Abstract
We tested the hypothesis that a verbal coding mechanism is necessarily engaged by object, but not spatial, visual working memory tasks. We employed a dual-task procedure that pairedn-back working memory tasks with domain-specific distractor trials inserted into each interstimulus interval of then-back tasks. In two experiments, objectn-back performance demonstrated greater sensitivity to verbal distraction, whereas spatialn-back performance demonstrated greater sensitivity to motion distraction. Visual object and spatial working memory may differ fundamentally in that the mnemonic representation of featural characteristics of objects incorporates a verbal (perhaps semantic) code, whereas the mnemonic representation of the location of objects does not. Thus, the processes supporting working memory for these two types of information may differ in more ways than those dictated by the “what/where” organization of the visual system, a fact more easily reconciled with a component process than a memory systems account of working memory function.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Attneave, F. (1972). Representation of physical space. In A. W. Melton & E. Martin (Eds.),Coding processes in human memory (pp. 283–306). Washington, DC: Winston.
Attneave, F., &Arnoult, M. D. (1956). Methodological considerations in the quantitative study of shape and pattern perception.Psychological Bulletin,53, 221–227.
Baddeley, A. [D.] (1986).Working memory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Baddeley, A. D., &Hitch, G. J. (1974). Working memory. In G. H. Bower (Ed.),The psychology of learning and motivation (Vol. 8, pp. 47–89). New York: Academic Press.
Baddeley, A. D., &Logie, R. H. (1999). Working memory: The multiple-component model. In A. Miyake & P. Shah (Eds.),Models of working memory (pp. 28–61). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bartram, D. J. (1976). Levels of coding in picture—picture comparison tasks.Memory & Cognition,4, 593–602.
Braver, T., Cohen, J. D., Nystrom, L. E., Jonides, J., Smith, E. E., &Noll, D. C. (1997). A parametric study of prefrontal cortex involvement in human working memory.NeuroImage,5, 49–62.
Cermak, G. W. (1977). Performance in a delayed comparison discrimination task as a function of stimulus interpretation.Perception & Psychophysics,21, 69–76.
Chao, L. L., Haxby, J. V., &Martin, A. (1999). Attribute-based neural substrates in temporal cortex for perceiving and knowing about objects.Nature Neuroscience,2, 913–919.
Cohen, J. D., Forman, S. D., Braver, T. S., Casey, B. J., Servan-Schreiber, D., &Noll, D. C. (1994). Activation of the prefrontal cortex in a nonspatial working memory task with functional MRI.Human Brain Mapping,1, 293–304.
Cohen, J. D., Perlstein, W. M., Braver, T. S., Nystrom, L. E., Noll, D. C., Jonides, J., &Smith, E. E. (1997). Temporal dynamics of brain activation during a working memory task.Nature,386, 604–608.
Courtney, S. M., Ungerleider, L. G., Keil, K., &Haxby, J. (1996). Object and spatial visual working memory activate separate neural systems in human cortex.Cerebral Cortex,6, 39–49.
Cowan, N., Wood, N. L., Wood, P. K., Keller, T. A., Nugent, L. D., &Keller, C. V. (1998). Two separate verbal processing rates contributing to short-term memory span.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,127, 141–160.
Crowder, R. G. (1993). Systems and principles in memory theory: Another critique of pure memory. In A. Collins, S. Gathercole, M. Conway, & P. Morris (Eds.),Theories of memory (pp. 139–161). Hove, U.K.: Erlbaum.
Della Sala, S., Gray, C., Baddeley, A., Allamano, N., &Wilson, L. (1999). Pattern span: A tool for unwelding visuo-spatial memory.Neuropsychologia,37, 1189–1199.
Farah, M. J., &McClelland, J. L. (1991). A computational model of semantic memory impairment: Modality specificity and emergent category specificity.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,120, 339–357.
Garavan, H. (1998). Serial attention within working memory.Memory & Cognition,26, 263–276.
Gevins, A. S., &Cutillo, B. S. (1993). Neuroelectric evidence for distributed processing in human working memory.Electroencephalography & Clinical Neurophysiology,87, 128–143.
Goggin, J. P. (1974). Proactive interference and gender change in shortterm memory.Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society,3, 222–224.
He, S., Cavanagh, P., &Intriligator, J. (1996). Attentional resolution and the locus of visual awareness.Nature,382, 334–337.
Hecker, R., &Mapperson, B. (1997). Dissociation of visual and spatial processing in working memory.Neuropsychologia,35, 599–603.
Henson, R. N. A. (1999). Positional information in short-term memory: Relative or absolute?Memory & Cognition,27, 915–927.
Jonides, J., Schumacher, E. H., Smith, E. E., Lauber, E. J., Awh, E., Minoshima, S., &Koeppe, R. A. (1997). Verbal working memory load affects regional brain activation as measured by PET.Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience,9, 462–475.
