The Effect Of Two Types Of Long-term And Short-term Working Memory Content On Selective Attention

For the past few years, there were two opposite viewpoints on whether the content of working memory could affect the allocation of attention asymptomatically. According to the first viewpoint, the distractor matching working memory content in visual search task would automatous capture attention, even if it was not related with current goal. Another viewpoint thought that working memory would promote or inhibit processing in a flexible way, so that participants could use strategy to make attention evade the goal-irrelevant working memory content. So far researchers did not reach an identical opinion. However, in previous studies, working memory content changed by every trail which could be considered that input to working memory from short-term memory, and the effect based on working memory content which was picked up from long-term memory have not been studied yet. It is hoped that the question will be resolved with our proposed method.Experiment1was designed by "Attention-Memory" dual-task paradigm, using shape as the material, participants were required to finished a4items visual search task and the target only presented itself in the arrow pointing location during the process of keeping visual working memory. Short-term working memory content that match the memory item or long-term working memory sharing common shape character with current goal might appear as distractor in the opposite location of arrow pointing. From experiment1, we did not find any significant difference in reaction time. The failure might be caused by weak capture ability of shape or the too simple task.Experiment2was similar to the experiment1besides the color for material, the number of searching item increase to6, and an additional superimposed condition that2types of working memory content appeared together. The result of experiment2indicated attention was captured by both long-term and short-term working memory matching distractor, but no effect of superimposed capture was found in experiment2. In long-term working memory condition, we obtained a greater delay in reaction time than short-term working memory condition, it implied that long-term working memory show stronger capture ability was due to the goal-driven effect by sharing common color character.Experiment3tried to distinguish2types of working memory content by controlling the number of continuous presence of the same memory item with the purpose that exclude the goal-driven effect to verify the difference effect on selective attention based on long-term and short-term working memory content that both unrelated with current goal. We found the automatic capture effect based on the short-term neutral condition, however, long-term working memory content did not show a greater capture effect than short-term working memory content, even came out a inhibitory tendency, and compared with long-term neutral condition, the automatic capture effect had disappeared.In conclusion, working memory content which was born of short-term memory could capture attention automatically. Long-term working memory could guide the attention in a more flexible way, long-term working memory showed a greater capture effect when it was related with current goal and a strategic inhibition when it was irrelated. Moreover the effect on selective attention based on working memory content was influenced by the stimulus characteristics and task difficulty...