Abstract
Distractor interference is a phenomenon in which irrelevant stimuli (the distractor) within the visual field interfere with the cognitive performance of the target. This study explored the impact of temporal order and relative location between the distractor and target on distractor interference in visual working memory. Experiment 1 (including the target-alone condition) investigated the role of temporal order (distractor preceding target, target and distractor simultaneous, or distractor succeeding target). Distractors interfered with visual working memory in all kinds of temporal order. Particularly, when all conditions were intermixed, distractors presented simultaneously with the target caused the least interference (Experiment 1a). When each condition was presented in a single block, no significant difference in distractor interference was observed across all three kinds of temporal order (Experiment 1b). Experiment 2 examined the impact of relative location on distractor interference in all three kinds of temporal order (excluding the target-alone condition). The relative location did not affect distractor interference when presenting distractors ahead of targets. When targets and distractors were presented simultaneously with or after targets, distractor interference increased as the distance between targets and distractors decreased. Therefore, the temporal order and the relative location between distractors and targets influence distractor interference in visual working memory. To minimize distractor interference, when specifying the relative location of distractors and targets, a simultaneous presentation of distractors and targets would be better, and when specifying the temporal order of distractors and targets, increasing the distance between distractors and targets would be better.
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Data availability
The data for the current study are available at https://osf.io/6np7k.
Notes
The remaining objects except two targets were ranked. The object with the same serial number as the random number generated by Excel was the to-be-changed stimulus (i.e., the probe stimulus).
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Xie, T., Wei, Y. Effects of temporal order and relative location on distractor interference in visual working memory. Curr Psychol 42, 31035–31047 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-04079-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-04079-7