Exploring bilateral field advantage across lifespan with a visual working memory span task: Experimental data, analysis and computer simulation

Abstract

This article describes the data collected in four experiments presented in the paper “Visual working memory capacity is limited by two systems that change across lifespan” [1]. The data includes behavioural results from a sample of 397 healthy participants performing a visual working memory span task in which they had to maintain the orientations of items presented to the left, right, or both visual hemifields. It also includes a simulation of experimental data for a number of possible scenarios. The repository [2] encompasses individual raw data files, a Python preprocessing script used for filtering raw data and the resulting dataset, an R script used to carry out the statistical analysis of the preprocessed data as well as an R script used for the simulations reported in the original paper. Finally, the repository includes an R generated analysis report, containing results of statistical tests and related visual materials, as well as the results of the simulation.

Keywords

• Active maintenance
• Bilateral field advantage
• Healthy ageing
• Orientations
• Representational potential
• Span task