Alexandre Fortuna¹ (), Martin Constant¹, Dirk Kerzel¹; ¹University of Geneva, FPSE

An attentional template refers to features in visual working memory that guide attention in search tasks. Across three pre-registered experiments, we compared predictions from the state-based model (Olivers et al., 2011) and the resource model (Huynh Cong & Kerzel, 2021) concerning the effects of retro-cues in dual target search. In our experiments, participants memorized two colors at the start of a trial and one of the two colors was cued retrospectively. After the retention interval, participants performed either a search task where they indicated the orientation of the stimulus in one of the two potential colors, or they performed a memory task where they indicated one of the two colors on a color wheel. The two tasks occurred randomly and with equal probability. The retro-cue promoted the status of attentional template because search and memory performance for the retro-cued color improved. In addition, effects of retro-cueing increased when the validity of the cue increased from 50% to 70%, suggesting that participants allocated working memory resources continuously according to the validity of the retro-cue. The continuous performance adjustments are at odds with the state-based model, which postulates discrete switches between attentional template and accessory status but support the resource model.

Acknowledgements: Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF 10001E_219517)