A central capacity limit to the simultaneous storage of visual and auditory arrays in working memory.

@article{citeulike:1938993, abstract = {If working memory is limited by central capacity (e.g., the focus of attention; N. Cowan, 2001), then storage limits for information in a single modality should apply also to the simultaneous storage of information from different modalities. The authors investigated this by combining a visual-array comparison task with a novel auditory-array comparison task in 5 experiments. Participants were to remember only the visual, only the auditory (unimodal memory conditions), or both arrays (bimodal memory conditions). Experiments 1 and 2 showed significant dual-task tradeoffs for visual but not for auditory capacity. In Experiments 3-5, the authors eliminated modality-specific memory by using postperceptual masks. Dual-task costs occurred for both modalities, and the number of auditory and visual items remembered together was no more than the higher of the unimodal capacities (visual: 3-4 items). The findings suggest a central capacity supplemented by modality- or code-specific storage and point to avenues for further research on the role of processing in central storage. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved).}, address = {Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri-Columbia.}, author = {Saults, J Scott S. and Cowan, Nelson}, citeulike-article-id = {1938993}, doi = {10.1037/0096-3445.136.4.663}, issn = {0096-3445}, journal = {J Exp Psychol Gen}, keywords = {capacity, wm}, month = {November}, number = {4}, pages = {663--684}, posted-at = {2007-11-20 09:22:53}, priority = {2}, title = {A central capacity limit to the simultaneous storage of visual and auditory arrays in working memory.}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.136.4.663}, volume = {136}, year = {2007} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:1938993 L3 - citeulike-article-id:1938993 N2 - If working memory is limited by central capacity (e.g., the focus of attention; N. Cowan, 2001), then storage limits for information in a single modality should apply also to the simultaneous storage of information from different modalities. The authors investigated this by combining a visual-array comparison task with a novel auditory-array comparison task in 5 experiments. Participants were to remember only the visual, only the auditory (unimodal memory conditions), or both arrays (bimodal memory conditions). Experiments 1 and 2 showed significant dual-task tradeoffs for visual but not for auditory capacity. In Experiments 3-5, the authors eliminated modality-specific memory by using postperceptual masks. Dual-task costs occurred for both modalities, and the number of auditory and visual items remembered together was no more than the higher of the unimodal capacities (visual: 3-4 items). The findings suggest a central capacity supplemented by modality- or code-specific storage and point to avenues for further research on the role of processing in central storage. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved). IS - 4 JF - J Exp Psychol Gen SN - 0096-3445 AD - Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri-Columbia. EP - 684 TI - A central capacity limit to the simultaneous storage of visual and auditory arrays in working memory. VL - 136 SP - 663 KW - capacity KW - wm AU - Saults, J Scott AU - Cowan, Nelson PY - 2007/11// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.136.4.663 ER -