Showing papers on "Short-term memory published in 1999"
Book•
13 Apr 1999
TL;DR: This paper presents a meta-analyses of working memory from the perspective of the EPIC architecture for modelling skilled perceptual-motor and cognitive human performance and discusses the role of language, attention, and inhibitory mechanisms in this performance.
Abstract: Preface Acknowledgements 1. Models of working memory: an introduction Priti Shah and Akira Miyake 2. Working memory: the multiple-component model Alan D. Baddeley and Robert H. Logie 3. An embedded-processes model of working memory Nelson Cowan 4. Individual differences in working memory capacity and what they tell us about controlled attention, general fluid intelligence and functions of the prefrontal cortex Randall W. Engle, Michael J. Kane and Stephen W. Tuholski 5. Modelling working memory in a unified architecture: an ACT-R perspective Marsha C. Lovett, Lynne M. Reder and Christian Lebiere 6. Insights into working memory from the perspective of the EPIC architecture for modelling skilled perceptual-motor and cognitive human performance David E. Kieras, David E. Meyer, Shane Mueller and Travis Seymour 7. The soar cognitive architecture and human working memory Richard M. Young and Richard L. Lewis 8. Long-term working memory as an alternative to capacity models of working memory in everyday skilled performance K. Anders Ericsson and Peter F. Delaney 9. Interacting cognitive subsystems: modelling working memory phenomena within a multiprocessor architecture Philip J. Barnard 10. Working memory in a multilevel hybrid connectionist control architecture (CAP2) Walter Schneider 11. A biologically based computational model of working memory Randall C. O' Reilly, Todd S. Braver and Jonathan D. Cohen 12. Models of working memory: eight questions and some general issues Walter Kintsch, Alice F. Healy, Mary Hegarty, Bruce F. Pennington and Timothy A. Salthouse 13. Toward unified theories of working memory: emerging general consensus, unresolved theoretical issues and future research directions Akika Miyake and Priti Shah Indexes.
3,374 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that working memory capacity and fluid intelligence reflect the ability to keep a representation active, particularly in the face of interference and distraction, and discuss the relationship of this capability to controlled attention, and the functions of the prefrontal cortex.
Abstract: A study was conducted in which 133 participants performed 11 memory tasks (some thought to reflect working memory and some thought to reflect short-term memory), 2 tests of general fluid intelligence, and the Verbal and Quantitative Scholastic Aptitude Tests. Structural equation modeling suggested that short-term and working memories reflect separate but highly related constructs and that many of the tasks used in the literature as working memory tasks reflect a common construct. Working memory shows a strong connection to fluid intelligence, but short-term memory does not. A theory of working memory capacity and general fluid intelligence is proposed: The authors argue that working memory capacity and fluid intelligence reflect the ability to keep a representation active, particularly in the face of interference and distraction. The authors also discuss the relationship of this capability to controlled attention, and the functions of the prefrontal cortex.
2,997 citations
1 Jan 1999
TL;DR: The authors argue that working memory capacity and fluid intelligence reflect the ability to keep a representation active, particularly in the face of interference and distraction, and discuss the relationship of this capability to controlled attention, and the functions of the prefrontal cortex.
Abstract: A study was conducted in which 133 participants performed 11 memory tasks (some thought to reflect working memory and some thought to reflect short-term memory), 2 tests of general fluid intelligence, and the Verbal and Quantitative Scholastic Aptitude Tests. Structural equation modeling suggested that short-term and working memories reflect separate but highly related constructs and that many of the tasks used in the literature as working memory tasks reflect a common construct. Working memory shows a strong connection to fluid intelligence, but short-term memory does not. A theory of working memory capacity and general fluid intelligence is proposed: The authors argue that working memory capacity and fluid intelligence reflect the ability to keep a representation active, particularly in the face of interference and distraction. The authors also discuss the relationship of this capability to controlled attention, and the functions of the prefrontal cortex.
2,611 citations
1 Apr 1999
TL;DR: The embedded-processes model of working memory as discussed by the authors relies upon the following five principles, which emphasize links between memory and attention: (1) working memory information comes from hierarchically arranged faculties comprising: (a) long-term memory, (b) the subset of longterm memory that is currently activated, and (c) the subsets of activated memory that are in the focus of attention and awareness.
