Figure 4. Assessing cueing effects on recall performance.

(a) The recall task used in Exp 2. Memory arrays consisted of two randomly-oriented bars (one red, one blue). A randomly-selected bar was cued by a briefly flashed white disk presented simultaneously with the onset of the memory array. After a variable post-cue display period, in which the memory array remained visible, a pattern mask was presented. Subjects adjusted a probe bar to reproduce the orientation of one of the array items, as in Exp 1.

(b) The recall task used in Exp 3. The procedure was identical to Exp 2, except that the memory array was displayed for 1000 ms before one of the bars was cued, in addition to the variable post-cue display period. In Exps 2A & 3A, the cue predicted which item would be probed on 2/3 trials; in Exps 2B & 3B, the cue was not predictive of the probe.