Domain-Specific Working Memory

2020 ◽  
pp. 235-281
Author(s):  
Randi C. Martin ◽  
Brenda Rapp ◽  
Jeremy Purcell
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Case Series ◽  
Memory Systems ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Memory Representations ◽  
Types Of Information ◽  
Neuropsychological Findings

The domain-specific approach to working memory assumes specialized working memory systems dedicated to maintaining different types of information (e.g. orthographic, phonological, semantic, visuospatial) which serve to support processing in that domain. These storage systems are assumed to be separate from long-term memory representations in each domain and also from attentional and cognitive control processes. This chapter provides an overview of support for this approach drawn mainly from neuropsychological case study and case series approaches, though it also integrates findings from behavioural and imaging studies of healthy individuals that were motivated by the neuropsychological findings or provide confirmation of those findings. The neuropsychological findings not only demonstrate dissociations between working memory in different domains but also provide a rich source of evidence to address the nature of forgetting in working memory, the interactions between working memory and long-term memory, and the role of aspects of working memory in language comprehension and production.

Working Memory Has Better Fidelity Than Long-Term Memory: The Fidelity Constraint Is Not a General Property of Memory After All

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalie Biderman ◽  
Roy Luria ◽  
Andrei R. Teodorescu ◽  
Ron Hajaj ◽  
Yonatan Goshen-Gottstein
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Hierarchical Modeling ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Memory Systems ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Total N ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Memory Representations

How detailed are long-term-memory representations compared with working memory representations? Recent research has found an equal fidelity bound for both memory systems, suggesting a novel general constraint on memory. Here, we assessed the replicability of this discovery. Participants (total N = 72) were presented with colored real-life objects and were asked to recall the colors using a continuous color wheel. Deviations from study colors were modeled to generate two estimates of color memory: the variability of remembered colors—fidelity—and the probability of forgetting the color. Estimating model parameters using both maximum-likelihood estimation and Bayesian hierarchical modeling, we found that working memory had better fidelity than long-term memory (Experiments 1 and 2). Furthermore, within each system, fidelity worsened as a function of time-correlated mechanisms (Experiments 2 and 3). We conclude that fidelity is subject to decline across and within memory systems. Thus, the justification for a general fidelity constraint in memory does not seem to be valid.

scholarly journals I remember it now, so I'll remember it later: Working Memory Representations Guide Inaccurate Predictions of Future Memory Performance

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Krasnoff ◽  
Alessandra S. Souza
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Systems ◽  
Memory Test ◽  
Sequence Length ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Memory Strength ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Memory Representations

Making accurate predictions of future memory performance (Judgements of Learning; JOLs) is a prerequisite for efficient learning. Since decades, those JOLs are assumed to be made inferentially, based on cues. This cue-utilization approach substituted the idea that JOLs are directly linked to memory quality. We criticize the reasons for the rejection of this memory-strength hypothesis because they ignore the existence of two different memory systems: working memory which holds representations immediately accessible, and long-term memory which is a more permanent store. Considering both memory systems, the current work revisited the memory-strength hypothesis: In Experiment 1, participants memorized sequences of two or four colored objects, then they provided JOLs for a long-term memory test, and performed a working memory test on the objects’ colors. After learning 200 objects, the long-term memory test on all studied objects followed. Sequence-length affected working memory, but not long-term memory performance. JOLs, however, were higher for sequences of two than four and correlated higher with working memory than long-term memory performance. Experiment 2 replicated the sequence-length effect on JOLs in the absence of a working memory test. Results of a sequence-eight condition revealed an increase in JOLs’ accuracy when the number of studied objects exceeded working memory span. Contrary to predominant theories, our findings suggest that JOLs are based on the quality of memory representations.

Manifold Visual Working Memory

2020 ◽  
pp. 311-332
Author(s):  
Nicole Hakim ◽  
Edward Awh ◽  
Edward K. Vogel
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Memory Representations ◽  
Latent Representations ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Spatial Locations

Visual working memory allows us to maintain information in mind for use in ongoing cognition. Research on visual working memory often characterizes it within the context of its interaction with long-term memory (LTM). These embedded-processes models describe memory representations as existing in three potential states: inactivated LTM, including all representations stored in LTM; activated LTM, latent representations that can quickly be brought into an active state due to contextual priming or recency; and the focus of attention, an active but sharply limited state in which only a small number of items can be represented simultaneously. This chapter extends the embedded-processes framework of working memory. It proposes that working memory should be defined operationally based on neural activity. By defining working memory in this way, the important theoretical distinction between working memory and LTM is maintained, while still acknowledging that they operate together. It is additionally proposed that active working memory should be further subdivided into at least two subcomponent processes that index item-based storage and currently prioritized spatial locations. This fractionation of working memory is based on recent research that has found that the maintenance of information distinctly relies on item-based representations as well as prioritization of spatial locations. It is hoped that this updated framework of the definition of working memory within the embedded-processes model provides further traction for understanding how we maintain information in mind.

