Working memory load predicts visual search efficiency: Evidence from a novel pupillary response paradigm.

An observer's pupil dilates and constricts in response to variables such as ambient and focal luminance, cognitive effort, the emotional stimulus content, and working memory load. The pupil's memory load response is of particular interest, as it might be used for estimating observers' memory load wh...

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Publicado en:Memory & Cognition Vol. 44; no. 7; pp. 1038 - 1050
Autores principales: Attar, Nada, Schneps, Matthew, Pomplun, Marc
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Springer Nature Oct2016
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        10.3758/s13421-016-0617-8
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        atl: Working memory load predicts visual search efficiency: Evidence from a novel pupillary response paradigm.
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        au:
          Attar, Nada
          Schneps, Matthew
          Pomplun, Marc
        affil: Department of Computer Science , University of Massachusetts at Boston , Boston 02125 USA
      su:
        Memory
        Task performance
        Visual perception
        Pupil (Eye)
        Reaction time
      sug:
        subj:
          Memory
          Task performance
          Visual perception
          Pupil (Eye)
          Reaction time
      keyword:
        Eye movements
        Reaction time analyses
        Visual search
        Working memory
        Eye movements
        Reaction time analyses
        Visual search
        Working memory
      ab: An observer's pupil dilates and constricts in response to variables such as ambient and focal luminance, cognitive effort, the emotional stimulus content, and working memory load. The pupil's memory load response is of particular interest, as it might be used for estimating observers' memory load while they are performing a complex task, without adding an interruptive and confounding memory test to the protocol. One important task in which working memory's involvement is still being debated is visual search, and indeed a previous experiment by Porter, Troscianko, and Gilchrist ( Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 60, 211-229, 2007) analyzed observers' pupil sizes during search to study this issue. These authors found that pupil size increased over the course of the search, and they attributed this finding to accumulating working memory load. However, since the pupil response is slow and does not depend on memory load alone, this conclusion is rather speculative. In the present study, we estimated working memory load in visual search during the presentation of intermittent fixation screens, thought to induce a low, stable level of arousal and cognitive effort. Using standard visual search and control tasks, we showed that this paradigm reduces the influence of non-memory-related factors on pupil size. Furthermore, we found an early increase in working memory load to be associated with more efficient search, indicating a significant role of working memory in the search process.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
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      src: R
    language: English
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