scholarly journals Working Memory, but Not IQ, Predicts Subsequent Learning in Children with Learning Difficulties

2009 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 92-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tracy Packiam Alloway
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Predictive Power ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Learning Difficulties ◽  
Academic Progress ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Specific Knowledge ◽  
Learning Abilities ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Domain Specific Knowledge

The purpose of the present study was to compare the predictive power of working memory and IQ in children identified as having learning difficulties. The term “working memory” refers to the capacity to store and manipulate information in mind for brief periods of time. Working-memory capacity is strongly related to learning abilities and academic progress, predicting current and subsequent scholastic attainment of children across the school years in both literacy and numeracy. Children aged between 7 and 11 years were tested at Time 1 on measures of working memory, IQ, and learning. They were then retested 2 years later on the learning measures. The findings indicated that working-memory capacity and domain-specific knowledge at Time 1, but not IQ, were significant predictors of learning at Time 2. The implications for screening and intervention are discussed.

Individual Differences in Working Memory Capacity in Recency Effects: From the Recall Process

2009 ◽  
Vol 104 (2) ◽  
pp. 545-548 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takashi Sasaki
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Predictive Power ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Recall Accuracy ◽  
Recency Effects ◽  
Span Test ◽  
Backward Recall

The purpose was to investigate the role of individual differences in working memory capacity in recency effects on free, forward, and backward recall tasks. In Exp. 1, correlations between scores on a listening-span test and recall accuracy of recent items were positive and significant under all conditions. This result suggested participants with large working memory capacity are likely to show a stronger recency effect. Predictive power of the listening-span test was still significant after the word-span score was partialled out. In Exp. 2, the predictive power of the listening-span test scores was not significant when a delay was introduced between study and recall phases. Analysis suggested participants with a larger working memory capacity, and particularly with higher cognitive function, were sensitive to the recollection process.

Working Memory Capacity as Controlled Attention in Tactical Decision Making

2012 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 322-344 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip A. Furley ◽  
Daniel Memmert
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Predictive Power ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Attention Theory ◽  
Controlled Attention ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Tactical Decision ◽  
Complex Settings

The controlled attention theory of working memory capacity (WMC, Engle 2002) suggests that WMC represents a domain free limitation in the ability to control attention and is predictive of an individual’s capability of staying focused, avoiding distraction and impulsive errors. In the present paper we test the predictive power of WMC in computer-based sport decision-making tasks. Experiment 1 demonstrated that high-WMC athletes were better able at focusing their attention on tactical decision making while blocking out irrelevant auditory distraction. Experiment 2 showed that high-WMC athletes were more successful at adapting their tactical decision making according to the situation instead of relying on prepotent inappropriate decisions. The present results provide additional but also unique support for the controlled attention theory of WMC by demonstrating that WMC is predictive of controlling attention in complex settings among different modalities and highlight the importance of working memory in tactical decision making.

Variations in working memory capacity predict individual differences in general learning abilities among genetically diverse mice

2005 ◽  
Vol 84 (3) ◽  
pp. 241-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Kolata ◽  
Kenneth Light ◽  
David A. Townsend ◽  
Gregory Hale ◽  
Henya C. Grossman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Learning Abilities

scholarly journals Domain-specific working memory, but not dopamine-related genetic variability, shapes reward-based motor learning

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Holland ◽  
Olivier Codol ◽  
Elizabeth Oxley ◽  
Madison Taylor ◽  
Elizabeth Hamshere ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Motor Learning ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Motor Tasks ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Learning Tasks ◽  
Binary Feedback ◽  
Reach Angle ◽  
Specific Working

