Home > Events > CogSci Colloquium: Edward Vogel (U of Chicago)

CogSci Colloquium: Edward Vogel (U of Chicago)

Time: 
Thursday, February 06, 2020 - 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM
Location: 
1103 Bioscience Research Building

Edward Vogel (Psychology, University of Chicago)

Title: The impact of distraction on working memory

Abstract: Working memory is a capacity limited neural system that temporarily maintains information in an active state to support cognitive performance. Humans vary substantially in this ability and these individual differences are stable over time and are predictive of many high level functions such as academic performance and abstract reasoning.  Because working memory can represent only a small amount of information at once, attentional mechanisms play a critical role in regulating the flow of information in this system by selectively representing task relevant information and disregarding irrelevant distracting information. Here, I will argue that these mechanisms for dealing with distraction are fundamental to understanding the operation of this memory system and that they are what primarily drive the differences between individuals in working memory ability. Drawing from a variety of behavioral and EEG approaches, my work provides evidence that the efficacy of deploying attentional control over time may provide a common thread linking working memory to other intelligent behaviors.