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Distance effects. Mean response time (RT; top row) and error rate (P(Error); bottom row) in Experiments 1-4 (columns) as a function of set size (4, 5, 6) and distance (− 2, − 1, 0, 1, 2). Set sizes 4, 5, and 6 are presented in different colors (red, green, blue, respectively)
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We report 10 experiments exploring the proposition that memory retrieval is perceptual attention turned inward. The experiments adapt the Eriksen and Eriksen perceptual flanker effect to a memory task in which subjects must decide whether a cued item in a probe display appeared in the same position in a memory list. Previous research with this epis...
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Context 1
... mean RTs for correct responses and error rates in each experiment are plotted as a function of distance and set size in Fig. 4. There were some quantitative differences between experiments, but each one showed significant increases in RT and error rate with set size, consistent with many so "yes" (lag 0) and "no" (lag ± 1 and lag ± 2) are grouped together. The distance effect is the difference between ± 1 and ± 2. (Color figure online) previous experiments. We ...
Context 2
... and distraction effects were common to all materials but other effects differed among them (see Figs. 4 and 6). RT was longer with letters and words than with colors and pictures, but errors-especially missed targets-were more frequent with colors and pictures. The increase in RT with set size was greater for letters and words than for colors and pictures. The increase in error rate with set size varied less systematically with ...
Citations
... We have been exploring the conjecture that they may be one and the same: The same attentional processes operate on representations in perception and memory. Memory retrieval is perceptual attention turned inward; perceptual attention is memory retrieval turned outward (Logan et al., , 2023bLogan, Afu, et el., 2024;Logan et al., 2024aLogan et al., , 2024b. Our exploration is based on the idea that attention and memory must solve the same computational problem: searching a database to find desired information. ...
... We have observed robust episodic flanker compatibility effects in RT and error rate in 11 experiments (Logan et al., , 2023bLogan, Afu, et el., 2024;Logan et al., 2024aLogan et al., , 2024b. They occur with a broad range of materials, Fig. 1 Events on a trial in the episodic flanker task. ...
... "Same" probes point to a "yes" response and are compatible with cued letters that require a "yes" response and incompatible with cued letters that require a "no" response. "Different" probes point to a "no" response and are incompatible with cued letters that require a "yes" response and compatible with cued letters that require a "no" response including letters, words, colors, and pictures (Logan et al., 2024a(Logan et al., , 2024b. They are unaffected by preparation interval, which suggests they reflect processing after attention is focused on the cued position in the list rather than the processing that orients attention to the cued position (Logan et al., 2023b). ...
The episodic flanker task is a memory analog of the classic perceptual flanker task. It was designed to test the conjecture that memory retrieval is perceptual attention turned inward. It measures the sharpness of the focus of attention on memory and produces episodic compatibility effects from flanking items analogous to the perceptual flanker task. Here we ask whether the episodic flanker compatibility effect results from a local match between the probe item and the cued item in the memory list, a global match between the entire (multiletter) probe and the memory list, or a combination of the two. We report two episodic flanker experiments that manipulate the compatibility of near (adjacent to the target) and far (nonadjacent) flankers independently. Local matching predicts no effect of remote targets. Global matching predicts that remote flankers will modulate the compatibility effect, reducing it when one is compatible and the other is incompatible. The results of both experiments confirmed the global matching prediction. A third experiment manipulated near and far flankers in a classic perceptual flanker task and found that far flankers modulated the compatibility effect in the same way, strengthening the parallels between episodic and perceptual flanker tasks. We conclude that the episodic flanker compatibility effect, like the perceptual effect, depends on both local and global matching. Our results provide converging evidence for the idea that memory retrieval is perceptual attention turned inward.
