How do attention and memory interact?

Past studies have shown that our memories can influence what we pay attention to. For instance, driving through a neighbourhood might remind you about a dinner you had there with a friend. This memory, in turn, will increase the likelihood that your attention is drawn to the restaurant when you pass by it.

But what happens to attention when you intentionally try to control the retrieval of that memory? Will the restaurant still draw your attention? Can you reduce the influence of that memory on your attention if you attempt to suppress it? Furthermore, how is the memory for the information affected after you have tried to control retrieval?

Why do we care?

Although the ability to remember past events is essential for daily living, it is not always beneficial. Let's update that previous example. Imagine that instead of an enjoyable dinner with a friend, you had an unpleasant experience, like an argument. Or imagine someone who has experienced a traumatic event, such as getting mugged in a park. In the future, a reminder such as walking through the park, may trigger the retrieval of that traumatic memory.

In such situations, it may be more adaptive to control our retrieval of that memory. In fact, such 'flashbacks' are a common feature of conditions such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or Major Depressive Disorder, where reminders can trigger the vivid recollection of negative memories. These flashbacks can be emotionally distressing, and can pull attention away from the task at-hand disrupting a person's ability to perform daily activities.

How can memory retrieval be controlled?

Studies have suggested that we can use at least two strategies to control memory retrieval.

Retrieval Suppression

This involves pushing the retrieved information out of your awareness, that is, trying not to think of the negative experience of being mugged.

Thought Substitution

This involves calling to mind alternate information instead of the retrieved memory, for instance thinking of a picnic you had in the park, instead of the mugging.

What was the goal of the study?

We know that memory retrieval can impact attention. But past studies have not explored what happens to attention following retrieval suppression and thought substitution (collectively called retrieval control).

Insert call out card of the research question: In this study we tested: 1. Whether retrival control affects attentional distribution. 2. Whether retrieval control affects how well you remember suppressed/substituted information later on.

Eye-tracking

Past studies have demonstrated that our eyes often move to the location to which we are attending. For instance, you are moving your eyes along this text, as you pay attention to successive words to understand the sentence.

Here, we used eye-tracking to examine whether retrieval control affected eye-movements. This can tell us whether controlling our memory impacts what we pay attention to.

What did we do?

Twenty-six young adults (18–31 years old) completed the experiment.

tl;dr Participants completed multiple phases in the experiment, while undergoing eye-tracking. First, they were instructed to try and remember images presented on a screen. Next, they either retrieved, or controlled the retrieval of these images. We examined how much they looked at the studied information following retrieval as measure of whether that information drew attention.