Working Memory Constraints on Linear Reasoning with Spatial and Temporal Contents

The present article reports two experiments testing the use of working memory components during reasoning with temporal and spatial relations in four-term series problems. In the first experiment four groups of subjects performed reasoning tasks with temporal and with spatial contents either without (control) or with a secondary task (articulatory suppression, visuospatial suppression or central executive suppression). The second experiment tested the secondary task effects in a within-subjects design either on problems with a spatial content or on problems with a temporal content, and within each content domain either under conditions of self-paced or of fixed presentation of the premises. Both experiments found effects of all three secondary tasks on reasoning accuracy. This supports the hypothesis that the subjects construct spatial representations of the premise information with the support of visuo-spatial resources of working memory. The second experiment also showed that during premise intake, only visuo-spatial and central executive secondary tasks had an effect. The implications of the data for the working memory requirements of reasoning and for theories of linear reasoning are discussed.

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Effects of valent image-based secondary tasks on verbal working memory

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology ◽

10.1080/17470218.2017.1329324 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 71 (6) ◽

pp. 1440-1456 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Phillip L Morgan ◽

Craig Williams ◽

Fay M Ings ◽

Nia C Hughes

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Free Recall ◽

Secondary Task ◽

Memory Performance ◽

Verbal Working Memory ◽

International Affective Picture System ◽

Secondary Tasks ◽

Negative Images ◽

Task Interruption ◽

Lower Valence

Two experiments examined if exposure to emotionally valent image-based secondary tasks introduced at different points of a free recall working memory (WM) task impair memory performance. Images from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) varied in the degree of negative or positive valance (mild, moderate, strong) and were positioned at low, moderate and high WM load points with participants rating them based upon perceived valence. As predicted, and based on previous research and theory, the higher the degree of negative (Experiment 1) and positive (Experiment 2) valence and the higher the WM load when a secondary task was introduced, the greater the impairment to recall. Secondary task images with strong negative valance were more disruptive than negative images with lower valence at moderate and high WM load task points involving encoding and/or rehearsal of primary task words (Experiment 1). This was not the case for secondary tasks involving positive images (Experiment 2), although participant valence ratings for positive IAPS images classified as moderate and strong were in fact very similar. Implications are discussed in relation to research and theory on task interruption and attentional narrowing and literature concerning the effects of emotive stimuli on cognition.

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Selection in working memory is resource-demanding: Concurrent task effects on the retro-cue effect

Attention Perception & Psychophysics ◽

10.3758/s13414-020-02239-0 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Yin-ting Lin ◽

Edyta Sasin ◽

Daryl Fougnie

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Dual Task ◽

Secondary Task ◽

Memory Test ◽

Task Effects ◽

Selection Processes ◽

Dual Task Paradigm ◽

Tone Discrimination ◽

Dual Task Interference ◽

Potential Issue

AbstractIn a retro-cue paradigm, after memorizing a set of objects, people are cued to remember only a subset. Improved memory from the retro-cue suggests that selection processes can benefit items stored in working memory. Does selection in working memory require attention? If so, an attention-demanding task should disrupt retro-cue effects. Studies using a dual-task paradigm have found mixed results, with only one study (Janczyk & Berryhill, Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics, 76 (3), 715–724, 2014) showing a decreased retro-cue effect by a secondary task. Here we explore a potential issue in that study – the temporal overlap of the secondary task response with the memory test presentation. This raises questions about whether the secondary task was impairing selection processes in memory or was impacting the memory response. We replicated their paradigm by inserting a tone discrimination task at the retro-cue offset, but we also included a condition in which the tone task and the memory test were temporally separated. In Experiment 1, performing the tone task did not impair the retro-cue effect. In Experiment 2, we added an articulatory suppression task as in Janczyk and Berryhill’s study, and we found that the requirement to execute the tone task impaired retro-cue effects. This impairment was independent of whether the tone and memory tasks overlapped. These findings suggest that internal prioritization can be impaired by dual-task interference, but may only occur when such interference is robust enough, for example, due to switching between multiple tasks.

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Is the Episodic Buffer of Baddeley independent of the Central Executive? A new measure of the Episodic Buffer

Anales de Psicología ◽

10.6018/analesps.344391 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 37 (2) ◽

pp. 378-392

Author(s):

