The role of verbal short-term memory in task selection: How articulatory suppression influences task choice in voluntary
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BRIEF REPORT
The role of verbal short-term memory in task selection: How articulatory suppression influences task choice in voluntary task switching Christina R. B. Weywadt & Karin M. Butler
Published online: 22 December 2012 # Psychonomic Society, Inc. 2012
Abstract The roles of verbal short-term memory (vSTM) in task selection and task performance processes were examined when individuals were asked to voluntarily choose which of two tasks to perform on each trial randomly. Consistent with previous voluntary task-switching (VTS) research, we hypothesized that vSTM would support random task selection by maintaining a sequence of previously executed tasks that would be used by a representativeness heuristic. Furthermore, because using a representativeness heuristic requires sufficient time for updating and comparison processes, we expected that vSTM would have a greater effect on task selection when more time was available. Participants completed VTS under concurrent articulatory suppression and foot tapping at short and long response-to-stimulus intervals (RSIs). Task selection in VTS was more repetitive under suppression than under foot tapping, but this effect did not vary with RSI, suggesting that vSTM does not maintain the sequence of executed tasks to guide task selection. Instead, vSTM is critical for maintaining the intended task and ensuring that it is carried out. In contrast to the finding that a working memory load impairs task performance, we found no difference in reaction times and no switch costs between suppression and foot-tapping conditions, suggesting that vSTM is not critical for task performance. Keywords Task choice . Voluntary task switching . Articulatory suppression . Verbal short-term memory
C. R. B. Weywadt (*) : K. M. Butler Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, MSC 03 2220, Logan Hall, Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001, USA e-mail: [email protected] K. M. Butler e-mail: [email protected]
Understanding the cognitive control mechanisms that guide task selection and task performance is important for improving individual decision making such as health behaviors. Multicomponent models of working memory suggest that the work involved in task selection and task reconfiguration can be divided between the central executive, phonological loop, and visual/spatial sketchpad (Baddeley & Hitch, 1974). Our purpose here is to understand whether, and how, systems of the phonological loop contribute to task selection in voluntary task switching. The phonological loop supports verbal short-term memory (vSTM) via covert articulation and has been implicated as a mediator of task performance in multitasking environments. In these studies, the task to be performed on each trial is determined by an experimenter-directed cue or instruction. To interfere with the use of covert articulation to support performance, participants are asked to repeat a task-irrelevant word aloud, in time with a metronome (for a review, see Baddeley & Logie, 1999). Comparing task switching with and without articulatory suppres
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