The visual and verbal binding in working memory demand more attention when the stimuli are complex

Author(s)

Juliana Pardo Moura Campos Godoy

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: Ribeirão Preto.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (PCARP/BC)
• Defense date: 2013-04-05

Examining board members

Cesar Alexis Galera; Marisa Tomoe Hebihara Fukuda; Antonio Jaeger; Flávia Heloisa dos Santos; José Humberto da Silva Filho

• Advisor: Cesar Alexis Galera

Abstract

Some studies indicate that it is possible to store binding from two different types of information in working memory. We investigated the involvement of the attention in the voluntary conjunction of visual and verbal information (chapter 1) and if the verbal and visual information are encoded in an integrated form when they are available simultaneously, independent of which information is required in the task (Chapter 2). In the first chapter, the dual tasks paradigm was used to investigate whether the effect of the attentional secondary task (a backward counting in threes), performed simultaneously to the memory task (during encoding and maintenance), would cause a decrease in the recognition of conjunction higher than the information stored individually. These tasks were performed varying two characteristics of the experimental situation that could interfere with the attentional demand for more resources, the number of items stored and complexity of stimuli. In the Chapter 2 we used the paradigm of irrelevant dimension to check the presence of incidental binding between visual and verbal information. The results showed that the binding required more attention resources than the isolated information, only when complex stimuli are stored, such as faces and names. The amount of stored items does not interfere in the relationship between buffer and central executive. In the second chapter we can see that there was a color and shape incidental binding, suggesting that in this condition the binding is stored automatically. This knowledge indicates specific characteristics of the visual and verbal binding storage pattern in working memory. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 10/12472-6 - Visual and verbal binding in working memory
• Grantee: Juliana Pardo Moura Campos Godoy
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate