Systematic differences in visual working memory performance are not caused by differences in working memory storage.

ABSTRACT: People vary in their performance on visual working memory tasks, and these individual differences covary with a wide range of higher-level cognitive processes including fluid intelligence. Performance also varies across study displays, purportedly driven by both low- and higher-level processes. Understanding what causes these sources of systematic variability has been crucial for developing theories of working memory. However, here we find that all such variability in performance on a test of visual working memory can be accounted for by concurrent variability in visual iconic memory: A person with relatively high working memory capacity will have high iconic memory capacity, and a particularly easy working memory display will also be easy under iconic memory conditions. These results are

SUBMITTER: Pratte MS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10141665 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature