Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Lapierre, Mark D
• Cropper, Simon J
• Howe, Piers D L
• Price, Nicholas Seow Chiang

Titel

Shared processing in multiple object tracking and visual working memory in the absence of response order and task order confounds

Ist Teil von

• PloS one, 2017-04, Vol.12 (4), p.e0175736-e0175736

Ort / Verlag

United States: Public Library of Science

Erscheinungsjahr

2017

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• To understand how the visual system represents multiple moving objects and how those representations contribute to tracking, it is essential that we understand how the processes of attention and working memory interact. In the work described here we present an investigation of that interaction via a series of tracking and working memory dual-task experiments. Previously, it has been argued that tracking is resistant to disruption by a concurrent working memory task and that any apparent disruption is in fact due to observers making a response to the working memory task, rather than due to competition for shared resources. Contrary to this, in our experiments we find that when task order and response order confounds are avoided, all participants show a similar decrease in both tracking and working memory performance. However, if task and response order confounds are not adequately controlled for we find substantial individual differences, which could explain the previous conflicting reports on this topic. Our results provide clear evidence that tracking and working memory tasks share processing resources.