Tactile Visuospatial Distractor Effective at Disrupting Declarative Memory

Working memory hypothesis was tested by implementing tactile visuospatial distractor task (i.e., folding origami) during or after acquisition of a complex visual/auditory memory. Folding origami during acquisition disrupted free recall, cued recall, and recognition, while post-acquisition origami disrupted free recall, but not cued recall or recognition.