Selective maintenance in visual working memory does not require sustained visual attention. Hollingworth, A. & Maxcey-Richard, A. M. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform, 39(4):1047–1058, 2013.
doi  abstract   bibtex   
In four experiments, we tested whether sustained visual attention is required for the selective maintenance of objects in visual working memory (VWM). Participants performed a color change-detection task. During the retention interval, a valid cue indicated the item that would be tested. Change-detection performance was higher in the valid-cue condition than in a neutral-cue control condition. To probe the role of visual attention in the cuing effect, on half of the trials, a difficult search task was inserted after the cue, precluding sustained attention on the cued item. The addition of the search task produced no observable decrement in the magnitude of the cuing effect. In a complementary test, search efficiency was not impaired by simultaneously prioritizing an object for retention in VWM. The results demonstrate that selective maintenance in VWM can be dissociated from the locus of visual attention.
@Article{Hollingworth2013a,
  author      = {Hollingworth, Andrew and Maxcey-Richard, Ashleigh M.},
  journal     = {J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform},
  title       = {Selective maintenance in visual working memory does not require sustained visual attention.},
  year        = {2013},
  number      = {4},
  pages       = {1047--1058},
  volume      = {39},
  abstract    = {In four experiments, we tested whether sustained visual attention
	is required for the selective maintenance of objects in visual working
	memory (VWM). Participants performed a color change-detection task.
	During the retention interval, a valid cue indicated the item that
	would be tested. Change-detection performance was higher in the valid-cue
	condition than in a neutral-cue control condition. To probe the role
	of visual attention in the cuing effect, on half of the trials, a
	difficult search task was inserted after the cue, precluding sustained
	attention on the cued item. The addition of the search task produced
	no observable decrement in the magnitude of the cuing effect. In
	a complementary test, search efficiency was not impaired by simultaneously
	prioritizing an object for retention in VWM. The results demonstrate
	that selective maintenance in VWM can be dissociated from the locus
	of visual attention.},
  doi         = {10.1037/a0030238},
  keywords    = {Adult; Attention, physiology; Color Perception, physiology; Cues; Discrimination (Psychology), physiology; Humans; Memory, Short-Term, physiology; Space Perception, physiology; Task Performance and Analysis; Visual Perception, physiology; Young Adult},
  language    = {eng},
  medline-pst = {ppublish},
  pmid        = {23067118},
  school      = {Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, 11 Seashore Hall E, Iowa City, IA 52242-1407, USA. andrew-hollingworth@uiowa.edu},
  timestamp   = {2014.07.31},
}

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