I can look for it! Modulation of a concurrent Visual Working Memory task in Visual Search in development
Daily classroom activities that require children to perform visual search (VS) tasks are common across all educational levels: from searching for a missing piece of a puzzle in kindergarten to solving equations in college. However, VS tasks are often not performed in isolation, but rather students a...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-07-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.907121/full |
| _version_ | 1811288754109808640 |
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| author | María Quirós-Godoy Beatriz Gil-Gómez de Liaño Elena Perez-Hernandez |
| author_facet | María Quirós-Godoy Beatriz Gil-Gómez de Liaño Elena Perez-Hernandez |
| author_sort | María Quirós-Godoy |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Daily classroom activities that require children to perform visual search (VS) tasks are common across all educational levels: from searching for a missing piece of a puzzle in kindergarten to solving equations in college. However, VS tasks are often not performed in isolation, but rather students are maintaining information related to an ongoing task that loads working memory (WM). Unfortunately, it is still unclear how these processes interact and evolve in development. The present work aims to study how a concurrent visual WM (VWM) load can modulate VS performance based on the Developmental Model of Endogenous Mental Attention (Pascual-Leone and Johnson, 1999, 2005, 2021). A sample of kindergarten, elementary (2nd and 4th grades), middle school (6th grade), and college students looked for real-world photorealistic targets while maintaining similar objects in VWM in a dual-task paradigm. VWM load was manipulated using high and low memory load conditions. Additionally, looking for potential modulations related to individual differences, we studied the relationship between IQ, VWM span, and executive functions with VS efficiency. Finally, we also registered reported measures of potential strategies employed during the VS task. The results from a large sample of 147 participants between 5 and 25 years old revealed that even the youngest children could efficiently perform a VS task with a concurrent VWM load, replicating previous results found in adulthood. However, we found a slight increase in false alarms and commission errors when memory was highly loaded for all the participants regardless of age. As expected, we found positive correlations between VS efficiency and IQ and VWM span measures. Interestingly, the proportion of participants who used tracking organization strategies increased with age in all cases. However, although cognitive strategies to remember the target became more complex as age increased, it was only significant under the low VWM load conditions. The results seem relevant to understanding the development of VS based on the Model of Endogenous Mental Attention and the design of training programs to improve attention. The implications in educational contexts are discussed and are especially relevant for students with learning disabilities or attention problems. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T03:42:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8e373e916a56417497652beeb39dfa4c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T03:42:45Z |
| publishDate | 2022-07-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-8e373e916a56417497652beeb39dfa4c2022-12-22T03:04:06ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782022-07-011310.3389/fpsyg.2022.907121907121I can look for it! Modulation of a concurrent Visual Working Memory task in Visual Search in developmentMaría Quirós-Godoy0Beatriz Gil-Gómez de Liaño1Elena Perez-Hernandez2Department of Social Psychology and Methodology, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, SpainDepartment of Social Psychology and Methodology, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, SpainDepartment of Development and Educational Psychology, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, SpainDaily classroom activities that require children to perform visual search (VS) tasks are common across all educational levels: from searching for a missing piece of a puzzle in kindergarten to solving equations in college. However, VS tasks are often not performed in isolation, but rather students are maintaining information related to an ongoing task that loads working memory (WM). Unfortunately, it is still unclear how these processes interact and evolve in development. The present work aims to study how a concurrent visual WM (VWM) load can modulate VS performance based on the Developmental Model of Endogenous Mental Attention (Pascual-Leone and Johnson, 1999, 2005, 2021). A sample of kindergarten, elementary (2nd and 4th grades), middle school (6th grade), and college students looked for real-world photorealistic targets while maintaining similar objects in VWM in a dual-task paradigm. VWM load was manipulated using high and low memory load conditions. Additionally, looking for potential modulations related to individual differences, we studied the relationship between IQ, VWM span, and executive functions with VS efficiency. Finally, we also registered reported measures of potential strategies employed during the VS task. The results from a large sample of 147 participants between 5 and 25 years old revealed that even the youngest children could efficiently perform a VS task with a concurrent VWM load, replicating previous results found in adulthood. However, we found a slight increase in false alarms and commission errors when memory was highly loaded for all the participants regardless of age. As expected, we found positive correlations between VS efficiency and IQ and VWM span measures. Interestingly, the proportion of participants who used tracking organization strategies increased with age in all cases. However, although cognitive strategies to remember the target became more complex as age increased, it was only significant under the low VWM load conditions. The results seem relevant to understanding the development of VS based on the Model of Endogenous Mental Attention and the design of training programs to improve attention. The implications in educational contexts are discussed and are especially relevant for students with learning disabilities or attention problems.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.907121/fullvisual searchworking memorystrategieschildrendevelopmentattention |
| spellingShingle | María Quirós-Godoy Beatriz Gil-Gómez de Liaño Elena Perez-Hernandez I can look for it! Modulation of a concurrent Visual Working Memory task in Visual Search in development Frontiers in Psychology visual search working memory strategies children development attention |
| title | I can look for it! Modulation of a concurrent Visual Working Memory task in Visual Search in development |
| title_full | I can look for it! Modulation of a concurrent Visual Working Memory task in Visual Search in development |
| title_fullStr | I can look for it! Modulation of a concurrent Visual Working Memory task in Visual Search in development |
| title_full_unstemmed | I can look for it! Modulation of a concurrent Visual Working Memory task in Visual Search in development |
| title_short | I can look for it! Modulation of a concurrent Visual Working Memory task in Visual Search in development |
| title_sort | i can look for it modulation of a concurrent visual working memory task in visual search in development |
| topic | visual search working memory strategies children development attention |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.907121/full |
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