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Abstract
Abstract The episodic flanker task is an episodic version of the Eriksen and Eriksen (Perception & Psychophysics, 16 (1), 143–149, 1974) perceptual flanker task, showing the same compatibility and distance effects. Subjects are presented with a list followed by a probe display in which one item is cued. The task, to indicate whether the probed letter appeared in the same position in the memory list, requires focusing attention on a single item in memory. The probe display contains flanking items to be ignored. They are same as the memory list or different. Same flankers are compatible with “yes” responses and incompatible with “no” responses. Different flankers are incompatible with “yes” responses and compatible with “no” responses. Previously, we presented multiple flankers in the probe, allowing a global matching strategy. Here, we report two episodic flanker experiments with just one flanker in the probe to encourage focusing sharply on the target. We found flanker compatibility effects in both experiments when a single flanker appeared immediately adjacent to the target. Experiment 2 varied the distance between the flanker and the target in the probe and the memory list and found the compatibility effect in response time only when the flanker was immediately adjacent to the target in both the probe and the memory list. The effect in accuracy also appeared when the flanker was two positions away in both the probe and the memory list. These results show that attention is focused sharply on elements of a memory structure during retrieval, suggesting that memory retrieval is perceptual attention turned inward.
Highlights
IntroductionAttention is often described as a spotlight that focuses on desired information and excludes the rest
We have shown that memory retrieval produces the same pattern of dual task interference as perceptual attention (Logan et al, 2023a), the same time-course of focusing attention on a specific item in memory as in perception (Logan et al, 2023b), and the same pattern of compatibility and distance effects as perceptual attention in an episodic version of the Eriksen and Eriksen (1974) flanker task (Logan et al, 2021, 2023b)
Both response time (RT) and accuracy show the crossover interaction between context and response type that defines the compatibility effect
Summary
Attention is often described as a spotlight that focuses on desired information and excludes the rest. We propose that memory retrieval involves turning the same spotlight inward to focus on desired information in memory: memory retrieval is attention turned inward (Broadbent, 1957; Cowan, 1988; Craik & Tulving, 1975; James, 1890; Nobre et al, 2004; Norman, 1968; Rugg et al, 2008). We have shown that memory retrieval produces the same pattern of dual task interference as perceptual attention (Logan et al, 2023a), the same time-course of focusing attention on a specific item in memory as in perception (Logan et al, 2023b), and the same pattern of compatibility and distance effects as perceptual attention in an episodic version of the Eriksen and Eriksen (1974) flanker task (Logan et al, 2021, 2023b). This article extends the parallel between perceptual and episodic flanker tasks, asking whether a single flanker can produce compatibility effects, and providing a new measure of distance that more closely parallels the distance manipulation in the perceptual flanker task
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