What is the role of working memory in hybrid search?: Evidence from the Contralateral Delay Activity

Working memory enables us to retain past sensations in service of anticipated task demands. How we prepare for anticipated task demands during working memory retention remains poorly understood. Here, we focused on the role of time—asking how temporal expectations help prepare for ensuing memory-guided behavior. We manipulated the expected probe time in a delayed change-detection task and report that temporal expectation can have a profound influence on memory-guided behavioral performance. EEG measurements corroborated the utilization of temporal expectations: demonstrating the involvement of a classic EEG signature of temporal expectation—the contingent negative variation—in the context of working memory. We also report the influence of temporal expectations on 2 EEG signatures associated with visual working memory—the lateralization of 8- to 12-Hz alpha activity, and the contralateral delay activity. We observed a dissociation between these signatures, whereby alpha lateralization (but not the contralateral delay activity) adapted to the time of expected memory utilization. These data show how temporal expectations prepare visual working memory for behavior and shed new light on the electrophysiological markers of both temporal expectation and working memory.

Download Full-text

Working Memory and Number Sense as Predictors of Mathematical (Dis-)Ability

Zeitschrift für Psychologie ◽

10.1027/2151-2604/a000208 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 223 (2) ◽

pp. 102-109 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Evelyn H. Kroesbergen ◽

Marloes van Dijk

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Learning Disabilities ◽

Spatial Working Memory ◽

Number Sense ◽

Mathematical Learning ◽

Visual Spatial ◽

Mathematical Learning Disabilities ◽

Visual Spatial Working Memory ◽

And Mathematics

Recent research has pointed to two possible causes of mathematical (dis-)ability: working memory and number sense, although only few studies have compared the relations between working memory and mathematics and between number sense and mathematics. In this study, both constructs were studied in relation to mathematics in general, and to mathematical learning disabilities (MLD) in particular. The sample consisted of 154 children aged between 6 and 10 years, including 26 children with MLD. Children performing low on either number sense or visual-spatial working memory scored lower on math tests than children without such a weakness. Children with a double weakness scored the lowest. These results confirm the important role of both visual-spatial working memory and number sense in mathematical development.

Download Full-text

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.

Download Full-text