Concurrent working memory load can reduce distraction.

@article{citeulike:693924, abstract = {People have difficulty performing two tasks at once. For example, maintaining items in working memory (WM) makes people more distractible. However, different types of WM load may have different effects on attentional selection depending on whether WM load overlaps with mechanisms involved in target or distractor processing. Three experiments examined the effect of concurrent WM load on Stroop tasks, a widely used measure of executive control and inhibition. Stroop interference increased when the type of WM load overlapped with the type of information required for the target task (experiment 1). In striking contrast, Stroop interference decreased when the type of WM load overlapped with distractor processing (experiment 2). Experiment 3 replicated these results in a different Stroop task. Thus, concurrent WM load does not always impair executive control; performance depends on how contents of WM and task-relevant information overlap. The results highlight how dissociable components of WM interact with perception and executive control.}, address = {Department of Psychology, Yonsei University, Seoul 120-749, Korea.}, author = {Kim, S. Y. and Kim, M. S. and Chun, M. M. }, citeulike-article-id = {693924}, doi = {10.1073/pnas.0505454102}, issn = {0027-8424}, journal = {Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A}, keywords = {executive\_function, working\_memory}, month = {November}, number = {45}, pages = {16524--16529}, posted-at = {2008-04-30 06:03:59}, priority = {2}, title = {Concurrent working memory load can reduce distraction.}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0505454102}, volume = {102}, year = {2005} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:693924 L3 - citeulike-article-id:693924 TI - Concurrent working memory load can reduce distraction. JF - Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A VL - 102 IS - 45 SP - 16524 EP - 16529 AD - Department of Psychology, Yonsei University, Seoul 120-749, Korea. SN - 0027-8424 N2 - People have difficulty performing two tasks at once. For example, maintaining items in working memory (WM) makes people more distractible. However, different types of WM load may have different effects on attentional selection depending on whether WM load overlaps with mechanisms involved in target or distractor processing. Three experiments examined the effect of concurrent WM load on Stroop tasks, a widely used measure of executive control and inhibition. Stroop interference increased when the type of WM load overlapped with the type of information required for the target task (experiment 1). In striking contrast, Stroop interference decreased when the type of WM load overlapped with distractor processing (experiment 2). Experiment 3 replicated these results in a different Stroop task. Thus, concurrent WM load does not always impair executive control; performance depends on how contents of WM and task-relevant information overlap. The results highlight how dissociable components of WM interact with perception and executive control. KW - executive_function KW - working_memory AU - Kim, SY AU - Kim, MS AU - Chun, MM PY - 2005/11/08/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0505454102 ER -