Traditionally, dual-task interference has been attributed to the consequences of task load exceeding capacity limitations. However, the current study demonstrates that in addition to task load, the mutual compatibility of the concurrent processes modulates whether 2 tasks can be performed in parallel. In 2 psychological refractory period…

In visual search tasks, if a set of items is presented for 1 s before another set of new items (containing the target) is added, search can be restricted to the new set. The process that eliminates old items from search is visual marking. This study investigates the kind of memory that distinguishes the old items from the new items during search.…

This study examined how response mapping of features within single- and multiple-feature targets affects decision-based processing and attentional capacity demands. Observers judged the presence or absence of 1 or 2 target features within an object either presented alone or with distractors. Judging the presence of 2 features relative to the less…

In many theories of cognition, researchers propose that working memory and perception operate interactively. For example, in previous studies researchers have suggested that sensory inputs matching the contents of working memory will have an automatic advantage in the competition for processing resources. The authors tested this hypothesis by…

How do observers search through familiar scenes? A novel panoramic search method is used to study the interaction of memory and vision in natural search behavior. In panoramic search, observers see part of an unchanging scene larger than their current field of view. A target object can be visible, present in the display but hidden from view, or…

Some task variables that influence sentence coding, and the ways in which those influences appear to be manifested in performance were outlined. Trends in empirical data were examined as evidence for two classes of coding strategies. (Author/RK)

Three experiments studied the effect of amount and type of concurrent memory load on the rate of readout from iconic memory. (Editor)

Does repetition blindness represent a failure of perception or of memory? In Experiment 1, participants viewed rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) sentences. When critical words (C1 and C2) were orthographically similar, C2 was frequently omitted from serial report; however, repetition priming for C2 on a postsentence lexical decision task was…

Human visual recognition on the basis of shape but regardless of size was investigated by reaction time methods. Results suggested two processes of size scaling: mental-image transformation and perceptual-scale transformation. Image transformation accounted for matching performance based on visual short-term memory, whereas scale transformation…

Four experiments explored the interrelations between working memory, attention, and eye movements. Observers had to identify a tilted line amongst vertical distractors. Each line was surrounded by a colored shape that could be precued by a matching item held in memory. Relative to a neutral baseline, in which no shapes matched the memory item,…

Two experiments were designed to test a number of finite-state self-terminating memory-scanning models for choice reaction times. (Editor)

Attempts to provide empirical evidence for a functional correspondence between perception and imagination. Includes a perceptual-control condition in examining visual memory and imagery. (Author/RK)

Four experiments are reported investigating previous findings that speech perception interferes with concurrent verbal memory but difficult nonverbal perceptual tasks do not, to any great degree. (Editor)

Examines the latency of associative activation in memory by varying the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) between a prime word and a test word, thereby establishing the minimum SOA needed to produce a significant associative priming effect on lexical decision times. (Author/RK)

Two experiments examined the effect of concurrently holding 0, 2, 4, or 6 nouns in memory on the recognition of visual stimuli briefly presented to the left or right visual fields. (Editor)