ABSTRACT

Previous research raised the counterintuitive hypothesis that searching for multiple potential targets leads to increased incidental encoding of distractors. Are these previously reported findings due to increased visual working memory (VWM) engagement, or less precise target templates? In four experiments, we examined the effect of VWM load during visual search on incidental encoding of distractors. Consecutive target repetitions indirectly reduce template-related VWM demands but failed to reduce recognition for distractors relative to conditions where the targets were novel. Distractors that were subsequently recognized attracted longer cumulative dwell time, regardless of search condition. When placed in a dual-task situation where search was performed while holding a working memory load, recognition for distractors was marginally improved relative to a search task without additional VWM demands. We ruled out the possibility that the dual-task was not sufficiently difficult to trigger the scrutiny of distractors required for significant encoding benefits by showing a decrement to encoding when search time was limited. This suggests that widening the attentional set is the crucial factor in improved incidental encoding given that observers can assign differential status to various contents of VWM. Thus, utilizing VWM resources in general appears insufficient to meaningfully improve incidental memory.

摘要

先前的研究提出了违反直觉的假设，即搜寻多个潜在目标会导致增加干扰因素的偶然编码。这些先前报告的发现是由于增加了视觉工作记忆（VWM）参与度，还是由于目标模板不够精确？在四个实验中，我们检查了视觉搜索过程中VWM负载对干扰物附带编码的影响。连续目标重复可间接减少模板相关的VWM需求，但相对于目标新颖的条件，无法减少对干扰物的识别。无论搜索条件如何，随后被识别的干扰物都吸引了更长的累积停留时间。当处于执行任务同时保持工作内存负载的双任务情况时，相对于没有附加VWM要求的搜索任务，干扰者的识别能力得到了稍微改善。我们通过在搜索时间有限的情况下显示出对编码的递减来排除双重任务不是很难触发显着编码优势所需的干扰器的详细检查的可能性。这表明，考虑到观察者可以将差异状态分配给VWM的各种内容，扩大注意力集是改进附带编码的关键因素。因此，一般而言，利用VWM资源似乎不足以有意义地改善附带的内存。