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Distinctiveness as a function of spatial expansion in verbal working memory: comment on Kreitz, Furley, Memmert, and Simons (2015)

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Abstract

In a recent study, Kreitz et al. (Psychological Research 79:1034–1041, 2015) reported on a relationship between verbal working memory capacity and visuo-spatial attentional breadth. The authors hinted at attentional control to be the major link underlying this relationship. We put forward an alternative explanation by framing it within the context of a recent theory on serial order in memory: verbal item sequences entering in working memory are coded by adding a spatial context that can be derived from reading/writing habits. The observation by Kreitz et al. (Psychological Research 79:1034–1041, 2015) enriches this framework by suggesting that a larger visuo-spatial attentional breadth allows for internal coding of the verbal items in a more (spatially) distinct manner–thereby increasing working memory performance. As such, Kreitz et al. (Psychological Research 79:1034–1041, 2015) is the first study revealing a functional link between visuo-spatial attentional breadth and verbal working memory size, which strengthens spatial accounts of serial order coding in working memory.

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Acknowledgments

Elger Abrahamse was supported by Research Foundation—Flanders under contract number 12C4715N.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Département de Psychologie, CRPCC, Université Rennes 2-Haute Bretagne, Place du Recteur Henri Le Moal CS 24 307, 35 043, Rennes Cedex, France

    Alessandro Guida

  2. Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Jean-Philippe van Dijck & Elger Abrahamse

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  1. Alessandro Guida
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  2. Jean-Philippe van Dijck
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Correspondence to Alessandro Guida.

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Guida, A., van Dijck, JP. & Abrahamse, E. Distinctiveness as a function of spatial expansion in verbal working memory: comment on Kreitz, Furley, Memmert, and Simons (2015). Psychological Research 81, 690–695 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-016-0765-2

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