Neural Patterns in Linguistic Cortices Discriminate the Content of Verbal Working Memory

Abstract An influential theoretical account of working memory (WM) considers that WM is based on direct activation of long-term memory knowledge. While there is empirical support for this position in the visual WM domain, direct evidence is scarce in the verbal WM domain. This question is critical for models of verbal WM, as the question of whether short-term maintenance of verbal information relies on direct activation within the long-term linguistic knowledge base or not is still debated. In this study, we examined the extent to which short-term maintenance of lexico-semantic knowledge relies on neural activation patterns in linguistic cortices, and this by using a fast encoding running span task for word and nonword stimuli minimizing strategic encoding mechanisms. Multivariate analyses showed specific neural patterns for the encoding and maintenance of word versus nonword stimuli. These patterns were not detectable anymore when participants were instructed to stop maintaining the memoranda. The patterns involved specific regions within the dorsal and ventral pathways, which are considered to support phonological and semantic processing to various degrees. This study provides novel evidence for a role of linguistic cortices in the representation of long-term memory linguistic knowledge during WM processing.

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Conceptual short-term memory (CSTM) supports core claims of Christiansen and Chater

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x15000928 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 39 ◽

Author(s):

Mary C. Potter

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Rapid Serial Visual Presentation ◽

Language Comprehension ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Visual Presentation ◽

Long Term Memory ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory ◽

Use Of Knowledge

AbstractRapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) of words or pictured scenes provides evidence for a large-capacity conceptual short-term memory (CSTM) that momentarily provides rich associated material from long-term memory, permitting rapid chunking (Potter 1993; 2009; 2012). In perception of scenes as well as language comprehension, we make use of knowledge that briefly exceeds the supposed limits of working memory.

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Remembering Over the Short and Long Term

Working Memory ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198842286.003.0010 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 282-310

Author(s):

Patricia A. Reuter-Lorenz ◽

Alexandru D. Iordan

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

Semantic Processing ◽

Long Term Memory ◽

Strategic Processing ◽

Term Memory ◽

Neuroscience Research ◽

Short And Long Term ◽

Time Courses

This chapter reviews evidence from behavioural and cognitive neuroscience research that supports a unitary view of memory whereby working memory and long-term memory phenomena arise from representations and processes that are largely shared when remembering over the short or long term. Using ‘false working memories’ as a case study, it highlights several paradoxes that cannot be explained by a multisystem view of memory in which working memory and long-term memory are structurally distinct. Instead, it is posited that behavioural memory effects over the short and long term relating to semantic processing, modality/domain-specificity, dual-task interference, strategic processing, and so on arise from the differences in activational states and availability of different representational features (e.g. sensory/perceptual, associative, action-based) that vary in their time courses and activity, attentional priority, and susceptibility to interference. Cognitive neuroscience evidence primarily from brain imaging methodologies that support this view is reviewed.

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Working Memory: Models and Applications

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education ◽

10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.879 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Stoo Sepp ◽

Steven J. Howard ◽

Sharon Tindall-Ford ◽

Shirley Agostinho ◽

Fred Paas

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Individual Differences ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Working Memory Capacity ◽

Memory Capacity ◽

Long Term Memory ◽

Auditory Information ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory

In 1956, Miller first reported on a capacity limitation in the amount of information the human brain can process, which was thought to be seven plus or minus two items. The system of memory used to process information for immediate use was coined “working memory” by Miller, Galanter, and Pribram in 1960. In 1968, Atkinson and Shiffrin proposed their multistore model of memory, which theorized that the memory system was separated into short-term memory, long-term memory, and the sensory register, the latter of which temporarily holds and forwards information from sensory inputs to short term-memory for processing. Baddeley and Hitch built upon the concept of multiple stores, leading to the development of the multicomponent model of working memory in 1974, which described two stores devoted to the processing of visuospatial and auditory information, both coordinated by a central executive system. Later, Cowan’s theorizing focused on attentional factors in the effortful and effortless activation and maintenance of information in working memory. In 1988, Cowan published his model—the scope and control of attention model. In contrast, since the early 2000s Engle has investigated working memory capacity through the lens of his individual differences model, which does not seek to quantify capacity in the same way as Miller or Cowan. Instead, this model describes working memory capacity as the interplay between primary memory (working memory), the control of attention, and secondary memory (long-term memory). This affords the opportunity to focus on individual differences in working memory capacity and extend theorizing beyond storage to the manipulation of complex information. These models and advancements have made significant contributions to understandings of learning and cognition, informing educational research and practice in particular. Emerging areas of inquiry include investigating use of gestures to support working memory processing, leveraging working memory measures as a means to target instructional strategies for individual learners, and working memory training. Given that working memory is still debated, and not yet fully understood, researchers continue to investigate its nature, its role in learning and development, and its implications for educational curricula, pedagogy, and practice.

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Refreshing and Removing Items in Working Memory: Different Approaches to Equivalent Processes?

