The effect of perceptual interference on prioritization of feature dimensions in visual working memory

In visual working memory (VWM) tasks, participants’ performance can be improved via dimension-based retro-cues, which direct internal attention to prioritize a particular dimension of objects (such as color or orientation) during the maintenance interval. The information prioritized by retro-cues in VWM corresponds to better performance, which is called dimension-based retro-cue benefit (RCB). In general, RCB is a stable phenomenon that emerges under varied stimulus configurations and timing parameters. The purpose of the present study was to investigate dimension-based RCB’s susceptibility to perceptual interference to determine the requirements of attention for cue use. In Experiment 1, participants completed change-detection tasks, and in Experiment 2, we used a recall task to explore the effect of interference on dimension-based RCB. RCB was found in both experiments, but perceptual interference impaired the process of prioritizing dimensional features only in the orientation reports of Experiment 2. We conclude that internal attention can be prioritized to remember specific dimensional features in VWM. Importantly, the process of prioritizing internal attention on a particular dimension in a VWM task is robust and not susceptible to interference by irrelevant perceptual information, except in specific cases.