Lecture 16 - Working Memory: Using Memory in Real Time Flashcards
(34 cards)
What is working memory?
A system that brings perception, short and long term representations together to serve current goals
What is the classic model that included a short-term store as part of memory?
Atkinson & Shiffron (1968) model
What is the main difference between short-term and working memory?
Short-term memory refers to passive storage, while working memory involves active use and manipulation of stored information
What happens to accuracy as set size increases in working memory tasks?
Accuracy declines consistently across types of stimuli and tasks (Oberauer et al., 2018)
What does slower retrieval with larger set sizes suggest?
A capacity limit in working memory: 7 +/- 2 chunks (Miller, 1956), or 3-5 items (Cowan, 2001)
What did Baddeley & Hitch (1974) find regarding doing two tasks simultaneously?
People could reason while remembering digits, showing that holding and doing can occur in parallel
Whate does Strayer & Johnson (2001) show about dual-task interference in real life?
A verbal secondary task during driving slightly increases accident risk and slows reaction times - multi-tasking has costs but they’re small
How is short-term store measured in research
By measuring novel info after 1-10 seconds
What are complex working memory span tasks?
Tasks combining memory storage (e.g., remembering items) and processing (e.g., solving problems between items)
Example of a complex span task?
Operation span (Turner & Engle, 1989): solving math problems while remembering words
What happens in complex span tasks with more difficult judgments or time pressure?
Fewer memroy item are recalled
What increases interference in complex span tasks?
When the processing task is similar to the memory items, especially verbal ones (Shah &. Mistake, 1966; Vergauwe et al., 2010)
How do simple vs complex span tasks compare in recall?
Less information is recalled in complex span tasks
What does performance on complex span tasks correlate with?
General intelligence (Conway, Cowan & Bunting, 2001)
What is the “cocktail party phenomenon” and how does it relate to working memory?
People with low working memory capacity are more likely to hear their name in unattended audio (Conway et al., 2001)
WHy might improving working memory help cognitive performance?
Working memory is a mental workspace, so improvements could transfer to broader cognition and learning
Do working memory training programs show far-transfer t IQ/learning?
Most don’t. When they do, they often lack active control groups, making placebo effects likely
What would justify training-based far transfer theoretically?
A clearly defined mechanism or principle explaining why working memory improvemnts generalise
What does the multiple-component model (Baddeley, 2012) propose?
Separate short-term stores for verbal and visuospatial info, and attention as a control system
Which components are included in Baddeley’s model?
- Phonological loop (speech, sign, music, etc)
- Visuo-spatial sketchpad (shape, location)
- Episodic buffer (integrates smell, taste)
- Central executive (attention control)
What does the model explain well?
Dual-task performance - minimal interference if tasks rely on different stores
What are the model’s challenges?
- Explaining inter-component communication in detail
- Neural plausibilty
What is the core idea in Cowan’s model?
Memory consists activated long-term memory representations, and a focus of attention limited to 3-5 items
Does Cowan’s model involve distinct memory stores?
No - it uses memory “states” (activation levels), not separate stores
