scholarly journals Allocentric Spatial Memory Performance in a Virtual Reality-Based Task is Conditioned by Visuospatial Working Memory Capacity

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 552
Author(s):  
Joaquín Castillo Escamilla ◽  
José Javier Fernández Castro ◽  
Shishir Baliyan ◽  
Juan José Ortells-Pareja ◽  
Juan José Ortells Rodríguez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Spatial Memory ◽  
Medial Temporal Lobe ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Spatial Task ◽  
Analysis Of Covariance

Traditionally, the medial temporal lobe has been considered a key brain region for spatial memory. Nevertheless, executive functions, such as working memory, also play an important role in complex behaviors, such as spatial navigation. Thus, the main goal of this study is to clarify the relationship between working memory capacity and spatial memory performance. Spatial memory was assessed using a virtual reality-based procedure, the Boxes Room task, and the visual working memory with the computer-based Change Localization Task. One hundred and twenty-three (n = 123) participants took part in this study. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) revealed a statistically significant relationship between working memory capacity and spatial abilities. Thereafter, two subgroups n = 60, were formed according to their performance in the working memory task (1st and 4th quartiles, n = 30 each). Results demonstrate that participants with high working memory capacity committed fewer mistakes in the spatial task compared to the low working memory capacity group. Both groups improved their performance through repeated trials of the spatial task, thus showing that they could learn spatial layouts independent of their working memory capacity. In conclusion, these findings support that spatial memory performance is directly related to working memory skills. This could be relevant for spatial memory assessment in brain lesioned patients.

scholarly journals The Contribution of Attentional Lapses to Individual Differences in Visual Working Memory Capacity

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (8) ◽  
pp. 1601-1616 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsten C. S. Adam ◽  
Irida Mance ◽  
Keisuke Fukuda ◽  
Edward K. Vogel
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Attentional Control ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Poor Performance ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Attentional Engagement ◽  
Low Performance ◽  
Attentional Lapses

Attentional control and working memory capacity are important cognitive abilities that substantially vary between individuals. Although much is known about how attentional control and working memory capacity relate to each other and to constructs like fluid intelligence, little is known about how trial-by-trial fluctuations in attentional engagement impact trial-by-trial working memory performance. Here, we employ a novel whole-report memory task that allowed us to distinguish between varying levels of attentional engagement in humans performing a working memory task. By characterizing low-performance trials, we can distinguish between models in which working memory performance failures are caused by either (1) complete lapses of attention or (2) variations in attentional control. We found that performance failures increase with set-size and strongly predict working memory capacity. Performance variability was best modeled by an attentional control model of attention, not a lapse model. We examined neural signatures of performance failures by measuring EEG activity while participants performed the whole-report task. The number of items correctly recalled in the memory task was predicted by frontal theta power, with decreased frontal theta power associated with poor performance on the task. In addition, we found that poor performance was not explained by failures of sensory encoding; the P1/N1 response and ocular artifact rates were equivalent for high- and low-performance trials. In all, we propose that attentional lapses alone cannot explain individual differences in working memory performance. Instead, we find that graded fluctuations in attentional control better explain the trial-by-trial differences in working memory that we observe.

scholarly journals Explaining the high working memory capacity of gifted children: 
 Contributions of processing skills and executive control

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandre Aubry ◽  
Corentin Gonthier ◽  
Béatrice Bourdin
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Gifted Children ◽  
Executive Attention ◽  
Intellectually Gifted

Intellectually gifted children tend to demonstrate especially high working memory capacity, an ability that holds a critical role in intellectual functioning. What could explain the differences in working memory performance between intellectually gifted and non-gifted children? We investigated this issue by measuring working memory capacity with complex spans in a sample of 55 gifted and 55 nongifted children. Based on prior studies, we expected the higher working memory capacity of intellectually gifted children to be driven by more effective executive control, as measured with the Attention Network Test. The findings confirmed that intellectually gifted children had higher working memory capacity than typical children, as well as more effective executive attention. Surprisingly, however, working memory differences between groups were not mediated by differences in executive attention. Instead, differences in processing time in the working memory task contributed to the high working memory capacity of gifted children.

Greater Visual Working Memory Capacity for Visually Matched Stimuli When They Are Perceived as Meaningful

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 902-918 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabel E. Asp ◽  
Viola S. Störmer ◽  
Timothy F. Brady
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Visual Complexity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Subjective Perception ◽  
Neural Delay ◽  
Meaningful Stimuli

Abstract Almost all models of visual working memory—the cognitive system that holds visual information in an active state—assume it has a fixed capacity: Some models propose a limit of three to four objects, where others propose there is a fixed pool of resources for each basic visual feature. Recent findings, however, suggest that memory performance is improved for real-world objects. What supports these increases in capacity? Here, we test whether the meaningfulness of a stimulus alone influences working memory capacity while controlling for visual complexity and directly assessing the active component of working memory using EEG. Participants remembered ambiguous stimuli that could either be perceived as a face or as meaningless shapes. Participants had higher performance and increased neural delay activity when the memory display consisted of more meaningful stimuli. Critically, by asking participants whether they perceived the stimuli as a face or not, we also show that these increases in visual working memory capacity and recruitment of additional neural resources are because of the subjective perception of the stimulus and thus cannot be driven by physical properties of the stimulus. Broadly, this suggests that the capacity for active storage in visual working memory is not fixed but that more meaningful stimuli recruit additional working memory resources, allowing them to be better remembered.

scholarly journals Visual Working Memory Capacity and the Medial Temporal Lobe

2012 ◽  
Vol 32 (10) ◽  
pp. 3584-3589 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Jeneson ◽  
J. T. Wixted ◽  
R. O. Hopkins ◽  
L. R. Squire
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Temporal Lobe ◽  
Medial Temporal Lobe ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity

scholarly journals Chunking as a rational strategy for lossy data compression in visual working memory

