Research On The Influence Of Content-Based Working Memory-Driven Attention On Visual Discrimination

Working Memory and Visual Attention are similar in function, and also have some overlap on brain areas. There are close connections between working memory and visual attention. Under certain conditions, working memory could guide attention in a top-down way. The exogenous cues are able to automatically capture attention in a bottom-up manner. The results of previous research showed that exogenous attention could improve spatial discrimination and decrease temporal resolution. However, there has yet been no research about whether content-based working memory-driven attention influences temporal and spatial resolution or not. The present study examined this question in a dual task paradigm which was similar to Downing(2000). The first part of the study consists of three experiments, which exploring whether working memory-driven attention affects temporal resolution. The second part consists of four experiments, which exploring if working memory-driven attention influences spatial discrimination. The findings showed that:(1) there was no significant difference between the matching condition and mismatching condition when participants detected the temporal gap between the two black circles;(2) compared to the Landlot Ring which appeared on the mismatching location, participants could be more accurately to identify the Landlot Ring in the matching location. The present results suggest that working memory-driven attention can improve spatial discrimination, but could not significantly affect temporal resolution.