How does distraction task influence the interaction of working memory and long-term memory?

Abstract

The present study addressed the influence of distraction task on the interaction of working memory and long-term memory by using available long-term memory tasks with or without distraction task. The results showed that: (a) Distraction task had significant effect on the availability of LTM facilitated by prior attention-driven processing in WM, and (b) the pattern of semantic priming effects observed was reversed between the condition with and without distraction task. These findings support the hypothesis that the semantic activation is implicit automatic process, and less attention resource focused on the process will benefit the semantic activation of LTM. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.