Abstract
Inspired by Shimomura & Kumada (2011), we investigated if visual working memory load will affect subitizing and enumeration performance. Our dual-task paradigm used a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) stream, in which we first taxed participants working memory with a spatial location memory task followed by an enumeration task. We hypothesized that as we increased the difficulty of the working memory task, we would see reduced enumeration and subitizing performance. The RSVP stream consisted of participants being asked to remember a 3x3 matrix containing 3, 5, or 8 alphabet characters, presented for 1000ms. Next, Gabor patches ranging from 0 to 9 were presented for 133ms, and participants immediately keyed in a response. After submitting their response, a second matrix of letters similar or identical to the first was presented indefinitely until participants responded if they thought the matrix was the same or different as the first. This design both divided the participants’ attention and taxed their spatial working memory for the duration of the trial. Results show that accuracy decreased with numerosity and working memory load. Interestingly, these factors also seem to be independent, suggesting that interactions between perceptual numerosity and working memory depends on the type of working memory task.
Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2013