Danica Barron¹, Tanner Lumpkin¹, Courtney Nutt¹, Patsy Folds¹, Ralph Hale¹; ¹University of North Georgia

Visuospatial working memory (VSWM) has a limited capacity for items that can be accurately encoded and later retrieved. This is impacted by a variety of factors including number of items, item features, item locations, and encoding time. In the present study, we explored the impact of priming on memory retrieval of cued item locations. Participants studied an array of letters arranged in a grid. In half of the trials, a color prime indicated the color of the letter that would later be cued. Half of the color primes came before the study array and half came after (retro-prime). A previous letter location was then cued with an outlined square that remained on screen until a participant response. Prime versus retro-prime trials were completed in blocks and counterbalanced between participants to avoid order effects. Prime and no-prime trials were randomized in both blocks, as were prime colors, letter colors, and order of letters within each array. Lumpkin et al. (2023) found priming to be more effective than retro-cueing using this paradigm. Here, we present findings from five manipulations of this original design: matched perceptual luminance of three hues (red, green, blue); varied physical luminance of a single hue (red); collect color responses instead of letters; reduce congruency of target colors (50% congruent, 50% incongruent); and collect both color and letter responses. As with the Lumpkin et al. (2023) study, results found priming to be effective compared to no prime or retro-cue. However, repeated-measures ANOVAs for each of our five manipulations found accuracy for our priming, retro-cueing, and no-cue conditions were affected differentially based on target characteristics (e.g., matched perceptual luminance, varied physical luminance), congruency of cue (primed and retro-cued), and response task. This study improves our understanding of VSTM and the impact of color priming on this memory system.