Aditya Prakash¹, Andrew Hollingworth²; ¹University of Iowa

Attention during visual search can be guided by the content of visual working memory (VWM) and long-term memory (LTM). Previous research suggests that consistent target representations maintained in LTM can successfully control attention even when VWM is filled with an independent load (e.g., Woodman, Vogel, & Luck, 2001). In these experiments, although search RT intercepts increased with a VWM load, the slopes relating RT to set size did not, indicating that VWM load may have influenced initiation or confirmation processes but did not influence the guidance of attention during search per se. However, in these and related experiments, the template representation was primarily a “template for recognition” rather than a “template for guidance.” That is, the consistent target attribute (gap in a Landolt C) could not have provided strong guidance of attention, and thus the question of the role of VWM in attention guidance from consistent template values remains open. Here, we examined consistent color templates, which can provide efficient guidance to matching items. Participants searched for an object with a small target attribute within arrays composed of multiple objects drawn in two colors, a consistent target color and a trial-variable distractor color. We use eye-tracking to characterize the impact of a VWM load on selection dynamics. This allowed us to distinguish load effects on non-guidance processes (such as search initiation time and target confirmation time) from load effects on the guidance operation itself. In contrast with previous work, we found that a VWM load impaired template-driven selectivity during search, indicating that even with extensive repetition of a template value, the guidance function does not necessarily become fully independent of VWM.