TY - JOUR
T1 - Working Memory Capacity and the Antisaccade Task
T2 - A Microanalytic–Macroanalytic Investigation of Individual Differences in Goal Activation and Maintenance
AU - Meier, Matt E.
AU - Smeekens, Bridget A.
AU - Silvia, Paul J.
AU - Kwapil, Thomas R.
AU - Kane, Michael J.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017. American Psychological Association
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - The association between working memory capacity (WMC) and the antisaccade task, which requires subjects to move their eyes and attention away from a strong visual cue, supports the claim that WMCis partially an attentional construct (Kane, Bleckley, Conway, & Engle, 2001; Unsworth, Schrock, &Engle, 2004). Specifically, the WMC-antisaccade relation suggests that WMC helps maintain andexecute task goals despite interference from habitual actions. Related work has recently shown that mindwandering (McVay & Kane, 2009, 2012a, 2012b) and reaction time (RT) variability (Unsworth, 2015)are also related to WMC and they partially explain WMC’s prediction of cognitive abilities. Here, wetested whether mind-wandering propensity and intraindividual RT variation account for WMC’s associations with 2 antisaccade-cued choice RT tasks. In addition, we asked whether any influences of WMC,mind wandering, or intraindividual RT variation on antisaccade are moderated by (a) the temporal gapbetween fixation and the flashing location cue, and (b) whether targets switch sides on consecutive trials.Our quasi-experimental study reexamined a published dataset (Kane et al., 2016) comprising 472 subjectswho completed 6 WMC tasks, 5 attentional tasks with mind-wandering probes, 5 tasks from which wemeasured intraindividual RT variation, and 2 antisaccade tasks with varying fixation-cue gap durations.The WMC-antisaccade association was not accounted for by mind wandering or intraindividual RTvariation. WMC’s effects on antisaccade performance were greater with longer fixation-to-cue intervals,suggesting that goal activation processes—beyond the ability to control mind wandering and RTvariability—are partially responsible for the WMC-antisaccade relation.
AB - The association between working memory capacity (WMC) and the antisaccade task, which requires subjects to move their eyes and attention away from a strong visual cue, supports the claim that WMCis partially an attentional construct (Kane, Bleckley, Conway, & Engle, 2001; Unsworth, Schrock, &Engle, 2004). Specifically, the WMC-antisaccade relation suggests that WMC helps maintain andexecute task goals despite interference from habitual actions. Related work has recently shown that mindwandering (McVay & Kane, 2009, 2012a, 2012b) and reaction time (RT) variability (Unsworth, 2015)are also related to WMC and they partially explain WMC’s prediction of cognitive abilities. Here, wetested whether mind-wandering propensity and intraindividual RT variation account for WMC’s associations with 2 antisaccade-cued choice RT tasks. In addition, we asked whether any influences of WMC,mind wandering, or intraindividual RT variation on antisaccade are moderated by (a) the temporal gapbetween fixation and the flashing location cue, and (b) whether targets switch sides on consecutive trials.Our quasi-experimental study reexamined a published dataset (Kane et al., 2016) comprising 472 subjectswho completed 6 WMC tasks, 5 attentional tasks with mind-wandering probes, 5 tasks from which wemeasured intraindividual RT variation, and 2 antisaccade tasks with varying fixation-cue gap durations.The WMC-antisaccade association was not accounted for by mind wandering or intraindividual RTvariation. WMC’s effects on antisaccade performance were greater with longer fixation-to-cue intervals,suggesting that goal activation processes—beyond the ability to control mind wandering and RTvariability—are partially responsible for the WMC-antisaccade relation.
KW - Antisaccade
KW - Attention control
KW - Individual difference
KW - Mind wandering
KW - Working memory capacity
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U2 - 10.1037/xlm0000431
DO - 10.1037/xlm0000431
M3 - Article
C2 - 28639800
AN - SCOPUS:85053488629
SN - 0278-7393
VL - 44
SP - 68
EP - 84
JO - Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning Memory and Cognition
JF - Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning Memory and Cognition
IS - 1
ER -