Visual Working Memory Depends on Attentional Filtering

Overview

Journal Trends Cogn Sci

Date 2006 Feb 25

PMID 16497538

Citations 34

Authors

Nelson Cowan

Candice C Morey

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Working memory holds information actively being used in cognitive performance. Two important aspects of working memory are how many items it can hold, and how efficiently it can be used. Recently, Vogel and colleagues used event-related brain potentials to show that these two things are related. People who could remember more objects from a spatial array also more efficiently excluded irrelevant objects. The results raise important questions about what aspect of working memory is most fundamental.

Citing Articles

Errors of attention adaptively warp spatial cognition.

Brissenden J, Yin Y, Vesia M, Lee T Nat Hum Behav. 2025; .

PMID: 39994457 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-025-02109-5.

Influence of presentation duration on filtering of irrelevant stimuli in visual working memory.

Liu Q, Yin X, Guo L, Ye C BMC Psychol. 2024; 12(1):469.

PMID: 39223690 PMC: 11370116. DOI: 10.1186/s40359-024-01969-2.

The influence of depth on object selection and manipulation in visual working memory within a 3D context.

Qian J, Fu B, Gao Z, Tan B Psychon Bull Rev. 2024; 31(5):2293-2304.

PMID: 38519758 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-024-02492-6.

Neurovascular coupling in the attention during visual working memory processes.

Zhang H, Hu Y, Li Y, Li D, Liu H, Li X iScience. 2024; 27(4):109368.

PMID: 38510112 PMC: 10951642. DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.109368.

External cues improve visual working memory encoding in the presence of salient distractors in schizophrenia.

Barnes-Scheufler C, Rosler L, Schaum M, Schiweck C, Peters B, Mayer J Psychol Med. 2024; 54(9):1965-1974.

PMID: 38436135 PMC: 11413357. DOI: 10.1017/S0033291724000059.

References

Vogel E, Machizawa M . Neural activity predicts individual differences in visual working memory capacity. Nature. 2004; 428(6984):748-51. DOI: 10.1038/nature02447. View

Morey C, Cowan N . When visual and verbal memories compete: evidence of cross-domain limits in working memory. Psychon Bull Rev. 2004; 11(2):296-301. DOI: 10.3758/bf03196573. View

Conway A, Engle R . Working memory and retrieval: a resource-dependent inhibition model. J Exp Psychol Gen. 1994; 123(4):354-73. DOI: 10.1037//0096-3445.123.4.354. View

Luck S, Vogel E . The capacity of visual working memory for features and conjunctions. Nature. 1997; 390(6657):279-81. DOI: 10.1038/36846. View

Conway A, Cowan N, Bunting M . The cocktail party phenomenon revisited: the importance of working memory capacity. Psychon Bull Rev. 2001; 8(2):331-5. DOI: 10.3758/bf03196169. View

Cowan N . The magical number 4 in short-term memory: a reconsideration of mental storage capacity. Behav Brain Sci. 2001; 24(1):87-114; discussion 114-85. DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x01003922. View

Kane M, Bleckley M, Conway A, Engle R . A controlled-attention view of working-memory capacity. J Exp Psychol Gen. 2001; 130(2):169-83. DOI: 10.1037//0096-3445.130.2.169. View

May C, Hasher L, Kane M . The role of interference in memory span. Mem Cognit. 1999; 27(5):759-67. DOI: 10.3758/bf03198529. View

Morey C, Cowan N . When do visual and verbal memories conflict? The importance of working-memory load and retrieval. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn. 2005; 31(4):703-13. PMC: 2610475. DOI: 10.1037/0278-7393.31.4.703. View

10.

Vogel E, McCollough A, Machizawa M . Neural measures reveal individual differences in controlling access to working memory. Nature. 2005; 438(7067):500-3. DOI: 10.1038/nature04171. View

11.

Cowan N, Fristoe N, Elliott E, Brunner R, Saults J . Scope of attention, control of attention, and intelligence in children and adults. Mem Cognit. 2007; 34(8):1754-68. PMC: 1868392. DOI: 10.3758/bf03195936. View

12.

Woodman G, Vogel E . Fractionating working memory: consolidation and maintenance are independent processes. Psychol Sci. 2005; 16(2):106-13. DOI: 10.1111/j.0956-7976.2005.00790.x. View