Accounting for verbal and spatial working memory load in an auditory Stroop task

Abstract

The Stroop task (Stroop, 1935) has been used extensively in cognitive psychology research for the study of selective attention and processing speed and accuracy. A recent experiment in our lab used an auditory-spatial Stroop task where participants were required to determine the spatial location of congruent and incongruent directional words. Results of that experiment showed that incongruent trials had a significant effect on performance, but only in the vertical plane. Special load theory (Park, Kim, & Chun, 2007) states that distractibility is a function of the relationship between working memory (WM) load and the targets/distractors of the task. The auditory-spatial Stroop task was modified by using WM loads intended to interfere specifically with the semantic or spatial aspects of the task. Given that targets in the task are the spatial locations of the words, special load theory predicts that a spatial WM load results in decreased performance (increased interference) while a verbal WM load predicts increased performance (decreased interference). Data presented will illuminate whether spatial or verbal WM load has a greater impact on performance in an auditory-spatial Stroop task.