Effects of Visual Working Memory Load and Item Priority on Susceptibility to Distraction and Memory Accuracy

Visual working memory (VWM) can store multiple items with varying degrees of attentional priority. We investigated how different load and prioritization status of memory items affected both memory precision and distractor resistance. We used a dual-task paradigm in which 48 participants encoded sets of oriented Gabor patches and completed a flanker task during the retention interval. The design varied status of memory items as currently relevant (CR), and future relevant (FR) and their load as one and two across three load conditions using retro-cues. Results showed that increasing CR load reduced distractor interference and memory precision, while increasing FR load had no effect on either measure. Importantly, no consistent advantage was observed for prioritized items in later memory tests, aligning with recent findings that retro-cue benefits can degrade under external attentional demands. These results support a functional dissociation between CR and FR items in VWM and highlight how attentional state—not memory load alone—shapes the functional impact of VWM representations.