Visual working memory (VWM) can selectively filter task-irrelevant information from incoming visual stimuli. However, whether a similar filtering process applies to task-irrelevant information retrieved from visual long-term memory (VLTM) remains elusive. We assume a \"resource-limited retrieval mechanism\" in VWM in charge of the retrieval of irrelevant VLTM information. To make a comprehensive understanding of this mechanism, we conducted three experiments using both a VLTM learning task and a VWM task combined with pupillometry. The presence of a significant pupil light response (PLR) served as empirical evidence that VLTM information can indeed make its way into VWM. Notably, task-relevant VLTM information induced a sustained PLR, contrasting with the transient PLR observed for task-irrelevant VLTM information. Importantly, the transience of the PLR occurred under conditions of low VWM load, but this effect was absent under conditions of high load. Collectively, these results show that task-irrelevant VLTM information can enter VWM and then fade away only under conditions of low VWM load. This dynamic underscores the resource-limited retrieval mechanism within VWM, exerting control over the entry of VLTM information.

Previous research by Hazan-Liran & Miller (2017) developed a new Stroop-like task to examine how ink colours as task-irrelevant information affects paired-associate learning (see also Miller, Hazan-Liran, & Cohen, 2018). The task was to learn word-number pairs (e.g. blue-5) whilst only numbers were coloured in either congruent ink colours (e.g. number 5 printed in blue ink), incongruent ink colours (e.g. 5 printed in brown ink) or neutral ink colours (e.g. 5 printed in black ink). The present paper refers to this task as the Associative Memory Stroop Task (AMST). Hazan-Liran & Miller (2017) found that incongruent ink colours interfere and congruent ink colour facilitate the speed of learning word-number pairs. The present experiments employed the AMST to examine the effects of irrelevant ink colours (with colour names) on memory accuracy in cued recall and associative recognition. Memory impairment was found with incongruent ink colours on both memory tests whilst improved memory accuracy with congruent ink colours was not reliable. We discuss possible explanations for these findings.

Previous studies have shown that task-irrelevant information impedes learning by creating extraneous cognitive load. But still open is whether such intrusion reflects a purely semantic phenomenon or whether it also stands for sheer perceptual interference. Using Cognitive Load Theory as a framework, this study aimed to answer this question by examining whether and how task-irrelevant colour information modifies extraneous cognitive load in relation to a new code-learning paradigm. For this purpose, university students were asked to learn, based on an example, associations between colour-related and colour-unrelated words and digits presented in black or in a mismatched ink colour. Evident costs in learning efficacy were found in learning the associations between words and digits for colour-related, but not for colour-unrelated, word stimuli. This suggests that interference by task-irrelevant information in learning stands for a mere semantic conflict. Implications of the findings for extraneous cognitive load on learning efficacy are discussed.

To determine whether and how learning is biased by competing task-irrelevant information that creates extraneous cognitive load, we assessed the efficiency of university students with a learning paradigm in two experiments. The paradigm asked participants to learn associations between eight words and eight digits. We manipulated congruity of the digits\' ink colour with the words\' semantics. In Experiment 1 word stimuli were colour words (e.g., blue, yellow) and in Experiment 2 colour-related word concepts (e.g., sky, banana). Marked benefits and costs on learning due to variation in extraneous cognitive load originating from processing task-irrelevant information were evident. Implications for cognitive load theory and schooling are discussed.

A growing number of neuroelectric studies using event-related brain potentials have demonstrated that greater aerobic fitness is associated with superior cognitive functioning across the lifespan. However, empirical data regarding the association between fitness and attentional orienting is scarce, with no evidence in children, and the findings are inconclusive. We designed the present study to examine the relationship between aerobic fitness and involuntary attentional orientation to task-irrelevant information in preadolescent children. Lower-fit and higher-fit children performed a visual oddball task in which irregular (i.e., rule-violating) stimuli appeared as a task-irrelevant dimension, while measures of task performance and the P3a component elicited by the irregular stimuli were assessed. Analyses revealed that higher-fit children exhibited lower miss rates and smaller P3a amplitude relative to lower-fit children. These findings suggest that greater childhood fitness is associated with more efficient inhibition of task-irrelevant information.