Dr. Lisa D Blalock

Within the visual working memory (VWM) literature, the use of articulatory suppression (AS) tasks to prevent verbal recoding of stimuli is inconsistent. Additionally, research using AS in VWM has shown conflicting results. Luck and Vogel (1997) showed no impact of AS on color change-detection performance, while other research showed reduced VWM performance with a verbal memory load (Morey & Cowan, 2005). The current study examined the role of verbal strategies in a color change-detection task as well as a flicker change-detection task using real-world scenes. Participants completed the change-detection tasks with and without an AS task. Additionally, participants were asked to report the use of verbal strategies and they completed a measure of fluid intelligence to determine how aptitude influences performance on VWM tasks with and without AS. Results are discussed in terms of the cognitive mechanisms underlying VWM performance, and methodological suggestions are made for future work in VWM.