Chapter 5 - Working Memory

CRT model of visual imagery

"Cathode ray tube" - assumes that a similar process of reconstruction occurs in the visuospatial sketchpad - a mental image is constantly decaying and being refreshed

Describe Baddeley's model:

1. Central executive (control center) 2. Phonological loop (verbal/acoustic info) 3. Visuo-spatial sketchpad (visual/spatial info) 4. Episodic buffer (binds info together)

A complex span test has what 2 components?

1. a retention component 2. an active processing component

What are the two other working memory models (other than Baddeley's)?

1. cowan's embedded process model 2. engle's controlled attention model

What are the two components in attentional control?

1. scope of attention (how many things are captured by attention at a time) 2. the control of attention (how effective is the control over where attention is directed)

What are the 2 components of the phonological loop?

1. short-term store (inner ear) 2. subvocal rehearsal process (inner voice)

What are the two word length effects?

1. syllabic word length effect - more syllables makes it harder to remember 2. articulatory word length effect - processing can be affected by articulation duration (longer it takes to physically say the words, the fewer recalled.)

What are the two parts of the phonological loop?

1. the phonological store - temporary storehouse 2. articulatory loop - active rehearsal

What are the 5 characteristics of the phonological loop?

1. word length - words w/ more syllables are harder to remember; words w/ longer articulation time are harder to remember 2. articulatory suppression - word processing is disrupted by articulation (speaking aloud) 3. irrelevant speech - background noise intrudes on phonological loop processing 4. phonological similarity - similar items in the loop (similar sounds) are harder to discriminate between 5. semantics

The subvocal rehearsal process is what?

A articulatory-like rehearsal for maintenance of auditory information

The episodic buffer is ....

A limited capacity, temporary storage system

Baddeley's multicomponent model

A theory that working memory is made up of several components including the phonological loop, the visuospatial sketchpad, the episodic buffer, and the central executive

Long-term working memory

A way for people to coordinate large amounts of information. It is a set of retrieval cues held in working memory that reference information in long-term memory. - this is a false view because there is not a separate part of the brain that brings in info from other parts to be actively processed

What are two attention processes?

Activation and inhibition

______ band synchronization reflects the control of attention and inhibitory processes:

Alpha

What is an example of a simple span test? What makes it simple?

An example is a digit span test. It is a simple span test bc it only involves retention.

Where is multimodal info combined together?

At the episodic buffer

The episodic buffer uses ______ processes:

Attentional - this means it can be disrupted by concurrent tasks

Why is word processing disrupted by speaking aloud?

Because speaking aloud uses rehearsal

Why do pictures of objects without a background NOT produce the boundary extension effect?

Because the visuospatial sketchpad depends on knowledge in long-term memory. If a picture doesn't activate this knowledge, no boundary extension occurs.

Why are people with smaller working memory capacities less efficient?

Because they have to search through a larger set of information during memory retrieval - greater working memory control allows people to better select out which long-term memories are needed to accomplish a task, thereby reducing any effects of memory interference

Representational momentum tends to follow medieval theories of motion rather than Newtonian/model views of motion. Why is this?

Because working memory has only a limited influence of knowledge from declarative long-term memory

Short-term memory refers to what?

Brief retention of info

CLASS NOTES

CLASS NOTES

Perseveration

Continuing to pursue a goal after completion

Executive controller

Controls the phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, and the episodic buffer

Dysexecutive syndrome results in a loss of executive control. How can this occur?

Damage to the frontal lobes

The central executive serves to...

Distribute memory resources

Name the theory: Working memory is the control of the flow of thought, both for what is currently being thought about and for what is retrieved/stored in long-term memory. Working memory is more what you can do and how efficiently you can do it than what you have

Engle's - working memory is what makes you intelligent! the better you control the flow of your thoughts!

What is the difference between Engle's model and Cowan's model:

Engle's: working memory processing involves the controlled flow of the current stream of thought Cowan's: working memory is not a separate store but as the contents of long-term memory that are currently active

What is the newest aspect of working memory?

Episodic buffer - this is where multimodal information is bound to create episodic traces

T or F: suppression almost never occurs in working memory

False, when working memory processes something and moves onto the next task, it actively suppresses the memory for what was just processed

Cowan's embedded process model says that working memory is a spotlight...

Focusing attention on this or that idea - it is the ACTIVE USE of knowledge either from the past or the present (either from long-term memory or sensory inputs)

________ band synchronization reflects the maintenance of information:

Gamma

Mental rotation is harder for what objects?

Heavy - mental rotation can also be facilitated or inhibited by manual movements such as turning a knob one way or another

What is an example of info in long-term memory reversing a phonological similarity effect?

If similar words are embedded in the context of meaningful sentences, the phonological similarity effect reverses.

When is representational momentum less?

If there is a barrier on an image or if an object is moving along a surface

According to Cowan's model, working memory is the part of a person's knowledge that is

In a more accessible/active state

The visuospatial sketchpad captures many of the world's qualities how?

