Working memory capacity and the scope and control of attention
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Complex span and visual arrays are two common measures of working memory capacity that are respectively treated as measures of attention control and storage capacity. A recent analysis of these tasks concluded that (1) complex span performance has a relatively stronger relationship to fluid intelligence and (2) this is due to the requirement that people engage control processes while performing this task. The present study examines the validity of these conclusions by examining two large data sets that include a more diverse set of visual arrays tasks and several measures of attention control. We conclude that complex span and visual arrays account for similar amounts of variance in fluid intelligence. The disparity relative to the earlier analysis is attributed to the present study involving a more complete measure of the latent ability underlying the performance of visual arrays. Moreover, we find that both types of working memory task have strong relationships to attention control. This indicates that the ability to engage attention in a controlled manner is a critical aspect of working memory capacity, regardless of the type of task that is used to measure this construct.
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Working memory and vigilance are empirically and conceptually related.
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From Working Memory and Vigilance as Multivariate Endophenotypes Related to Common Genetic Risk for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (2018) · cites this paper as [57]
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Cognitive Measures and Performance on the Antisaccade Eye Movement Task
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Working Memory Capacity Depends on Attention Control, but Not Selective Attention
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Referential Choice: Predictability and Its Limits
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Exposure to natural environments consistently improves visuospatial working memory performance
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A review of uncertainty visualization errors: Working memory as an explanatory theory
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The relationship between sustained inattentional blindness and working memory capacity
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Bridge Over Troubled Water: Commenting on Kovacs and Conway's Process Overlap Theory
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An examination of relations between baseline pupil measures and cognitive abilities
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Variation in the use of cues to guide visual working memory
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The spatial coding mechanism of ordinal symbols: a study based on the ordinal position effect
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The role of working memory capacity in evaluative judgments of liking and beauty
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The implementation of expectancy-based strategic processes is delayed in normal aging
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Disentangling processing and storage accounts of working memory development in childhood
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A Case for Cognitive Models in Visualization Research : Position paper
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Self-citationExercise and Prospective Memory
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The impact of fear of the sea on working memory performance
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Effects of audiovisual interactions on working memory: Use of the combined N-back + Go/NoGo paradigm
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Identifying Links Between Latent Memory and Speech Recognition Factors
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A Disruption in the Balance of Attentional Systems Plays a Role in Trait Anxiety
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A model comparison approach reveals individual variation in the scope and control of attention
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Die Bibliothek als Lesezentrum
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Does cognitive reflection predict attentional control in visual tasks?
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Shipstead, Z., Harrison, T. L., & Engle, R. W.
- Affiliations
- Arizona State University (US)
- Georgia Institute of Technology (US)
- Corresponding author
- Shipstead, Zach
- ORCID
- Engle, Randall W.
- Venue
- Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics
- Published
- 2015-04-25
- Volume
- 77
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1863-1880
- ISSN
- 1943-3921 (ISSN-L)
- 1943-393X
- OpenAlex
- W2064044626
- Cited by
- 132
- References
- 81
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 17 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 18 · 2015: 3
- FWCI
- 24.60
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Attention Perception & Psychophysics (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Office of Naval Research (N00014-12-1-1011, N00014-12-1, N00014-12, N00014, N00014-12-1-0406)
- Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
- Keywords
- working memory capacity, complex span, fluid intelligence, attentional control, storage capacity, latent ability
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Attention, Female, Humans, Intelligence, Male, Memory, Short-Term, Visual Perception, Young Adult
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