Publications

Abstract

Huang, L. & Pashler, H. (2007). Working memory and the guidance of visual attention: Consonance-driven orienting. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 14, 148-153.

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Two experiments investigated the potential role of the content of working memory in guiding visual attention. Experiment 1 showed that maintaining a shape in working memory resulted in a decisive preference for moving attention to the same shape in the background when those shapes were task irrelevant. Experiment 2 showed a similar preference for words that were semantically related to an item held in working memory. We suggest that keeping an item active in working memory automatically results in a tendency for attention to be “attracted” to stimuli that are related to that item either visually or semantically.