TY - JOUR
T1 - The reaction-time task-rule congruency effect is not affected by working memory load
T2 - Further support for the activated long-term memory hypothesis
AU - Kessler, Yoav
AU - Meiran, Nachshon
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments The research was supported by a Grant to the second author from the Israel Science Foundation. We thank Shirley Dorchin, Ami Braverman and Iddo Maayan for running Experiments 1 and 2 and Anat Karmon for running Experiment 3.
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - Previous studies claimed that task representation is carried out by the activated long-term memory portion of working memory (WM; Meiran and Kessler in J Exp Psychol Human Percept Perform 34:137-157, 2008). The present study provides a more direct support for this hypothesis. We used the reaction-time task-rule congruency effect (RT-TRCE) in a task-switching setup, and tested the effects of loading WM with irrelevant task rules on RT-TRCE. Experiment 1 manipulated WM load in a between-subject design. WM participants performed a color/shape task switching, while having 0, 1 or 3 numerical task rules as WM load. Experiment 2 used a similar load manipulation (1 or 3 rules to load WM) in a within-subject design. Experiment 3 extended these results by loading WM with perceptual tasks that were more similar to the shape/color tasks. The results show that RT-TRCE was not affected by WM load supporting the activated long-term memory hypothesis.
AB - Previous studies claimed that task representation is carried out by the activated long-term memory portion of working memory (WM; Meiran and Kessler in J Exp Psychol Human Percept Perform 34:137-157, 2008). The present study provides a more direct support for this hypothesis. We used the reaction-time task-rule congruency effect (RT-TRCE) in a task-switching setup, and tested the effects of loading WM with irrelevant task rules on RT-TRCE. Experiment 1 manipulated WM load in a between-subject design. WM participants performed a color/shape task switching, while having 0, 1 or 3 numerical task rules as WM load. Experiment 2 used a similar load manipulation (1 or 3 rules to load WM) in a within-subject design. Experiment 3 extended these results by loading WM with perceptual tasks that were more similar to the shape/color tasks. The results show that RT-TRCE was not affected by WM load supporting the activated long-term memory hypothesis.
UR - http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00426-009-0261-z
U2 - 10.1007/s00426-009-0261-z
DO - 10.1007/s00426-009-0261-z
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:77952424019
SN - 0340-0727
VL - 74
SP - 388
EP - 399
JO - Psychological Research
JF - Psychological Research
IS - 4
ER -