Contextual cueing is not flexible
Document Type
Article
Source of Publication
Consciousness and Cognition
Publication Date
8-1-2021
Abstract
Target detection is faster when search displays repeat, but properties of the memory representations that give rise to this contextual cueing effect remain uncertain. We adapted the contextual cueing task using an ABA design and recorded the eye movements of healthy young adults to determine whether the memory representations are flexible. Targets moved to a new location during the B phase and then returned to their original locations (second A phase). Contextual cueing effects in the first A phase were reinstated immediately in the second A phase, and response time costs eventually gave way to a repeated search advantage in the B phase, suggesting that two target-context associations were learned. However, this apparent flexibility disappeared when eye tracking data were used to subdivide repeated displays based on B-phase viewing of the original target quadrant. Therefore, memory representations acquired in the contextual cueing task resist change and are not flexible.
DOI Link
ISSN
Publisher
Elsevier
Volume
93
Disciplines
Medicine and Health Sciences
Keywords
Associative memory, Contextual cueing, Eye tracking, Implicit memory, Relational memory, Representational flexibility
Scopus ID
Recommended Citation
Yang, Youcai; Coutinho, Mariana V.C.; Greene, Anthony J.; and Hannula, Deborah E., "Contextual cueing is not flexible" (2021). All Works. 4335.
https://zuscholars.zu.ac.ae/works/4335
Indexed in Scopus
yes
Open Access
no