The DOI matches its Crossref record; 4 of the 4 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The focus of attention as observed in visual working memory tasks: Making sense of competing claims
Open accessAbstract
Recent behavioral and neuroscientific evidence speaks to the question of whether the human focus of attention is limited to a single item or can accommodate several items. This issue is fundamental to an understanding of the nature of human cognition and brain function. Here I review evidence from visual working memory tasks and suggest that it supports the concept of a focus of attention that can include several items at once as a core vehicle of working memory, regardless of the stimulus modality. One brain area in particular, the left intraparietal sulcus (IPS), seems critically important in the network underlying the focus of attention as a working memory storage mechanism. This view is reconciled with evidence previously taken to indicate that the focus of attention only includes a single item at a time, which is reinterpreted here.
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Cites
The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information.
Miller, G. A. (1956) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/h0043158 · Cited by 17,812
The episodic buffer: a new component of working memory?
Baddeley, A. (2000) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/s1364-6613(00)01538-2 · Cited by 7,359
The magical number 4 in short-term memory: A reconsideration of mental storage capacity
Cowan, N. (2001) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x01003922 · Cited by 6,779
Self-citationTime and cognitive load in working memory.
Barrouillet, P., Bernardin, S., Portrat, S., Vergauwe, E., & Camos, V. (2007) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition · doi:10.1037/0278-7393.33.3.570 · Cited by 613
Cited by
Working Memory Underpins Cognitive Development, Learning, and Education
Cowan, N. (2014) · Educational Psychology Review · doi:10.1007/s10648-013-9246-y · Cited by 852
Self-citationDifferent states in visual working memory: when it guides attention and when it does not
Olivers, C. N. L., Peters, J., Houtkamp, R., & Roelfsema, P. R. (2011) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2011.05.004 · Cited by 678
Rapport, M. D., Orban, S. A., Kofler, M. J., & Friedman, L. M. (2013) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2013.08.005 · Cited by 517
Working Memory Maturation: Can We Get at the Essence of Cognitive Growth?
Cowan, N. (2016) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/1745691615621279 · Cited by 225
“Neurally and behaviorally, the scope of attention, highly dependent on parietal areas of the brain, is said to be separate from the control of attention or central executive processes, highly dependent on frontal areas, with activated memory in various association areas (Cowan, 2011).”
BackgroundSelf-citationImplications of Infant Cognition for Executive Functions at Age 11
Rose, S. A., Feldman, J. F., & Jankowski, J. J. (2012) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797612444902 · Cited by 182
Metadata
- Authors
- Cowan, N.
- Venue
- Neuropsychologia
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2011-05
- Volume
- 49
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1401-1406
- ISSN
- 0028-3932 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2133580895
- Cited by
- 190
- References
- 4
- FWCI
- 7.39
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
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