an important extension of previous findings (Bahle et al, 2018;Jung et al, 2018;Soto et al, 2005) by showing that VWM content guides attention in real-world search, even when it is irrelevant to the search task. Crucially, this effect appeared already at the very early stage of visual search, showing that attention is automatically driven toward working memory contents (Seidl-Rathkopf et al, 2015;Soto et al, 2005-not only on a computer screen, but also when you're looking for that lost set of keys in your living room.…”