Multicomponent Working Memory System with Distributed Executive Control

2020 ◽  
pp. 150-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
André Vandierendonck
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Memory System ◽  
General Information ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Episodic Buffer ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Current Task

The working memory model with distributed executive control accounts for the interactions between working memory and multi-tasking performance. The working memory system supports planned actions by relying on two capacity-limited domain-general and two time-limited domain-specific modules. Domain-general modules are the episodic buffer and the executive module. The episodic buffer stores multimodal representations and uses attentional refreshment to counteract information loss and to consolidate information in episodic long-term memory. The executive module maintains domain-general information relevant for the current task. The phonological buffer and the visuospatial module are domain specific; the former uses inner speech to maintain and to rehearse phonological information, whereas the latter holds visual and spatial representations active by means of image revival. For its operation, working memory interacts with declarative and procedural long-term memory, gets input from sensory registers, and uses the motor system for output.

scholarly journals Visuospatial bootstrapping: Long-term memory representations are necessary for implicit binding of verbal and visuospatial working memory

2012 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 258-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Darling ◽  
Richard J. Allen ◽  
Jelena Havelka ◽  
Aileen Campbell ◽  
Emma Rattray
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Visuospatial Working Memory ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Memory Representations

scholarly journals Is working memory inherently more ‘precise’ than long-term memory? Extremely high fidelity visual long-term memories for frequently encountered objects

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annalise Miner ◽  
Mark Schurgin ◽  
Timothy F. Brady
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Visual Memory ◽  
Memory Systems ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Continuous Measure ◽  
High Fidelity ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Naturalistic Setting

Long-term memory is often considered easily corruptible, imprecise and inaccurate, especially in comparison to working memory. However, most research used to support these findings relies on weak long-term memories: those where people have had only one brief exposure to an item. Here we investigated the fidelity of visual long-term memory in more naturalistic setting, with repeated exposures, and ask how it compares to visual working memory fidelity. Using psychophysical methods designed to precisely measure the fidelity of visual memory, we demonstrate that long-term memory for the color of frequently seen objects is as accurate as working memory for the color of a single item seen 1 second ago. In particular, we show that repetition greatly improves long-term memory, including the ability to discriminate an item from a very similar item ('fidelity'), in both a lab setting (Exps. 1-3) and a naturalistic setting (brand logos, Exp. 4). Overall our results demonstrate the impressive nature of visual long-term memory fidelity, which we find is even higher fidelity than previously indicated in situations involving repetitions. Furthermore, our results suggest that there is no distinction between the fidelity of visual working memory and visual long-term memory, but instead both memory systems are capable of storing similar incredibly high fidelity memories under the right circumstances. Our results also provide further evidence that there is no fundamental distinction between the ‘precision’ of memory and the ‘likelihood of retrieving a memory’, instead suggesting a single continuous measure of memory strength best accounts for working and long-term memory.

scholarly journals Interacting Memory Systems—Does EEG Alpha Activity Respond to Semantic Long-Term Memory Access in a Working Memory Task?

Biology ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Berger ◽  
Serif Omer ◽  
Tamas Minarik ◽  
Annette Sterr ◽  
Paul Sauseng
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Memory Systems ◽  
Alpha Activity ◽  
Memory Access ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Eeg Alpha ◽  
Eeg Alpha Activity

The contribution of long-term memory and the role of frontal-lobe systems in on-line processing

2003 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 756-756 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer D. Ryan ◽  
Neal J. Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Frontal Lobe ◽  
Pivotal Role ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Memory Binding ◽  
Memory Representations ◽  
On Line

Ruchkin et al. ascribe a pivotal role to long-term memory representations and binding within working memory. Here we focus on the interaction of working memory and long-term memory in supporting on-line representations of experience available to guide on-going processing, and we distinguish the role of frontal-lobe systems from what the hippocampus contributes to relational long-term memory binding.

scholarly journals Expectations of Task Demands Dissociate Working Memory and Long-Term Memory Systems

2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 1176-1186 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. P. Zanto ◽  
W. C. Clapp ◽  
M. T. Rubens ◽  
J. Karlsson ◽  
A. Gazzaley
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Memory Systems ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Term Memory

scholarly journals Working memory is not fixed capacity: More active storage capacity for real-world objects than simple stimuli

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy F. Brady ◽  
Viola S. Störmer ◽  
George Alvarez
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Real World ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Memory Systems ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Active Storage ◽  
Working Memory Models

Visual working memory is the cognitive system that holds visual information active to make it resistant to interference from new perceptual input. Information about simple stimuli – colors, orientations – is encoded into working memory rapidly: in under 100ms, working memory ‘fills up’, revealing a stark capacity limit. However, for real-world objects, the same behavioral limits do not hold: with increasing encoding time, people store more real-world objects and do so with more detail. This boost in performance for real-world objects is generally assumed to reflect the use of a separate episodic long-term memory system, rather than working memory. Here we show that this behavioral increase in capacity with real-world objects is not solely due to the use of separate episodic long-term memory systems. In particular, we show that this increase is a result of active storage in working memory, as shown by directly measuring neural activity during the delay period of a working memory task using EEG. These data challenge fixed capacity working memory models, and demonstrate that working memory and its capacity limitations are dependent upon our existing knowledge.

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