2014 Volume 12 Issue 1 Pages 27-35
The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of working memory capacity (WMC) on the process and performance of rule induction. More specifically, the study tests the following three hypotheses. Based on prior studies, (1) performance for rule discovery is higher in high-WMC individuals than in low-WMC individuals. The other two hypotheses draw on the perspectives that WMC reflects both a temporary storage capacity for information and controlled attention. (2) High-WMC individuals are able to more actively integrate instances than low-WMC individuals. (3) High-WMC individuals can sustain attention to a focal factor, although low-WMC individuals cannot because their attentions are interrupted by other factors. The results of our experiment employing eye tracking support the first and second hypotheses. However, the results do not support the third hypothesis. These results suggest that the relation between WMC and rule-induction performance does not depend on attention control, but rather on temporary storage capacity.
