Although substantial evidence demonstrates that directing attention to specific items is important for improving the performance of visual working memory (VWM), it is still not clear whether the attended items were better protected. The present study, thus, adopted a pre-cueing paradigm to examine the effect of attention direction and perceptual distractor on VWM. The results showed that a valid visual cue improved the individuals’ VWM performances and reduced their reaction time compared to the invalid and neutral cues. However, the VWM performances in the valid and neutral cue conditions were more disrupted by a post-stimuli distractor compared to the invalid cue condition. The findings suggest that although directing attention can improve the VWM performance, it is not efficient in protecting information from being distracted.

Both monetary and notional rewards are important to motivate individuals to prioritize specific items in visual working memory (VWM). However, whether the reward method and task difficulty are the key factors that modulate the reward boosts in VWM is unclear. In this study, we designed two experiments to explore this question. Experiment 1 examined whether the reward method modulates reward boosts in VWM by manipulating the item type (high reward, low reward, equal reward) and reward method (monetary and notional). Experiment 2 examined whether task difficulty modulates reward boosts in VWM by manipulating the number of high-reward items (1, 2, 3), reward method, and item type. The results indicated reward boosts for high-reward items compared to low- and equal-reward items. Moreover, the VWM performance was higher in the monetary reward condition than in the notional reward condition; however, there was no interaction between the reward method and item type. Additionally, a significant interaction was found between the reward number and item type: Reward boosts on VWM performance occurred only when one or two higher reward items were present. In conclusion, reward boosts in VWM tasks are modulated by task difficulty but not the reward method.