The Role of Coding Strategies on the Modulation of Spatial-Numerical Associations by Working Memory Load

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Lindemann
2020 ◽  
pp. 003329412091686
Author(s):  
Yi Ding ◽  
Ru-De Liu ◽  
Wei Hong ◽  
Qiong Yu ◽  
Jia Wang ◽  
...  

The aim of this paper was to examine the role of phonological working memory in specific mental arithmetic difficulties and general arithmetic learning difficulties (ALD; difficulties presenting in both mental arithmetic and written arithmetic). In Study 1, we categorized 53 sixth graders into a control group, a group with specific mental arithmetic difficulties, and a group with general ALD. The findings indicated the group with specific mental arithmetic difficulties performed significantly worse on the task involving phonological working memory than did the control group. However, a significant difference was not found between the group with general ALD and the control group. In Study 2 involving 54 sixth graders, we decreased the load of phonological working memory by changing the format of the problems from horizontal (more reliance on phonological codes) to vertical (more reliance on visual resources). We found that the group with specific mental arithmetic difficulties performed comparably to the control group. In other words, when the working memory load is reduced, they no longer lag significantly behind on mental arithmetic. However, the group with general ALD still performed significantly worse than the control group when the problems were presented vertically, indicating that reduced phonological working memory load did not alleviate their arithmetic difficulties. The findings in both studies suggested that poor phonological working memory might contribute to the underlying mechanism for specific mental arithmetic difficulties but not as much for general ALD.


Author(s):  
Saima Noreen ◽  
Jan W. de Fockert

Abstract. We investigated the role of cognitive control in intentional forgetting by manipulating working memory load during the think/no-think task. In two experiments, participants learned a series of cue-target word pairs and were asked to recall the target words associated with some cues or to avoid thinking about the target associated with other cues. In addition to this, participants also performed a modified version of the n-back task which required them to respond to the identity of a single target letter present in the currently presented cue word (n = 0 condition, low working memory load), and in either the previous cue word (n = 1 condition, high working memory load, Experiment 1) or the cue word presented two trials previously (n = 2 condition, high working memory load, Experiment 2). Participants’ memory for the target words was subsequently tested using same and novel independent probes. In both experiments it was found that although participants were successful at forgetting on both the same and independent-probe tests in the low working memory load condition, they were only successful at forgetting on the same-probe test in the high working memory load condition. We argue that our findings suggest that the high load working memory task diverted attention from direct suppression and acted as an interference-based strategy. Thus, when cognitive resources are limited participants can switch between the strategies they use to prevent unwanted memories from coming to mind.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
E.S. Gorbunova

The article investigated the role of spatial working memory in visual search for multiple targets, in particular, in subsequent search misses effect. This phenomenon is the second target omission after the first target has been found in visual search task. One of the theoretical interpretations of subsequent search misses is the lack of resources (attention and/or working memory) after the first target is found. Experiment investigated dual-target visual search efficiency in standard conditions and with additional spatial working memory load. Additional working memory load did not have any significant impact in multiple target visual search efficiency. The results can due to the role of object, but not spatial working memory in this task. Alternative explanation assumes using special tools and strategies.


2019 ◽  
Vol 84 (8) ◽  
pp. 2090-2110
Author(s):  
Gizem Arabacı ◽  
Benjamin A. Parris

Abstract Inattention is a symptom of many clinical disorders including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and is thought to be primarily related to limitations in working memory. In two studies, we investigated the implications of inattention for task switching performance. In study one, we measured task switching performance using predictable and unpredictable conditions in adults who self-rated inattention and other ADHD-related tendencies. Tasks required proactive control and reactive control, respectively, under both high and low working memory loads. Results revealed that inattentive, but not hyperactive/impulsive traits, predicted switch costs when switching was predictable and working memory load was high. None of the ADHD traits were related to unpredictable switch costs. Study two was designed to: (1) de-confound the role of proactive control and the need to keep track of task order in the predictable task switching paradigm; (2) investigate whether goal neglect, an impairment related to working memory, could explain the relationship between inattention and predictable task switching. Results revealed that neither predictability nor the need to keep track of the task order led to the association between switch costs and inattention, but instead it was the tendency for those high in inattention to neglect preparatory proactive control, especially when reactive control options were available.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ionela Bara ◽  
Richard J Binney ◽  
Richard Ramsey

