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Attentional cueing by cross-modal congruency produces both facilitation and inhibition on short-term visual recognition.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Makovac, E; Kwok, SC; Gerbino, W
Published in: Acta psychologica
October 2014

The attentional modulation of performance in a memory task, comparable to the one obtained in a perceptual task, is at the focus of contemporary research. We hypothesized that a biphasic effect (namely, facilitation followed by inhibition) can be obtained in visual working memory when attention is cued towards one item of the memorandum and participants must recognize a delayed probe as being identical to any item of the memorandum. In every trial, a delayed spiky/curvy probe appeared centrally, to be matched with the same-category shape maintained in visual working memory which could be either physically identical (positive trials) or only categorically similar (negative trials). To orient the participant's attention towards a selected portion of a two-item memorandum, a (tzk/wow) sound was played simultaneously with two lateral visual shapes (one spiky and one curved). Our results indicate that an exogenous attentional shift during perception of the memorandum, induced by a congruent audio-visual pairing, first facilitates and then inhibits the recognition of a cued item (but not of a non-cued item) stored in visual working memory. A coherent pattern of individual differences emerged, indicating that the amount of early facilitation in congruent-sound trials was negatively correlated with recognition sensitivity in no-sound trials (suggesting that the inverse effectiveness rule may also apply to memory) and positively correlated with later inhibition, as well as with the self-reported susceptibility to memory failures.

Duke Scholars

Published In

Acta psychologica

DOI

EISSN

1873-6297

ISSN

0001-6918

Publication Date

October 2014

Volume

152

Start / End Page

75 / 83

Related Subject Headings

  • Young Adult
  • Visual Perception
  • Space Perception
  • Reaction Time
  • Orientation
  • Memory, Short-Term
  • Male
  • Inhibition, Psychological
  • Individuality
  • Humans
 

Citation

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ICMJE
MLA
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Makovac, E., Kwok, S. C., & Gerbino, W. (2014). Attentional cueing by cross-modal congruency produces both facilitation and inhibition on short-term visual recognition. Acta Psychologica, 152, 75–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2014.07.008
Makovac, Elena, Sze Chai Kwok, and Walter Gerbino. “Attentional cueing by cross-modal congruency produces both facilitation and inhibition on short-term visual recognition.Acta Psychologica 152 (October 2014): 75–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2014.07.008.
Makovac, Elena, et al. “Attentional cueing by cross-modal congruency produces both facilitation and inhibition on short-term visual recognition.Acta Psychologica, vol. 152, Oct. 2014, pp. 75–83. Epmc, doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2014.07.008.
Journal cover image

Published In

Acta psychologica

DOI

EISSN

1873-6297

ISSN

0001-6918

Publication Date

October 2014

Volume

152

Start / End Page

75 / 83

Related Subject Headings

  • Young Adult
  • Visual Perception
  • Space Perception
  • Reaction Time
  • Orientation
  • Memory, Short-Term
  • Male
  • Inhibition, Psychological
  • Individuality
  • Humans