Spatial monitoring in visual working memory.

Abstract

Three experiments examined the role of spatial monitoring in short-term visual memory. In the first experiment it was found that with consonants presented visually at one location articulatory suppression but not a concurrent tracking task disrupted performance. Experiment 2 demonstrated that tracking was disruptive when consonants were presented at three locations and more serial positions were affected when the locations of the consonants were random rather than highly predictable. Articulatory suppression was also disruptive in this study. The third experiment replicated the first two studies, without an articulatory suppression condition, using a within-subject design with a strictly forward serial recall constraint. The locus of the tracking effect was modified by this recall constraint suggesting that tracking disrupts a specific process that utilizes spatial monitoring. It was concluded that spatial monitoring depletes resources that can be used to encode visually presented consonants and these resources may be drawn from spatial working memory. The articulatory loop was also implicated given that articulatory suppression also disrupted performance. These results were explained in terms of working memory constellations. Morris (1986 b) suggested that such constellations consist of working memory components, in this instance the articulatory loop and spatial working memory, 'assembled' to meet task demands. This probably involves the activation, by the demand characteristics of the task, of modules in working memory that are similar to production system elements.