Aesthetic judgments dominate much of daily life by guiding how we evaluate objects, people, and experiences in our environment. One key question that remains unanswered is the extent to which more specialised or largely general cognitive resources support aesthetic judgments. To investigate this question in the context of executive resources, we examined the extent to which a central working memory load produces similar or different reaction time interference on aesthetic compared to non-aesthetic judgments. Across three pre-registered experiments that used Bayesian multi-level modelling approaches (N>100 per experiment), we found clear evidence that a central working memory load produces similar reaction time interference on aesthetic judgments relative to non-aesthetic (motion) judgments. We also showed that this similarity in processing across aesthetic versus non-aesthetic judgments holds across variations in the form of art (people vs landscape; Exps. 1-3), medium type (artwork vs photographs; Exp. 2) and load content (art images vs letters; Exps. 1-3). These findings suggest that across a range of experimental contexts, as well as different processing streams in working memory (e.g., visual vs verbal), aesthetic and motion judgments commonly rely on a domain-general executive system, rather than a system that is more specifically tied to aesthetic judgments. In doing so, these findings shine new light on the cognitive architecture that supports aesthetic judgments, as well as how domain-general executive systems operate more generally in cognition.


Author(s):  
Anna Pecchinenda ◽  
Michael Dretsch ◽  
Paul Chapman

The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) is widely used to assess decision making under conditions of uncertainty in clinical as well as in nonclinical populations. However, there is still debate as to whether normal performance at this task relies on implicit, emotion-based processes that are independent of working memory. To clarify the role of working memory on normal performance on the IGT, participants performed the task under low or high working memory load. We used a modified version of the original task, in which the position of the four decks was randomized between trials. Results showed that only participants performing under low memory load significantly chose more advantageously halfway through the task. In addition, when comparing the number of cards chosen from the two decks with frequent losses, one advantageous and one disadvantageous, only participants performing under low memory load chose more cards from the advantageous deck. The present findings indicate that the processes underlying optimal advantageous performance on the IGT rely on working memory functions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (6) ◽  
pp. 920-928
Author(s):  
Derek M Ellis ◽  
B Hunter Ball ◽  
Nicole Kimpton ◽  
Gene A Brewer

Working memory processes are important for analytic problem-solving; however, their role in multiply-constrained problem-solving is currently debated. This study explored individual differences in working memory and successful completion of analytic and multiply-constrained problem-solving by having participants solve algebra and compound remote associate (CRAT) problems of varying difficulty under low and high memory demand conditions. Working memory was predictive of both algebra and multiply-constrained problem-solving. Specifically, participants with high working memory solved more problems than those with low working. Memory load did not differentially affect performance for low and high working memory participants. However, for multiply-constrained problem-solving the effect of item difficulty was more detrimental for high-span participants than low-span participants. Together, these findings suggest that working memory processes are important for both types of problem-solving and that participants with low working memory capacity may need to offload internal memory demands onto the environment to efficiently solve problems.


Author(s):  
Angela A. Manginelli ◽  
Franziska Geringswald ◽  
Stefan Pollmann

When distractor configurations are repeated over time, visual search becomes more efficient, even if participants are unaware of the repetition. This contextual cueing is a form of incidental, implicit learning. One might therefore expect that contextual cueing does not (or only minimally) rely on working memory resources. This, however, is debated in the literature. We investigated contextual cueing under either a visuospatial or a nonspatial (color) visual working memory load. We found that contextual cueing was disrupted by the concurrent visuospatial, but not by the color working memory load. A control experiment ruled out that unspecific attentional factors of the dual-task situation disrupted contextual cueing. Visuospatial working memory may be needed to match current display items with long-term memory traces of previously learned displays.


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