ABSTRACT

Observers adopt attentional control setting (ACS) based on their goals; stimuli that match the current goal will capture attention, whereas stimuli that do not match the current goal will not. In the present study, we revisited the role of VWM in maintaining ACSs capable of guiding attentional capture. Participants completed a Posner cueing task while either remembering a colour (Experiments 1a/1b) or searching for a colour (Experiments 2/3). To encourage the use of VWM, the colour changed on each trial. Results indicate that merely remembering a colour using VWM did not prevent memory non-matching colours from capturing attention (Experiments 1a/1b). Conversely, when participants searched for one colour, VWM supported an ACS that eliminated capture by non-matching colours (Experiments 2/3), though not if participants searched for two colours (Experiment 3). We conclude that VWM can maintain an ACS of one searched-for item that is capable of guiding attentional capture.

摘要

观察者根据他们的目标采用注意力控制设置（ACS）；与当前目标相匹配的刺激会引起注意，而与当前目标不匹配的刺激则不会。在本研究中，我们重新审视了 VWM 在维持能够引导注意力捕获的 ACS 中的作用。参与者在记住颜色（实验 1a/1b）或搜索颜色（实验 2/3）时完成了 Posner 提示任务。为了鼓励使用 VWM，每次试验都会改变颜色。结果表明，仅使用 VWM记住颜色并不能阻止记忆不匹配的颜色吸引注意力（实验 1a/1b）。相反，当参与者搜索对于一种颜色，VWM 支持 ACS，该 ACS 消除了不匹配颜色的捕获（实验 2/3），但如果参与者搜索两种颜色（实验 3）则不会。我们得出结论，VWM 可以维护一个能够引导注意力捕获的搜索项目的 ACS。