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew R. Nassar ◽  
Julie C. Helmers ◽  
Michael J. Frank
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Performance Optimization ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
Storage Capacity ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Quantitative Description ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Capacity Limitations

AbstractThe nature of capacity limits for visual working memory has been the subject of an intense debate that has relied on models that assume items are encoded independently. Here we propose that instead, similar features are jointly encoded through a “chunking” process to optimize performance on visual working memory tasks. We show that such chunking can: 1) facilitate performance improvements for abstract capacity-limited systems, 2) be optimized through reinforcement, 3) be implemented by center-surround dynamics, and 4) increase effective storage capacity at the expense of recall precision. Human performance on a variant of a canonical working memory task demonstrated performance advantages, precision detriments, inter-item dependencies, and trial-to-trial behavioral adjustments diagnostic of performance optimization through center-surround chunking. Models incorporating center-surround chunking provided a better quantitative description of human performance in our study as well as in a meta-analytic dataset, and apparent differences in working memory capacity across individuals were attributable to individual differences in the implementation of chunking. Our results reveal a normative rationale for center-surround connectivity in working memory circuitry, call for re-evaluation of memory performance differences that have previously been attributed to differences in capacity, and support a more nuanced view of visual working memory capacity limitations: strategic tradeoff between storage capacity and memory precision through chunking contribute to flexible capacity limitations that include both discrete and continuous aspects.

scholarly journals Spatial Working Memory Capacity Predicts Bias in Estimates of Location

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Landy ◽  
L. Elizabeth Crawford ◽  
Timothy A. Salthouse
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Spatial Memory ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Theoretical Work ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Systematic Bias ◽  
Capacity Limits ◽  
Biased Estimates

Spatial memory research has attributed systematic bias in location estimates to a combination of a noisy memory trace with a prior structure that people impose on the space. Little is known about intra-individual stability and inter-individual variation in these patterns of bias. In the current work we align recent empirical and theoretical work on working memory capacity limits and spatial memory bias to generate the prediction that those with lower working memory capacity will show greater bias in memory of the location of a single item. Reanalyzing data from a large study of cognitive aging, we find support for this prediction. Fitting separate models to individuals’ data revealed a surprising variety of strategies. Some were consistent with Bayesian models of spatial category use, however roughly half of participants biased estimates outward in a way not predicted by current models and others seemed to combine these strategies. These analyses highlight the importance of studying individuals when developing general models of cognition.

Induced Social Power Improves Visual Working Memory

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Britt Hadar ◽  
Roy Luria ◽  
Nira Liberman
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Low Power ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
High Power ◽  
Social Power ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Filtering Efficiency ◽  
Sense Of Power

The possibility that social power improves working memory relative to conditions of powerlessness has been invoked to explain why manipulations of power improve performance in many cognitive tasks. Yet, whether power facilitates working memory performance has never been tested directly. In three studies, we induced high or low sense of power using the episodic recall task and tested participants’ visual working memory capacity. We found that working memory capacity estimates were higher in the high-power than in the low-power condition in the standard change-detection task (Study 1), in a variation of the task that introduced distractors alongside the targets (Study 2), and in a variation that used real-world objects (Study 3). Studies 2 and 3 also tested whether high power improved working memory relative to low power by enhancing filtering efficiency, but did not find support for this hypothesis. We discuss implications for theories of both power and working memory.

scholarly journals Impact of tDCS on working memory training is enhanced by strategy instructions in individuals with low working memory capacity

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Assecondi ◽  
Rong Hu ◽  
Gail Eskes ◽  
Xiaoping Pan ◽  
Jin Zhou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Strategy Development ◽  
Memory Training ◽  
Improve Working ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Non Invasive

AbstractInterventions to improve working memory, e.g. by combining task rehearsal and non-invasive brain stimulation, are gaining popularity. Many factors, however, affect the outcome of these interventions. We hypothesize that working memory capacity at baseline predicts how an individual performs on a working memory task, by setting limits on the benefit derived from tDCS when combined with strategy instructions; specifically, we hypothesize that individuals with low capacity will benefit the most. Eighty-four participants underwent two sessions of an adaptive working memory task (n-back) on two consecutive days. Participants were split into four independent groups (SHAM vs ACTIVE stimulation and STRATEGY vs no STRATEGY instructions). For the purpose of analysis, individuals were divided based on their baseline working memory capacity. Results support our prediction that the combination of tDCS and strategy instructions is particularly beneficial in low capacity individuals. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of factors affecting the outcome of tDCS when used in conjunction with cognitive training to improve working memory. Moreover, our results have implications for training regimens, e.g., by designing interventions predicated on baseline cognitive abilities, or focusing on strategy development for specific attentional skills.

scholarly journals High working memory performers have efficient eye movement control systems under Reading Span Test

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Miyuki Azuma ◽  
Takashi Ikeda ◽  
Takehiro Minamoto ◽  
Mariko Osaka ◽  
Naoyuki Osaka
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Movement Control ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Fixation Time ◽  
Reading Span ◽  
Eye Movement Control ◽  
Span Test

Controlled eye movements are critical in performing highly goal oriented behavior such as text reading. Previous studies have examined the relationship between working memory capacity and eye movement control during working memory task. However, the results were inconsistent, due to a methodological issue including the predictability of target location. In the present study, we used Japanese version of reading span test, where the position of to-be-remembered word is not predictable so that more efficient attentional control is required, and investigated how working memory capacity contributes to eye movement control during reading span test. Results based on total fixation time revealed that highworking memory performers efficiently control or shift their attention under high memory load.

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