Relation between working memory and implicit learning in the contextual cueing paradigm

ABSTRACT

We examined whether implicit learning (IL) in visual search involves working memory (WM). IL was examined in a contextual cueing paradigm in which visual search performance is facilitated by implicitly learned spatial associations (the contextual cueing effect [CCE]; Chun, M. M., & Jiang, Y. (1998). Contextual cueing: Implicit learning and memory of visual context guides spatial attention. Cognitive Psychology, 36(1), 28–71. https://doi.org/10.1006/cogp.1998.0681). IL and WM tasks were performed concurrently. Participants were tested in one of three types of WM tasks testing memory of (1) object colour, (2) relation between object shape and colour and (3) relation between object location and identity. Results showed that the CCE remained relatively intact regardless of the type of WM task. These results fail to support the idea that IL and working memory are related.

KEYWORDS:

• Contextual cueing
• visual search
• relational working memory
• implicit learning

Acknowledgement

We thank Dr. David Shore and our lab members for helpful discussion during the course of the study.

Data availability statement

The data for the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, upon reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 A pilot study was conducted to test the response accuracy for three different types of WM tasks. For those tasks, the number of study item was varied systematically. The ultimate goal was to find a set of three types of WM task with relatively comparable accuracy. Six participants were recruited for this pilot study. We eventually identified the three different WM tasks with accuracy 91% for the colour only (four items) WM task, 73% for the colour + shape binding (three items) WM task and 87% for the shape + location binding (four items).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by grants from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), a grant from Scientific Research Fund of Zhejiang Provincial Education Department (Y202044096), and a grant from National Natural Science Foundation of China (31800921).