In an isomorphic and analog format - people treat mental images as if they were real

Distraction

In the absence of a goal, an external stimulus grabs attention

Expressing thoughts about your troubles does what?>

Increases your working memory capacity and improves memory overall - this is b/c it decreases your desire to think about anxious thoughts

Distraction

Irrelevant environmental stimuli that prevents someone from giving full attention to something else.

What is special about the central executive?

It can devote cognitive resources to different subsystems if the demand occurs

What makes a complex span test complex?

It involves both retention and processing

How is the phonological loop embodied?

It treats the information as if it were spoken or heard, even if only visually read

What experiment revealed the use of the episodic buffer?

Jefferies & Baddeley - people were given lists of words or sentences while also given a concurrent visuospatial distractor task which consumed executive resources - the dual task condition only affected sentence memory bc people were trying to integrate the words into a meaningful context (the random word condition wasn't affected.)

What does suppression do?

Keeps irrelevant info out of working memory - this is an attention mechanism that memory can use to control what is being currently thought about

Sentence span is a good predictor of what?

Language processing - a reading span test is when people read aloud sets of sentences and recall the last word of each set

How does the meaning of words influence performance?

Meaningful contexts (such as a sentence) help us remember things better. They produce a reverse phonological similarity effect. Ex: poems are meaningful, too

Lexicality effect

Memory spans are larger for lists of words than for lists of nonwords - this is an example of working memory being influenced by prior knowledge and long-term memory

What must be actively rehearsed in the visuospatial sketchpad or else it degrades?

Mental images - this is outlined in the CRT model of visual imagery

Kosslyn's CRT Model

Mental images are constantly being refreshed in the mind - theory that more complex images should be harder to maintain

Processing info in the sketchpad has isomorphic perceptual qualities similar to what it'd be like in reality. What does this mean?

Mental images share perceptual qualities with reality. Ex: people who imagine carrying a heavy load and walking take a longer time to arrive at their mental destination

The phonological similarity effect finds that phonologically similar items are...

More likely to lead to errors - people tend to forget more words when they share the same sounds

What effect does lexicality have on remembering?

Nonwords are remembered worse than words. This is because words from long-term memory that we're familiar with support working memory.

Representational friction

Objects are slower when moving along another object

Boundary extension

Our tendency to remember having viewed a greater portion of a scene than was actually shown - people fill in the surrounding space using the visuospatial sketchpad

What parts of the brain work to mentally rotate objects?

Parietal lobes with some coordinating help from the frontal lobes

Cowan's model views long-term working memory as what?

Patterns of neural firing in various parts of the brain are involved in representing the ideas that are active when a person thinks about them

Why is memory better for digit information arranged in a keyboard layout?

People could bind spatial information together with the digit information to better remember the sequence

In a comprehension span test, what occurs?

People determine if the sentences are sensible

Comprehension span

People judge the sensibility of the sentence and remember the last word of each sentence in a set - this is a complex span test

What occurs in an operation span test?

People read aloud a math problem and then indicate if the solution is correct. A word is presented and after each set, people recall as many words from that set as they can.

What occurs during an operation span?

People read math problems followed by a word aloud and state whether the solution is correct and remember the word - people solve problems (process) and remember words (retention)

Describe a reading span test:

People read sentences aloud and must remember the last word of each sentence in a set.

What did Darling and Havelka's experiment show?

Performance is aided by digits on a keyboard pattern because it helped people easily bind spatial and digit information

Which part of Baddeley's theory is responsible for processing verbal and auditory information?

Phonological loop

Suppression is closely tied to what part of the brain?

Prefrontal cortex

What does the visuospatial sketchpad do?

Processes spatial and visual knowledge

What are the 5 types of complex span tests?

Reading span, comprehension span, n-back test, spatial span, operation span

We can discriminate words more easily when they ____:

Rhyme

Which side of the brain involves more processing with the visuospatial sketchpad?

Right side

Many visuospatial processes involve which side of the brain? What's the exception to this?

Right-side (for a more holistic processing) - the exception is when more analytical processing is needed, the left side dominates

Practice with working memory span can improve what?

Scores but not intelligence

The phonological loop and the visuospatial sketchpad are __________ from each other:

Separate - this means that different types of info tend to not influence one another

What occurs in a spatial span test?

Series of letters are shown that have been rotated. The participant must determine if the letters are normal or reversed.

Word and digit spans are ___ span tests:

Simple - they only measure retention

How can we assess working memory capacity?

Simple span and complex span tests

Performance varies with _____ complexity of mental images:

Spatial

When conducting a visual/spatial task, what can be disruptive? What is NOT disruptive?

Spatial distractors can be disruptive. Verbal distractors are not, however.

What kind of test is it where people must judge rotated letters as normal or reversed?

Spatial span test - people have to remember letter orientations, which is the direction that the top of the letter was pointing

The central executive is a sort of ________ _________ system:

Supervisory attentional

Representational gravity

Tendency to remember object positions distorted toward the earth, especially when objects are not supported - the sketchpad's working memory takes into account physical principles to anticipate what's happening next

What is the most complex and active part of working memory?

