When the central executive lets us down: Schemas, attention, and load in agenerative working memory task

Participants were asked to generate a single sequence of numbers in between two bounds. By varying the requested sequence length and way in which the question is posed, this paradigm enables assessment of the contributions to central executive functioning of schema, focus of attention, and load. Wit h sequences of three or four numbers, a quarter of the sample failed fully to comply with the instructions. They generated an incorrect number of numb ers or went outside the specified bounds. With sequences of six numbers, mo re than half of the sample infringed one or more of the constraints. Partic ipants consistently generated sequences with particular generic properties. The overall frequency and patterns of infringements suggest that a substan tial proportion of participants focused their conceptual attention on seque nce content and often neglected the problem of how the length and boundary constraints were going to be evaluated either before or during response del ivery.