José Óscar Vila Chaves ◽

Francisco Gutiérrez Martínez ◽

Juan Antonio García Madruga

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Secondary Task ◽

Memory System ◽

Central Executive ◽

Current Work ◽

Episodic Buffer ◽

The Core ◽

The Creation

El Retén Episódico (RE) está tomando un creciente papel central en las explicaciones sobre el funcionamiento de la memoria operativa. De hecho, los últimos estudios de Baddeley y sus colaboradores sitúan al RE en el corazón del sistema de memoria. Recientemente la discusión también atañe a si este componente de la memoria operativa presenta una naturaleza independiente respecto a los recursos del ejecutivo central. Algunos estudios muestran como en tareas automatizadas, la construcción y mantenimiento de elementos almacenados en el RE no requieren de recursos desde el ejecutivo central. El presente trabajo pretende analizar esta cuestión para lo que se toman diferentes variables y se ha diseñado un nuevo test para medir el EB. En este test de doble tarea, la tarea secundaria consiste en la lectura de textos sencillos que contienen palabras ocultas. Los resultados muestran como a pesar del aumento del procesamiento debido al incremento de la longitud de los textos, no se produce un aumento en la carga demandada por el ejecutivo central, ni en la creación de los agrupamientos de información ni en su mantenimiento. Es por ello, que pensamos que el RE bajo ciertas circunstancias es independiente del ejecutivo central. The Episodic Buffer (EB) is taking on an increasingly central role in explanations regarding the functioning of working memory. In fact, in the most recent studies by Baddeley and his collaborators, the EB has situated itself at the core of this memory system. Recently under discussion is that this component of working memory seems to demonstrate an independent nature with respect to central executive resourcing. Some studies show that in automatic tasks the creation and maintenance of elements stored in the episodic buffer do not require resources from the central executive. The current work attempts to evaluate this assumption for what different variables are taken and a new test has been developed to measure the EB. In this double task test, the secondary task consists of reading short simple texts that contain missing words. The results show that further processing due to increasing the length of the texts does not correspond to higher load demands made on the central executive, nor in the creation (organization) of chucks or their maintenance. Thus, we believe the EB is under certain circumstances independent of the central executive.

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The role of reduced working memory resources in the associative deficit of older adults

10.32469/10355/43166 ◽

2012 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Yoko Hara

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Working Memory ◽

Young Adults ◽

Associative Memory ◽

Secondary Task ◽

Memory Performance ◽

Secondary Tasks ◽

Online Processing ◽

Associative Deficit ◽

Processing Resources

Previous research indicates that older adults show problems with remembering associations compared to young adults, yet they remember single pieces of information about as well as young adults do (see Naveh-Benjamin, 2000). The purpose of the present study is to investigate whether reduced working memory (WM) resources affect associative memory and whether such a reduction can account for older adultsâ€™ associative deficit. Three experiments investigated whether we can simulate an associative deficit in young adults by using secondary tasks that increase their WM loads (either via increasing storage or processing demands of the secondary task) during a primary task in which they were required to learn name-face pairs and then remember the names, the faces, and the name-face associations. Results show that reducing both the storage and the processing resources of WM each produced an associative deficit in young adults. However, further increasing the demands of the secondary task for WM processing resources gradually increased the size of the associative deficit, whereas increasing the demands of the secondary task for WM storage resources did not differentially affect associative memory performance. Furthermore, younger adults with low-WM span or low-online processing showed an associative deficit under full attention conditions compared to young adults with high-WM span or high-online processing. High-WM span/processing individuals also showed an associative deficit when the processing or storage demands on WM increased. In summary, the present studies showed that one possible reason older adults have an associative deficit is a reduction in their WM resources, especially those related to WM processing.

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Working Memory Capacity and a Notorious Brain Teaser

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027/1618-3169.53.1.123 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 53 (2) ◽

pp. 123-131 ◽

Cited By ~ 29

Author(s):

Wim De Neys ◽

Niki Verschueren

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Secondary Task ◽

Working Memory Capacity ◽

Memory Capacity ◽

Task Load ◽

Normative Reasoning ◽

Monty Hall Dilemma ◽

Monty Hall ◽

Memory Resources

Abstract. The Monty Hall Dilemma (MHD) is an intriguing example of the discrepancy between people’s intuitions and normative reasoning. This study examines whether the notorious difficulty of the MHD is associated with limitations in working memory resources. Experiment 1 and 2 examined the link between MHD reasoning and working memory capacity. Experiment 3 tested the role of working memory experimentally by burdening the executive resources with a secondary task. Results showed that participants who solved the MHD correctly had a significantly higher working memory capacity than erroneous responders. Correct responding also decreased under secondary task load. Findings indicate that working memory capacity plays a key role in overcoming salient intuitions and selecting the correct switching response during MHD reasoning.

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Working Memory Constraints on the Maintenance of Multiple Interpretations of Lexical Ambiguities

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e665412011-494 ◽

1992 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Akira Miyake ◽

Marcel Adam Just ◽

Patricia A. Carpenter

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Memory Constraints

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Working memory and executive control

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.1996.0123 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 351 (1346) ◽

pp. 1397-1404 ◽

Cited By ~ 278

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Executive Control ◽

Cognitive Model ◽

Central Executive ◽

Executive Processes ◽

Concurrent Tasks ◽

Dual Task Performance ◽

Suitable Framework ◽

Frontal Lesions

A major problem in analysing the executive processes that seem to depend upon the prefrontal cortex stems from the absence of a well developed cognitive model of such processes. It is suggested that the central executive component of an earlier model of working memory might provide a suitable framework for such an analysis. The approach is illustrated using one proposed component of executive control, namely the capacity to combine two concurrent tasks. The application of the approach to patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, and patients with acquired brain damage is discussed. Finally, a study is described in which the dual task performance of patients with known frontal lesions is shown to be associated with observed behavioural problems. The paper concludes with the discussion of the prospects for extending the approach to include a range of other executive processes, and to the way in which such an analysis may subsequently lead to a more integrated model of the central executive, and a better understanding of its relationship to the prefrontal cortex.

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