On the costs of refocusing items in working memory: a matter of inhibition or decay?

Memory
Markus JanczykWilfried Kunde

Abstract

The present study investigates the mental processes that are applied to previously attended items of working memory. In an object-switching task, participants counted the number of sequentially presented objects. In Experiment 1 the processing time increased when the object category switched from the prior trial compared to a repetition. More importantly, the further in the past the last instance of a current category was presented, the more processing time was necessary - an observation suggesting passive decay rather than inhibition of previously attended items. However, results differed when only two object categories were employed. Experiment 2 suggests that the lack of a clear indication of decay with small numbers of categories was due to participants' expectancy of category switches rather than repetitions. Taken together, the results suggest that working memory items become less accessible the longer they have not been attended to, when strategic processes are controlled.

References

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Citations

Oct 20, 2009·Psychological Research·Markus Janczyk, Wilfried Kunde
Feb 3, 2011·Memory·Markus Janczyk, Joachim Grabowski
Jun 27, 2009·The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology : QJEP·Herbert HeuerWilfried Kunde
Jan 24, 2014·Attention, Perception & Psychophysics·Markus Janczyk, Marian E Berryhill
Apr 12, 2016·Frontiers in Psychology·Marcel Gressmann, Markus Janczyk
Feb 21, 2021·Attention, Perception & Psychophysics·Yin-Ting LinDaryl Fougnie

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