AbstractThe addition of rewarding feedback to motor learning tasks has been shown to increase the retention of learning, spurring interest in the possible utility for rehabilitation. However, laboratory-based motor tasks employing rewarding feedback have repeatedly been shown to lead to great inter-individual variability in performance. Understanding the causes of such variability is vital for maximising the potential benefits of reward-based motor learning. Thus, using a large cohort (n=241) we examined whether spatial (SWM), verbal (VWM) and mental rotation (RWM) working memory capacity and dopamine-related genetic profiles were associated with performance in two reward-based motor tasks. The first task assessed participant’s ability to follow a hidden and slowly shifting reward region based on hit/miss (binary) feedback. The second task investigated participant’s capacity to preserve performance with binary feedback after adapting to the rotation with full visual feedback. Our results demonstrate that higher SWM is associated with greater success and a greater capacity to reproduce a successful motor action, measured as change in reach angle following reward. Whereas higher RWM was predictive of an increased propensity to express an explicit strategy when required to make large adjustments in reach angle. Therefore, both SWM and RWM were reliable predictors of success during reward-based motor learning. Change in reach direction following failure was also a strong predictor of success rate, although we observed no consistent relationship with any type of working memory. Surprisingly, no dopamine-related genotypes predicted performance. Therefore, working memory capacity plays a pivotal role in determining individual ability in reward-based motor learning.Significance statementReward-based motor learning tasks have repeatedly been shown to lead to idiosyncratic behaviours that cause varying degrees of task success. Yet, the factors determining an individual’s capacity to use reward-based feedback are unclear. Here, we assessed a wide range of possible candidate predictors, and demonstrate that domain-specific working memory plays an essential role in determining individual capacity to use reward-based feedback. Surprisingly, genetic variations in dopamine availability were not found to play a role. This is in stark contrast with seminal work in the reinforcement and decision-making literature, which show strong and replicated effects of the same dopaminergic genes in decision-making. Therefore, our results provide novel insights into reward-based motor learning, highlighting a key role for domain-specific working memory capacity.

scholarly journals Working Memory, its Executive Functions, and the Emergence of Modern Thinking

2005 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick L. Coolidge ◽  
Thomas Wynn
Keyword(s):  
Neural Networks ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Storage Capacity ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Genetic Mutation ◽  
General Intelligence ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Modern Thinking

This article examines the possible origins of modern thinking by evaluating the cognitive models of working memory, executive functions and their interrelationship. We propose that a genetic mutation affected neural networks in the prefrontal cortex approximately 60,000 to 130,000 years ago. Our review of cognitive and archaeological evidence yields two possibilities: either it was non-domain specific, affecting general working memory capacity and its executive functions, or the mutation was domain-specific, affecting phonological storage capacity. We discuss the sequelae of these possibilities for modernity, including language enhancement, greater reasoning, planning, and modelling abilities, and increases in fluid/general intelligence.

scholarly journals Musical Training Mediates the Relation Between Working Memory Capacity and Preference for Musical Complexity

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominique T Vuvan ◽  
Ethan Simon ◽  
David John Baker ◽  
Elizabeth Monzingo ◽  
Emily M. Elliott
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Skills Training ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Aesthetic Preference ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Downstream Effects ◽  
Gender Education

Previous research has examined the relationships among cognitive variables and musical training, but relatively less attention has addressed downstream effects of musical training on other psychological domains, such as aesthetic preference, and the potential impact of domain-general constructs, such as working memory. Accordingly, the present study sought to draw links between musical training, working memory capacity, and preference for musical complexity. Participants were assessed for their experience with musical training, their working memory capacity, and their preference for musical complexity. Diverging from predictions based on vision research, our analyses revealed that musical training significantly mediated the association between working memory capacity and preference for music complexity. This significant mediation held even after a variety of sociodemographic variables (gender, education, socioeconomic status) were taken into account. Furthermore, the role of working memory capacity was domain general, such that the mediation was significant regardless of which measure of working memory capacity was used (tone, operation, or symmetry span). The current results develop a model of aesthetic preference that illuminates differences between vision and audition in terms of the multifaceted effects of complex skills training on cognition and affect. Moreover, they drive new work aimed at better understanding how domain-general constructs such as working memory capacity might interact with domain-specific cognition.

Working Memory Capacity and Mental Rotation: Evidence for a Domain-General View

2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 881-890 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose L. Pardo-Vazquez ◽  
Jose Fernandez-Rey
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Mental Rotation ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Mental Image ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Mental Rotation Task ◽  
General View ◽  
General Hypothesis ◽  
Domain Specific

Despite the existence of numerous studies that examined the relationship between working memory capacity and performance in complex cognitive tasks, it remains unclear whether this capacity is domain specific or domain general. In addition, the available empirical evidence is somewhat contradictory. In this work we have studied the role of verbal working memory capacity in a non-verbal task – mental image rotation. If this capacity were domain specific it would be expected that high and low verbal span participants would obtain similar results in the mental rotation task. We have found that this is not the case as the high span participants performed better in terms of both speed and accuracy. Moreover, these differences depended on the processing component of the mental rotation task: the higher the processing requirements the higher the differences as a function of the working memory capacity. Therefore, the evidence presented here supports the domain general hypothesis.

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