Abstract: FIVE CENTRAL FEATURES OF THE APPROACH The embedded-processes model of working memory relies upon the following five principles, which emphasize links between memory and attention. (1) Working memory information comes from hierarchically arranged faculties comprising: (a) long-term memory, (b) the subset of longterm memory that is currently activated, and (c) the subset of activated memory that is in the focus of attention and awareness. (2) Different processing limits apply to different faculties. The focus of attention is basically capacity limited, whereas activation is time limited. The various limits are especially important under nonoptimal conditions, such as interference between items with similar features. (3) The focus of attention is controlled conjointly by voluntary processes (a central executive system) and involuntary processes (the attentional orienting system). (4) Stimuli with physical features that have remained relatively unchanged over time and are of no key importance to the individual still activate some features in memory, but they do not elicit awareness (i.e., there is habituation of orienting). (5) Awareness influences processing. In perception it increases the number of features encoded, and in memory it allows new episodic representations to be available for explicit recall. Two prior integrative reviews of information processing, an article (Cowan, 1988) and a book (Cowan, 1995), describe a view that will serve as my basis for discussing working memory.
1,547 citations
1 Apr 1999
TL;DR: The central executive is involved in the control and regulation of the working memory system as mentioned in this paper, and it is considered to play various executive functions, such as coordinating the two slave systems, focusing and switching attention, and activating representations within longterm memory, but it is not involved in temporary storage.
Abstract: FIVE CENTRAL FEATURES OF THE MODEL (1) According to our view, working memory comprises multiple specialized components of cognition that allow humans to comprehend and mentally represent their immediate environment, to retain information about their immediate past experience, to support the acquisition of new knowledge, to solve problems, and to formulate, relate, and act on current goals. (2) These specialized components include both a supervisory system (the central executive) and specialized temporary memory systems, including a phonologically based store (the phonological loop) and a visuospatial store (the visuospatial sketchpad). (3) The two specialized, temporary memory systems are used to actively maintain memory traces that overlap with those involved in perception via rehearsal mechanisms involved in speech production for the phonological loop and, possibly, preparations for action or image generation for the visuospatial sketchpad. (4) The central executive is involved in the control and regulation of the working memory system. It is considered to play various executive functions, such as coordinating the two slave systems, focusing and switching attention, and activating representations within longterm memory, but it is not involved in temporary storage. The central executive in principle may not be a unitary construct, and this issue is a main focus of current research within this framework. (5) This model is derived empirically from studies of healthy adults and children and of brain-damaged individuals, using a range of experimental methodologies. The model offers a useful framework to account for a wide range of empirical findings on working memory.
1,506 citations
1 Apr 1999
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that individual differences in controlled processing represent differences in functioning of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) and associated structures mediate the controlled processing functions of working memory.
Abstract: FIVE CENTRAL FEATURES OF THE THEORY Working memory is a system consisting of those long-term memory traces active above threshold, the procedures and skills necessary to achieve and maintain that activation, and limited-capacity, controlled attention. The specific features of our model include: (1) Domain-free, limited-capacity controlled attention. (2) Domain-specific codes and maintenance (phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad are two examples but the potential number of such codes is large). (3) Individual differences in both 1 and 2, but individual differences in capacity for controlled processing are general and possibly the mechanism for general fluid intelligence. Although people can, with practice and expertise, circumvent the abiding limitations of controlled attention in quite specific situations, the limitations reemerge in novel situations and even in the domain of expertise if the situation calls for controlled processing. (4) Limited-capacity, controlled processing is required for maintaining temporary goals in the face of distraction and interference and for blocking, gating, and/or suppressing distracting events. (5) The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) and associated structures mediate the controlled processing functions of working memory. We also argue that individual differences in controlled processing represent differences in functioning of the PFC. A number of intellectual influences have served to shape our thinking about working memory (WM) and its evolution as a construct separate from that of short-term memory (STM).
1,285 citations
TL;DR: Experimental results from normal subjects and patients with various brain lesions converge on the conclusion that there is a specialization in the verbal working memory system for assigning the syntactic structure of a sentence and using that structure in determining sentence meaning that is separate from theWorking memory system underlying the use of sentence meaning to accomplish other functions.
Abstract: This target article discusses the verbal working memory system used in sentence comprehension. We review the concept of working memory as a short-duration system in which small amounts of information are simultaneously stored and manipulated in the service of accomplishing a task. We summarize the argument that syntactic processing in sentence comprehension requires such a storage and computational system. We then ask whether the working memory system used in syntactic processing is the same as that used in verbally mediated tasks that involve conscious controlled processing. Evidence is brought to bear from various sources: the relationship between individual differences in working memory and individual differences in the efficiency of syntactic processing; the effect of concurrent verbal memory load on syntactic processing; and syntactic processing in patients with poor short-term memory, patients with poor working memory, and patients with aphasia. Experimental results from these normal subjects and patients with various brain lesions converge on the conclusion that there is a specialization in the verbal working memory system for assigning the syntactic structure of a sentence and using that structure in determining sentence meaning that is separate from the working memory system underlying the use of sentence meaning to accomplish other functions. We present a theory of the divisions of the verbal working memory system and suggestions regarding its neural basis.
1,097 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, two experiments investigated alternatives to split-attention instructional designs, using computer-based instructional material consisting of diagrams and text, and found that the visual form was redundant and imposed a cognitive load that interfered with learning.