The central executive who manipulates the contents of subsystems and allocates resources

What is working memory according to Engle's controlled attention model?

The contents of working memory are currently active and not a separate memory store Components: scope of attention and how many things are active How effectively is attention directed?

Working memory involves what?

The controlled use of info in short-term memory

Why can Engle's view account for working memory being disrupted by irrelevant tactile information?

The critical factor is how disruptive the processing is for the amount of attentional control it requires - in Baddeley's theory, there should be a separate system for tactile information and this should not disrupt processing in other systems

For Engle's model, working memory performance is influenced by whar?

The effectiveness with which people can control the contexts & processes of memory and cognition via attention processes (AKA how much cognitive control one has.)

Inclination effect

The greater an incline on an image, the more the memory is distorted due

The greater the degree of mental rotation...

The longer it takes to do the task - this is an example that like visual scanning, mental rotation has characteristics that mimic physical rotation

What part of the brain leads to brain damage to the central executive?

The medial frontal lobes (BA 32) - this leads to dysexecutive syndrome which leads to perseveration and distraction

Word length effect

The notion that it is more difficult to remember a list of long words than a list of short words - occurs because more time is needed to rehearse some items in a set, causing other items not to be refreshed, making them more likely to be forgotten

Representational momentum

The phenomenon of misremembering the movement of an object further along its path of travel than where it actually was when it was last seen

Irrelevant speech effect

The phonological loop is less efficient when there is irrelevant speech in the background

What cortex is responsible for the visuospatial sketchpad's active processing?

The premotor cortex (BA6) - portions of the parietal lobes involved in perception are as well

What is a caveat about training working memory?

The reliability and generalizability of the evidence are uncertain

When the object was a rocket vs. a cathedral, what happened?

The rocket had moved when people recalled the image but the cathedral had not

When static images convey likely interactions among objects, what occurs?

The sketchpad infers some kind of motion ex: if a rocket is turned on, people remember it as moving

Perseveration

The tendency to persevere in, or stick to, one thought or action for a long time.

_____ band activity reflects the sequencing of information:

Theta

A number of studies about videogames suggest what?

They might improve some visuospatial working memory abilities but the more complex abilities may not be affected. The influence of video games on memory is not 100% clear so the effect may be only minor at best.

Why are complex span tests important?

They're highly related to measures of fluid intelligence

What other activities CAN improve cognitive performance?

Things like playing an instrument or participating in physical activity

Describe the articulatory suppression effect and how it works:

This is a reduced verbal span when people are speaking while simultaneously trying to remember a set of items. - When you are speaking, this takes up resources from the articulatory loop. As a result, info in the phonological store cannot be refreshed and is lost.

Cowan's embedded processes model

This model states that working memory is NOT separate from long-term memory. Instead, it is a portion of long-term memory that is in a currently activated state.

T or F: different aspects of working memory are observed in different wavebands

True

T or F: momentum influences are not limited to visuospatial memory

True

T or F: a reading span test is a complex span test

True because people must read sentences (process) and remember the words (retention)

T or F: there are some aspects of working memory that can be facilitated with training

True, some studies show that with weeks of training, there are moderate improvements on both working memory span scores and measures of general intelligence

Dynamic memory

Visuospatial sketchpad processes that involve the interpretation of real or perceived motion

People who play videogames may have improved _________ skills:

Visuospatial skills - this could spill over to related tasks BUT the influence may be minor at best

When is memory worst for the phonological similarity effect?

When words rhyme AND are alliterative - This is because when we try to reconstruct what we heard, phonologically similar items make it difficult for us to remember which items have and haven't been rehearsed

When does mental scanning increase?

With the 'distance' that needs to be covered (revealed by Kosslyn and island study)

What interacts with what at the episodic buffer?

Working memory and long-term memory

Engle's controlled attentional model

Working memory contents are the information that is currently in an activated state

In cowan's model, what is working memory?

Working memory is NOT separate from long-term memory but is instead the currently active portion of long-term memory. Its components are 1. focus of attention and 2. central executive

What is correlated w/ intellignece?

Working memory span

Can working memory be improved?

Yes, with training. Yet, improvements may not generalize to other tasks and some studies reveal that improvement is underpowered.

n-back test

a procedure where participants are given a sequence of items and must report whenever the current item is identical to the one "n" items before - the idea is that people need to keep a certain # of items in working memory to do this

The episodic buffer has a lot of processes ascribed to the _____:

hippocampus

When words rhyme...

it is easier for us to remember them

People can use _________ knowledge to aid _____ recall:

long-term short-term

Name some operations of the visuo-spatial sketch pad:

mental scanning - time needed to mentally scan a distance increases w/ size of the distance mental rotation - time needed to recognize an object is a function of the degree of rotation needed boundary extension - memory beyond field of view is filled in w/ more than what was actually present dynamic memory - rep. momentum, gravity, friction

What kind of complex span test is used in neurological assessments?

n-back test

When words are alliterative....

our memory is worse for them