10.31234/osf.io/z52vf ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Evan Nathaniel Lintz ◽

Matthew Johnson

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Lexical Decision ◽

Response Time ◽

Fundamental Difference ◽

Long Term Memory ◽

Test Results ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory ◽

Term Response

Researchers have investigated “refreshing” of items in working memory (WM) as ameans of preserving them, while concurrently, other studies have examined “removal” of items from WM that are irrelevant. However, it is unclear whether refreshing and removal in WM truly represent different processes, or if participants, in an effort to avoid the to-be-removed items, simply refresh alternative items. We conducted two experiments to test whether these putative processes can be distinguished from one another. Participants were presented with sets of three words and then cued to either refresh one item or remove two items from WM, followed by a lexical decision probe containing either one of the just-seen words or a non-word. In Experiment 1, all probes were valid and in Experiment 2, probes were occasionally invalid (the probed word was one of the removed/non-refreshed items). In both experiments, participants also received a subsequent surprise long-term memory test. Results from both experiments suggested the expected advantages for refreshed (or non-removed) items in both short-term response time and long-term recognition, but no differences between refresh and remove instructions that would suggest a fundamental difference in processes. Thus, we argue that a functional distinction between refreshing and removal may not be necessary, and propose that both of these putative processes could potentially be subsumed under an overarching conceptual perspective based on the flexible reallocation of mental or reflective attention.

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How Does Semantic Knowledge Impact Working Memory Maintenance? Computational and Behavioral Investigations

10.31234/osf.io/tn4dj ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Benjamin Kowialiewski ◽

Sophie Portrat ◽

Benoit Lemaire

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Semantic Relatedness ◽

Semantic Knowledge ◽

Long Term Memory ◽

Term Memory ◽

Immediate Serial Recall ◽

Serial Recall Task ◽

Memory Knowledge ◽

Tree Branch

It is now firmly established that long-term memory knowledge, such as semantic knowledge, supports the temporary maintenance of verbal information in Working Memory (WM). This support from semantic knowledge is well-explained by models assuming that verbal items are directly activated in long-term memory, and that this activation provides the representational basis for WM maintenance. However, the exact mechanisms underlying semantic influence on WM performance remain poorly understood. We manipulated the presence of between-item semantic relatedness in an immediate serial recall task, by mixing triplets composed of semantically related and unrelated items (e.g. leaf – tree – branch – wall – beer – dog; hand – father – truck – cloud – sky – rain). Compared to unrelated items, related items were better recalled, as had been classically observed. Critically, semantic relatedness also impacted WM maintenance in a complex manner, as observed by the presence of proactive benefit effects on subsequent unrelated items, and the absence of retroactive effects. The complexity of these interactions is well-captured by TBRS*-S, a decay-based computational architecture in which the activation occurring in long-term memory is described. The present study suggests that semantic knowledge can be used to free up WM resources that can be reallocated for maintenance purposes, and supports models postulating that long-term memory knowledge constrains WM maintenance processes.

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Working memory: Unemployed but still doing day labor

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x03550166 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 26 (6) ◽

pp. 760-769

Author(s):

Daniel S. Ruchkin ◽

Jordan Grafman ◽

Katherine Cameron ◽

Rita S. Berndt

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Neural Circuits ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Relevant Information ◽

Long Term Memory ◽

Memory Retention ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory ◽

Target Article

The goal of our target article is to establish that electrophysiological data constrain models of short-term memory retention operations to schemes in which activated long-term memory is its representational basis. The temporary stores correspond to neural circuits involved in the perception and subsequent processing of the relevant information, and do not involve specialized neural circuits dedicated to the temporary holding of information outside of those embedded in long-term memory. The commentaries ranged from general agreement with the view that short-term memory stores correspond to activated long-term memory (e.g., Abry, Sato, Schwartz, Loevenbruck & Cathiard [Abry etal.], Cowan, Fuster, Grote, Hickok & Buchsbaum, Keenan, Hyönä & Kaakinen [Keenan et al.], Martin, Morra), to taking a definite exception to this view (e.g., Baddeley, Düzel, Logie & Della Sala, Kroger, Majerus, Van der Linden, Colette & Salmon [Majerus et al.], Vallar).

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Is source information automatically available in working memory?

10.31234/osf.io/z83xd ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

HUI CHEN ◽

Richard Carlson ◽

Brad Wyble

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Color Word ◽

Long Term Memory ◽

Single Object ◽

Source Information ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory ◽

Color Representation ◽

Open Question

We often remember information without its source (e.g. word or picture format). This phenomenon has been studied extensively in long-term memory, but rarely in the context of short-term/working memory(WM). It is an open question as to whether source amnesia is the result of forgetting over a prolonged period of time. This study provided a series of striking and novel demonstrations showing participants’ inability to report the source of a color representation immediately after that color was used in a task, and stored in memory. These counterintuitive findings occurred when participants repeatedly judged the congruency between two color representations from one single object (i.e., color and identity of a color word) or two distinct objects (i.e., color of a square and identity of a color word) and then were unexpectedly asked to report the source of one color representation. These discoveries suggested that source information was not spontaneously stored into WM.

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