Speed and accuracy of accessing information in working memory: an individual differences investigation of focus switching.

Full Abstract

Three experiments examined the nature of individual differences in switching the focus of attention in working memory. Participants performed 3 versions of a continuous counting task that required successive updating and switching between counts. Across all 3 experiments, individual differences in working memory span and fluid intelligence were related to the accuracy of the counts, but not to the time cost associated with switching between counts. The authors suggest that working memory span and fluid intelligence measures partially index the ability to accurately switch information in and out of the focus of attention, but this variation is not related to the speed of switching.

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Author information

Author/s: Unsworth, Nash (N); Engle, Randall W (RW);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-3013, USA. nunswor@uga.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition (J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-May; vol 34 (issue 3) : pp 616-30

Dates: Created 2008/04/30; Completed 2008/08/22;

PMID: 18444760, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

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