Gaze cues and arrow cues modulate accuracy of recall of verbal items in a working memory task

Background Previous studies have shown that items that another individual looks at are better remembered than items that are not looked at, whereas the same effect has rarely been observed for non-social cues such as arrows. This pattern of results has been taken as an indication that joint attention improves memory. However, these previous studies have differed in the type of memory being tested and the type of content that is to be remembered: while effects of joint attention on long-term memory were tested with verbal items and non-verbal items, effects on working memory have only been tested with non-verbal items such as colour. Thus, the aim of the current study was to extend these previous findings and investigate whether joint attention influences working memory for verbal items. Methods In Experiment 1, participants were first presented with an image of a face with eyes that gazed either to the left or to the right. A grid of 4 letters (2x2) was then shown either on the side cued by gaze or on the opposite side. After a retention interval (1000 ms), participants were shown a letter in the centre of the screen and judged whether this letter was part of the grid shown before. In Experiment 2, we followed the same general procedure but one group was presented with gaze cues, and the other group was presented with arrow cues. Results Across two experiments, our results revealed that participants had better recall of letters that had been cued than letters that had not been cued, regardless of cue type. In contrast, participants’ reaction times were not influenced by whether the letter had been cued. Conclusions Our findings suggest that both social and non-social cues can modulate recall of verbal items such as letters in a working memory task.