Duan Caibin, Zhang Lihua, Song Dequn, Zhang Bing
Students' Affairs Division, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, 110866, China.
College of Psychology, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, 116029, China.
Sci Rep. 2025 Mar 11;15(1):8341. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-92612-6.
Visual working memory (VWM) is a subject of ongoing debate regarding whether multiple item representations can simultaneously guide attention. The Single Item Template hypothesis (SIT) posits that VWM representations only allow a single item to guide attention, while the Multiple Item Template hypothesis (MIT) suggests that multiple items in VWM representations can guide attention simultaneously. This study further investigates this through a dual-task paradigm. Participants were required to complete memory-search tasks under different memory and match types, with memory items and distractors being of the same category (Experiment 1) and different categories (Experiment 2). Results show: (1) In Experiment 1, when the memory type was color, multiple item representations in VWM simultaneously guided attention, providing support for the MIT hypothesis; however, when the memory type was graphic, multiple item representations in VWM did not simultaneously guide attention, providing support for the SIT hypothesis. (2) In Experiment 2, whether the memory type was color or graphic, multiple item representations in VWM did not simultaneously guide attention, providing support for the SIT hypothesis. Whether multiple item representations in VWM can simultaneously guide attention is significantly influenced by memory types and the relationship between memory items and categories of distractors.
视觉工作记忆（VWM）是一个正在进行辩论的主题，即多个项目表征是否能同时引导注意力。单项目模板假说（SIT）假定VWM表征只允许一个项目引导注意力，而多项目模板假说（MIT）则表明VWM表征中的多个项目可以同时引导注意力。本研究通过双任务范式进一步对此进行了调查。要求参与者在不同的记忆和匹配类型下完成记忆搜索任务，记忆项目和干扰项属于同一类别（实验1）和不同类别（实验2）。结果表明：（1）在实验1中，当记忆类型为颜色时，VWM中的多项目表征同时引导注意力，为MIT假说提供了支持；然而，当记忆类型为图形时，VWM中的多项目表征并未同时引导注意力，为SIT假说提供了支持。（2）在实验2中，无论记忆类型是颜色还是图形，VWM中的多项目表征都没有同时引导注意力，为SIT假说提供了支持。VWM中的多项目表征是否能同时引导注意力受到记忆类型以及记忆项目与干扰项类别的关系的显著影响。
