Monitoring the ebb and flow of attention: Does controlling the onset of stimuli during encoding enhance memory?

Abstract

Central to the operation of the Atkinson and Shiffrin's (Psychology of learning and motivation, 2, 89-195, 1968) model of human memory are a variety of control processes that manage information flow. Research on metacognition reveals that provision of control in laboratory learning tasks is generally beneficial to memory. In this paper, we investigate the novel domain of attentional fluctuations during study. If learners are able to monitor attention, then control over the onset of stimuli should also improve performance. Across four experiments, we found no evidence that control over the onset of stimuli enhances learning. This result stands in notable contrast to the fact that control over stimulus offset does enhance memory (Experiment 1; Tullis & Benjamin, Journal of memory and language, 64 (2), [109][110][111][112][113][114][115][116][117][118] 2011). This null finding was replicated across laboratory and online samples of subjects, and with both words and faces as study material. Taken together, the evidence suggests that people either cannot monitor fluctuations in attention effectively or cannot precisely time their study to those fluctuations.

Memory Fidelity Reveals Qualitative Changes in Interactions Between Items in Visual Working Memory

“…When VWM representation is of high fidelity, representations of individual items are biased to individuate memories that may otherwise interfere with one another because of their similarity. These qualitatively different interactions in VWM can arise from direct manipulations of memory fidelity (Experiment 1) and even coexist within the same experimental condition (Experiment 2) because of natural fluctuations in processing, such as trial-by-trial variations in the allocation of attention to specific items (e.g., Patel et al, 2019).…”

“…Critically, Experiment 2 demonstrates that perceived memory fidelity tracks the presence and magnitude of attraction and repulsion effects even when actual display conditions are unchanging. fidelity (Experiment 1) and even coexist within the same experimental condition (Experiment 2) because of natural fluctuations in processing, such as trial-bytrial variations in the allocation of attention to specific items (e.g., Patel et al, 2019). The claim that attraction and repulsion effects in VWM are driven by memory fidelity situates these memory biases within a broader literature, including research in long-term memory and perception.…”