Kieras, D. E., Meyer, D. E., Mueller, S., &Seymour, T. (1999). Insights into working memory from the perspective of the EPIC architecture for modeling skilled perceptual-motor and cognitive human performance. In A. Miyake & P. Shah (Eds.),Models of working memory (pp. 183–223). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kučera, H., &Francis, W. N. (1967).Computational analysis of presentday American English. Providence, RI: Brown University Press.
Logie, R. H. (1995).Visuo-spatial working memory. Hove, U.K.: Erlbaum.
McCarthy, G., Puce, A., Constable, R. T., Krystal, J. H., Gore, J. C., &Goldman-Rakic, P. S. (1996). Activation of human prefrontal cortex during spatial and nonspatial working memory tasks measured by functional MRI.Cerebral Cortex,6, 600–611.
Mecklinger, A., &Muller, N. (1996). Dissociations in the processing of “what” and “where” information in working memory: An event-related potential analysis.Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience,8, 453–473.
Miyake, A., &Shah, P. (Eds.), (1999).Models of working memory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Posner, M. I. (1967). Characteristics of visual and kinesthetic memory codes.Journal of Experimental Psychology,75, 103–107.
Posner, M. I. (1978).Chronometric explorations of mind. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Posner, M. I., &Konick, A. F. (1966). Short-term retention of visual and kinesthetic information.Organizational Behavior & Human Performance,1, 71–86.
Postle, B. R., &D’Esposito, M. (1999). “What”—then—“where” in visual working memory: An event-related fMRI study.Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience,11, 585–597.
Postle, B. R., Idzikowski, C., Della Sala, S., Logie, R. H., & Baddeley, A. D. (in press). The selective disruption of spatial working memory by eye movements.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.
Postle, B. R., Jonides, J., Smith, E., Corkin, S., &Growdon, J. H. (1997). Spatial, but not object, delayed response is impaired in early Parkinson’s disease.Neuropsychology,11, 1–9.
Postle, B. R., Locascio, J. J., Corkin, S., &Growdon, J. H. (1997). The time course of spatial and object visual learning in early Parkinson’s disease.Neuropsychologia,35, 1413–1422.
Postle, B. R., Stern, C. E., Rosen, B. R., &Corkin, S. (2000). An fMRI investigation of cortical contributions to spatial and nonspatial visual working memory.NeuroImage,11, 409–423.
Potter, M. C. (1993). Very short-term conceptual memory.Memory & Cognition,21, 156–161.
Schweickert, R., Guentert, L., &Hersberger, L. (1990). Phonological similarity, pronunciation rate, and memory span.Psychological Science,27, 74–77.
Simons, D. J. (1996). In sight, out of mind: When object representations fail.Psychological Science,7, 301–305.
Smith, E. E., Jonides, J., Koeppe, R. A., Awh, E., Schumacher, E. H., &Minoshima, S. (1995). Spatial vs. object working memory: PET investigations.Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience,7, 337–356.
Sternberg, S. (1966). High-speed scanning in human memory.Science,153, 652–654.
Thompson-Schill, S., Aguirre, G. K., D’Esposito, M., &Farah, M. J. (1999). A neural basis for category and modality specificity of semantic knowledge.Neuropsychologia,37, 671–676.
Tresch, M. C., Sinnamon, H. M., &Seamon, J. G. (1993). Double dissociation of spatial and object visual memory: Evidence from selective interference in intact human subjects.Neuropsychologia,31, 211–219.
Tversky, B. (1969). Pictorial and verbal encoding in a short-term memory task.Perception & Psychophysics,6, 225–233.
Ungerleider, L. G., &Haxby, J. (1994). “What” and “where” in the human brain.Current Opinion in Neurobiology,4, 157–165.
Ungerleider, L. G., &Mishkin, M. (1982). Two cortical visual systems. In D. J. Ingle, M. A. Goodale, & R. J. W. Mansfield (Eds.),Analysis of visual behavior (pp. 549–586). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Vanderplas, J. M., &Garvin, E. A. (1959). The association value of random shapes.Journal of Experimental Psychology,57, 147–163.
Wickens, D. D. (1972). Characteristics of word encoding. In A. W. Melton & E. Martin (Eds.),Coding processes in human memory (pp. 191–215). Washington, DC: Winston.
Wickens, D. D. (1973). Some characteristics of word encoding.Memory & Cognition,1, 485–490.
Wilson, F. A. W., Ó Scalaidhe, S. P., &Goldman-Rakic, P. S. (1993). Dissociation of object and spatial processing domains in primate prefrontal cortex.Science,260, 1955–1958.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This research was supported by Grants AG 06605 to S.C., NS 01762 and AG 13483 to M.D., and MH 064498 and a Vilas Young Investigator award (University of Wisconsin—Madison) to B.R.P.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Postle, B.R., D’Esposito, M. & Corkin, S. Effects of verbal and nonverbal interference on spatial and object visual working memory. Mem Cogn 33, 203–212 (2005). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03195309
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03195309