Working Memory 2

what are the 2 activation-based models for working memory?

Cowan’s embedded-process model, Oberauer’s three-embedded components model

Working memory capacity is demonstrated by which theory by Cowan?

Cowan’s magical number 4

Variation in working memory is demonstrated by which 2 hypotheses?

executive attention hypothesis, binding hypothesis

for the concept of General Intelligence, Charles Spearmann conducted a scientific study that revealed…

performance on all cognitive tasks stems from a single factor ‘g’ or general factor of intelligence

Donald O Hebb and Raymond Cattell built on the concept of general intelligence to form 2 new concepts….

crystallised intelligence and fluid intelligence

Crystallised intelligence involves…

putting learned knowledge to use correctly

fluid intelligence involves…

the ability to reason through and solve novel problems

fluid intelligence require the understanding of rules but also the…

adaptive understanding to create solutions to novel issues

Miller’s magic number 7 refers to….

the short term memory capacity of 7 that most participants get correct

to boost short term memory capacity, you can use….

active rehearsal and chunking

Cowan’s magic number 4 refers to the fact that…

only representations in the focus of attention are available to conscious awareness and report, with average capacity limit of 4

what are the 3 limitations to working memory?

decay, interference and limited resource

decay as a limitation to WM refers to…

the fact that WM representations rapidly decay over time

restoration mechanisms for decay include…

rehearsal and refreshing

interference as a limitation to WM refers to…

the fact that WM is limited by mutual interference between representations

types of interference include

confusion, superposition and overwriting

proactive interference involves…

older memories impairing new memory retrieval

retroactive interference involves…

new memories impairing older memory retrieval

limited resources as a limitation to WM refers to…

WM capacity being determined by a limited quantity of resource enabling holding representations available

resource is allocated to representations in two ways…

discrete and continuous

discrete allocation of resource to representations involves…

the allocation of resource to a limited number of items with no information stored about additional items

continuous allocation of resource to representations involves…

equal spread of resource among all items with fewer resource per item for larger arrays

models for resource allocation:

• discrete?

• continous?

egg carton slot model, memory drive model

WM capacity is greater in… and…

older children than younger children, younger adults than older adults

to measure variation in WM, you can use…

the letter updating task

the task impurity problem refers to the concept that…

any task that assesses cognitive ability also demands other abilities that are needed to process structure and materials of the task

Miyake and Friedman investigated a solution to the Task Impurity Problem using Latent Variable Modelling. This involves…

selecting multiple tasks that seem different on the surface but capture the same target abilities

variation in WM is correlated with variation in many other abilities such as…

vocab learning, reasoning and attention

one explanation for why people differ in WM is the executive attention hypothesis. this was proposed by Shipstead et al and suggests that there are 2 systems of executive function being a key to success. these are…

system 1 where there is quick and easy access to all information known, system 2 where there is controlled and effortful processing of information

the WM task for executive attention hypothesis involves…

maintaining access to relevant information and assign new information to a list whilst disengaging from outdated information from previous trials

the reasoning task for the executive attention hypothesis involves…

maintaining a problem and allowing systematic hypothesis testing and disengaging from outdated hypotheses

both WM capacity and reasoning arise from

limited executive function

one explanation for why people differ in WM is the binding hypothesis. this was proposed by Oberauer et al. This involves the concept that there is…

a system for rapid formation of temporary bindings underlying WM and reasoning task performance

WM tasks for the binding hypothesis involve

lists of objects at position 1 2 or 3 so they become bound to these positions

reasoning tasks for the binding hypothesis involves…

binding understanding to a semantic space, where objects are bound to semantic spaces

people who suffer less interference can build more complex structural representations, so therefore…

will perform better in WM and reasoning

an issue with executive attention tasks is that

they do not correlate well so it is hard to directly test them

an issue with the binding hypothesis tasks is that

bindings may be constructed and maintained with the help of executive attention which makes it hard to compare them