Concrete mindset impairs filtering in visual working memory
- 19 August 2019
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
- Vol. 26 (6), 1917-1924
- https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-019-01625-6
Abstract
Two studies tested whether a mindset manipulation would affect the filtering of distractors from entering visual working memory (VWM). In Study 1, participants completed a concrete mindset manipulation (by repeatedly describing how to perform an action), an abstract mindset manipulation (by repeatedly describing why to perform an action), and a baseline condition (no manipulation). In Study 2, some participants completed a concrete mindset manipulation, whereas others completed an abstract manipulation. Filtering efficiency was estimated by a change-detection task that included a condition with distractors alongside targets. We derived our prediction from construal-level theory (CLT), according to which concrete representations retain information regardless of its relevance, whereas abstract representations retain the relevant and omit the irrelevant elements of an input array. In a task that requires attending to task-relevant targets and ignoring task-irrelevant distractors in a visual array, concrete processing should impair performance relative to abstract processing. We therefore predicted that a concrete mindset would reduce filtering efficiency as compared to an abstract mindset. Consistent with our hypothesis, we found that a concrete mindset manipulation reduced filtering efficiency, as compared to both an abstract mindset manipulation (Studies 1 and 2) and the baseline condition (Study 1). These results suggest a new factor that may contribute to both individual differences and situational variation in working memory performance.Funding Information
- Israel Science Foundation (862/17 awarded to Roy Luria)
This publication has 40 references indexed in Scilit:
- Filtering performance in visual working memory is improved by reducing early spatial attention to the distractorsPsychophysiology, 2019
- Gestalt grouping cues can improve filtering performance in visual working memoryPsychological Research, 2018
- Compensation mechanisms that improve distractor filtering are short-livedCognition, 2017
- Effects of strategy on visual working memory capacity.Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 2015
- Investigating the predictive roles of working memory and IQ in academic attainmentJournal of Experimental Child Psychology, 2010
- The precision of visual working memory is set by allocation of a shared resourceJournal of Vision, 2009
- Dynamic Shifts of Limited Working Memory Resources in Human VisionScience, 2008
- The bouncer in the brainNature Neuroscience, 2008
- Visual Working Memory Represents a Fixed Number of Items Regardless of ComplexityPsychological Science, 2007
- Working memory: looking back and looking forwardNature Reviews Neuroscience, 2003