The visual arrays task: Visual storage capacity or attention control?

Extant literature suggests that performance on visual arrays tasks reflects limited-capacity storage of visual information. However, there is evidence to suggest that visual arrays task performance also reflects individual differences in controlled processing. The purpose of this paper is to empirically evaluate the degree to which visual arrays tasks are more closely related to memory storage capacity or measures of attention control. To this end, we conducted new analyses on a series of large data sets that incorporate various versions of a visual arrays task. Based on these analyses, we conclude that the degree to which the visual arrays is related to memory storage ability or effortful attention control is task-dependent. Specifically, when versions of the task require participants to ignore elements of the target display, visual arrays task performance is largely driven by individual variation in attention control rather than memory storage capacity per se. Therefore, at least some versions of the visual arrays tasks can be used as valid indicators of individual differences in attention control.

现有文献表明，视觉阵列任务的表现反映了视觉信息存储的有限容量。然而，也有证据表明，视觉阵列任务的表现亦反映了个体在受控处理方面的差异。本文旨在实证评估视觉阵列任务与记忆存储能力或注意力控制指标的相关程度。为此，我们对一系列包含不同版本视觉阵列任务的大型数据集进行了新的分析。基于这些分析，我们得出结论，视觉阵列与记忆存储能力或努力型注意力控制的相关程度取决于任务本身。具体而言，当任务版本要求参与者忽略目标显示中的元素时，视觉阵列任务的表现主要由个体在注意力控制方面的差异驱动，而非记忆存储能力本身。因此，至少某些版本的视觉阵列任务可以被视为衡量个体注意力控制差异的有效指标。