Age, Memory Load, and Individual Differences in Working Memory as Determinants of Class-Inclusion Reasoning

2002 ◽  
Vol 81 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
F.Michael Rabinowitz ◽  
Mark L. Howe ◽  
Kelly Saunders
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Class Inclusion

scholarly journals Contralateral Delay Activity Tracks Fluctuations in Working Memory Performance

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (9) ◽  
pp. 1229-1240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsten C. S. Adam ◽  
Matthew K. Robison ◽  
Edward K. Vogel
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Memory Storage ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
Working Memory Load ◽  
Contralateral Delay Activity ◽  
Trial Performance

Neural measures of working memory storage, such as the contralateral delay activity (CDA), are powerful tools in working memory research. CDA amplitude is sensitive to working memory load, reaches an asymptote at known behavioral limits, and predicts individual differences in capacity. An open question, however, is whether neural measures of load also track trial-by-trial fluctuations in performance. Here, we used a whole-report working memory task to test the relationship between CDA amplitude and working memory performance. If working memory failures are due to decision-based errors and retrieval failures, CDA amplitude would not differentiate good and poor performance trials when load is held constant. If failures arise during storage, then CDA amplitude should track both working memory load and trial-by-trial performance. As expected, CDA amplitude tracked load (Experiment 1), reaching an asymptote at three items. In Experiment 2, we tracked fluctuations in trial-by-trial performance. CDA amplitude was larger (more negative) for high-performance trials compared with low-performance trials, suggesting that fluctuations in performance were related to the successful storage of items. During working memory failures, participants oriented their attention to the correct side of the screen (lateralized P1) and maintained covert attention to the correct side during the delay period (lateralized alpha power suppression). Despite the preservation of attentional orienting, we found impairments consistent with an executive attention theory of individual differences in working memory capacity; fluctuations in executive control (indexed by pretrial frontal theta power) may be to blame for storage failures.

scholarly journals Individual differences in working memory and reasoning-remembering relationships in solving class-inclusion problems

1998 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 1089-1101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark L. Howe ◽  
F. Michael Rabinowitz ◽  
T. Lynette Powell
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Inclusion Problems ◽  
Class Inclusion

scholarly journals Auditory cortex supports verbal working memory capacity

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gavin M. Bidelman ◽  
Jane A. Brown ◽  
Pouya Bashivan
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Auditory Cortex ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Source Analysis ◽  
Neural Basis

AbstractWorking memory (WM) is a fundamental construct of human cognition. The neural basis of auditory WM is thought to reflect a distributed brain network consisting of canonical memory and central executive brain regions including frontal lobe, prefrontal areas, and hippocampus. Yet, the role of auditory (sensory) cortex in supporting active memory representations remains controversial. Here, we recorded neuroelectric activity via EEG as listeners actively performed an auditory version of the Sternberg memory task. Memory load was taxed by parametrically manipulating the number of auditory tokens (letter sounds) held in memory. Source analysis of scalp potentials showed that sustained neural activity maintained in auditory cortex (AC) prior to memory retrieval closely scaled with behavioral performance. Brain-behavior correlations revealed lateralized modulations in left (but not right) AC predicted individual differences in auditory WM capacity. Our findings confirm a prominent role of auditory cortex, traditionally viewed as a sensory-perceptual processor, in actively maintaining memory traces and dictating individual differences in behavioral WM limits.

The Influence of Working-Memory Demand and Subject Performance on Prefrontal Cortical Activity

2002 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 721-731 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bart Rypma ◽  
Jeffrey S. Berger ◽  
Mark D'Esposito
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Response Speed ◽  
Memory Storage ◽  
Memory Organization ◽  
Retrieval Task ◽  
High Performing ◽  
Behavioral Studies ◽  
Storage Buffer

