The relationships between visuo-spatial working memory, short-term memory and personality.

In the current study the relationship between Eysenck’s (1967, 1997) personality traits and visuospatial working and short-term memory was examined. One hundred and twenty-four participants aged between 18 and 47 years (52 males; 72 females) completed a symmetry span task, a dot memory task and Eysenck’s Personality Questionnaire-Revised. Neuroticism but not extraversion was a significant predictor of symmetry span performance as was gender. Participants scoring high on neuroticism and females had lower symmetry span scores than those low on neuroticism and males. None of Eysenck’s traits individually predicted dot memory scores, however, there was a significant neuroticism by extraversion interaction for this task. Participants scoring high on neuroticism and low on extraversion had high dot memory scores while those high on neuroticism and high on extraversion had low scores. Results are discussed in terms of Attentional Control Theory.