The Role Of Working Memory And Visual Processing In Prototype Category Learning

To investigate whether working memory and visual processing have the same role or different roles in A/B and A/not A prototype category learning, the present study adopted an A/B or A/ not A category learning task in control and dual conditions. The results of Experiment 1 showed that an additional dual visual working memory task rather than a dual verbal working memory task reduced accuracy of the A/B task, whereas no dual tasks influenced accuracy of the A/not A task. The results of Experiment 2 revealed that an additional dual visual processing task impaired accuracy of the A/B task, whereas the dual visual processing task did not influence accuracy of the A/not A task. These results indicate that visual working memory and visual processing play different roles in A/B and A/not A prototype category learning, and support that these two types of prototype category learning are mediated by different memory systems.