Brain imaging and behavioral studies of working memory (WM) converge to suggest that the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) mediates a capacity-limited storage buffer and that the dorsolateral PFC mediates memory organization processes that support supracapacity memory storage. Previous research from our laboratory has shown that the extent to which such memory organization processes are required depends on both task factors (i.e., memory load) and subject factors (i.e., response speed). Task factors exert their effects mainly during WM encoding while subject factors exert their effects mainly during WM retrieval. In this study, we sought to test the generalizability of these phenomena under more difficult memory-demand conditions than have been used previously. During scanning, subjects performed a WM task in which they were required to maintain between 1 and 8 letters over a brief delay. Neural activity was measured during encoding, maintenance, and retrieval task periods using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging. With increasing memory load, there were reaction time increases and accuracy rate decreases, ventrolateral PFC activation decreases during encoding, and dorsolateral PFC activation increases during maintenance and retrieval. These results suggest that the ventrolateral PFC mediates WM storage and that the dorso-lateral PFC mediates strategic memory organization processes that facilitate supracapacity WM storage. Additionally, high-performing subjects showed overall less activation than low-performing subjects, but activation increases with increasing memory load in the lateral PFC during maintenance and retrieval. Low-performing subjects showed overall more activation than high-performing subjects, but minimal activation increases in the dorsolateral PFC with increasing memory load. These results suggest that individual differences in both neural efficiency and cognitive strategy underlie individual differences in the quality of subjects' WM performance.

scholarly journals Adult neuromarkers of sustained attention and working memory predict inter- and intra-individual differences in these processes in youth

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Omid Kardan ◽  
Andrew J Stier ◽  
Carlos Cardenas-Inigues ◽  
Julia C Pruin ◽  
Kathryn E Schertz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Sustained Attention ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Working Memory Load ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Working Memory Model ◽  
Back Task

Sustained attention and working memory are central cognitive processes that vary between individuals, fluctuate over time, and have consequences for life and health outcomes. Here we characterize the functional brain architecture of these abilities in 9-11-year-old children using models based on functional magnetic resonance imaging functional connectivity. Using data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, we asked whether connectome-based models built to predict sustained attention and working memory in adults generalize to capture inter- and intra-individual differences in sustained attention and working memory performance in youth. Results revealed that a predefined connectome-based model of sustained attention predicted children's performance on the 0-back task, an attentionally taxing low-working-memory-load task. A predefined connectome-based model of working memory, on the other hand, also predicted performance on the 2-back task, an attentionally taxing high-working-memory-load task. The sustained attention model's predictive power was comparable to that achieved when predicting adults' 0-back performance and by a connectome-based model of cognition defined in the ABCD sample itself. Finally, the working memory model predicted children's recognition memory for n-back task stimuli. Together these results demonstrate that connectome-based models of sustained attention and working memory generalize to youth, reflecting the functional architecture of these processes in the developing brain.

scholarly journals Tic Toc: How working memory load affects intelligence test performance under different time constraints

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna-Lena Schubert ◽  
Christoph Löffler ◽  
Johanna Hein ◽  
Pauline Schröer ◽  
Antonia Teuber ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Intelligence Test ◽  
Time Constraints ◽  
Working Memory Load ◽  
Causal Nature ◽  
The Relationship

There is a broad consensus that individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) are strongly related to individual differences in intelligence. However, correlational studies do not allow conclusions about the causal nature of the relationship between WMC and fluid intelligence. While research on the cognitive basis of intelligence typically assumes that simpler lower-level cognitive processes contribute to individual differences in higher-order reasoning processes, a reversed causality or a third variable giving rise to two intrinsically uncorrelated variables may exist. In the present study, we investigated the causal nature of the relationship between WMC and intelligence by assessing the experimental effect of working memory load on intelligence test performance. Moreover, we tested if the effect of working memory load on intelligence test performance increased under time constraints, as previous studies have shown that the association between the two constructs increases if intelligence tests are administered with a strict time limit. We show in a sample of 65 participants that working memory load impaired intelligence test performance, but that this experimental effect was not affected by time constraints, which suggests that the experimental manipulations of working memory capacity and processing time did not affect the same underlying cognitive process. Our results confirm that WMC causally contributes to higher-order reasoning processes. Remarkably, we found that the introduction of time constraints completely nullified the advantage of more intelligent participants in matrix reasoning test performance, which emphasizes the role of processing speed as an elementary cognitive process parameter underlying individual differences in intelligence.

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