Work

Can the focus of attention accommodate multiple, separate items?

Year: 2011

Type: article

Abstract: Researchers of working memory currently debate capacity limits of the focus of attention, the proposed mental faculty in which items are most easily accessed. Cowan (1999) suggested that its capacity is about 4 chunks, whereas others have suggested that its capacity is only 1 chunk. Recently, Oberauer and Bialkova (2009) found evidence that 2 items could reside in the focus of attention, but only because they were combined into a single chunk. We modified their experimental procedure, which depends on a pattern of switch costs, to obtain a situation in which chunking was not likely to occur (i.e., each item remained a separate chunk) and still obtained results consistent with a capacity of at least 2 items. Therefore, either the focus of attention can hold multiple chunks or the switch cost logic must be reconsidered.

Source: Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition

DOI: 10.1037/a0024352

Authors: Amanda L. Gilchrist, Nelson Cowan

Institution: University of Missouri

Language: English

Topic: Cognitive Abilities and Testing

Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Institutes of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Award: Mechanisms of Working Memory Capacity Limits and Their Development