Visual working memory and mental transformations

In this paper we look for a dissociation between temporal characteristics of coordinative processes in visual working memory and of transformational episodes in a combined serial transformation task. Selected subjects which differed in their maintenance of patterns had to transform low and high complexity patterns. All subjects had also to fulfil a letter transformation task. The following main results were gained: First, transformation time in the serial transformation task was dependent on the maintenance score, but not on complexity. Coordination cost was not dependent on this maintenance score. So there was a kind of dissociation of co-ordination cost and transformation demand, which was confirmed in an analysis of correlation. In a further step it was shown that coordinative processes are also necessary for the letter transformation task. The temporal characteristics of coordinative processes in the pattern transformation task and the letter transformation task were uncorrelated, which demonstrated domain specificity of these coordinative processes. The general conclusion is that aspects of the functioning of the attentional control component in multicomponent and multimodal theories of memory are domain specific.