Abstract: Two experiments investigated alternatives to split-attention instructional designs. It was assumed that because a learner has a limited working memory capacity, any increase in cognitive resources required to process split-attention materials decreases resources available for learning. Using computer-based instructional material consisting of diagrams and text, Experiment 1 attempted to ameliorate split-attention effects by increasing effective working memory size by presenting the text in auditory form. Auditory presentation of text proved superior to visual-only presentation but not when the text was presented in both auditory and visual forms. In that case, the visual form was redundant and imposed a cognitive load that interfered with learning. Experiment 2 ameliorated split-attention effects by using colour coding to reduce cognitive load inducing search for diagrammatic referents in the text. Mental load rating scales provided evidence in both experiments that alternatives to split-attention instructional designs were effective due to reductions in cognitive load. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
1,021 citations
TL;DR: In each subject, activity during the delay period was found in both dorsolateral and ventrolateral PFC in both types of trials, however, dorsal/ventral PFC activity was greater in manipulation trials, consistent with the processing model of the functional organization of working memory in PFC.
826 citations
TL;DR: A connectionist model of human short-term memory is presented in this paper that extends the "phonological loop" (A. D. Baddeley, 1986) to encompass serial order and learning.
Abstract: A connectionist model of human short-term memory is presented that extends the "phonological loop" (A. D. Baddeley, 1986) to encompass serial order and learning. Psychological and neuropsychological data motivate separate layers of lexical, timing, and input and output phonemic information. Connection weights between layers show Hebbian learning and decay over short and long time scales. At recall, the timing signal is rerun, phonemic information feeds back from output to input, and lexical nodes compete to be selected. The selected node then receives decaying inhibition. The model provides an explanatory mechanism for the phonological loop and for the effects of serial position, presentation modality, lexicality, grouping, and Hebb repetition. It makes new psychological and neuropsychological predictions and is a starting point for understanding the role of the phonological loop in vocabulary acquisition and for interpreting data from functional neuroimaging.
774 citations
TL;DR: Children with poor arithmetic had normal phonological working memory but were impaired on spatial working memory and some aspects of executive processing, which seem likely to be important factors in poor arithmetical attainment.
TL;DR: It is concluded that non-verbal short-term memory can indeed be viewed as comprising distinct visual and spatio-sequential components and the VPT will be a useful neuropsychological instrument for measuring the visual component.
TL;DR: Results indicated that the SLI and NL groups performed similarly in terms of true/false comprehension items, but that the children with SLI evidenced significantly poorer word recall than the NL controls, even when differences in nonverbal cognitive scores were statistically controlled.
Abstract: This study investigated verbal working memory capacity in children with specific language impairment (SLI) The task employed in this study was the Competing Language Processing Task (CLPT) developed by Gaulin and Campbell (1994) A total of 40 school-age children participated in this investigation, including 20 with SLI and 20 normal language (NL) age-matched controls Results indicated that the SLI and NL groups performed similarly in terms of true/false comprehension items, but that the children with SLI evidenced significantly poorer word recall than the NL controls, even when differences in nonverbal cognitive scores were statistically controlled Distinct patterns of word-recall errors were observed for the SLI and NL groups, as well as different patterns of associations between CLPT word recall and performance on nonverbal cognitive and language measures The findings are interpreted within the framework of a limited-capacity model of language processing
TL;DR: Findings indicate that decayed memory traces in phonological short-term memory can be reconstructed using either lexical or phonotactic knowledge.
Abstract: The impact of phonotactic probabilities on serial recall was investigated in a series of experiments. In Experiments 1A and 1B, 7 and 8 year olds were tested on their serial recall of monosyllabic words and of nonwords varying in phonotactic frequencies. A recall advantage to words over nonwords remained when stimuli were balanced for phonotactic probability, but nonword recall showed superior accuracy for high over low probability nonwords, as in Experiment 2. The nonword frequency effect appears to reflect the frequency of constituent syllables rather than biphones. Both lexicality and high phonotactic frequency led to increased proportions of full over partial recall of the memory stimuli. These findings indicate that decayed memory traces in phonological short-term memory can be reconstructed using either lexical or phonotactic knowledge.
TL;DR: It was shown that many treatments with specific molecular actions given into the hippocampus, entorhinal or parietal cortex immediately after one-trial avoidance training can effectively block STM without affecting LTM formation, showing that STM and LTM involve separate mechanisms.
TL;DR: LD readers experience constraints in the articulatory and LTM system, but constraints mediate only some of the influence of executive processing on reading comprehension.
TL;DR: The results show that problem-solving ability is related to the ability of reducing the memory accessibility of nontarget and irrelevant information.
Abstract: An important body of evidence has shown that reading comprehension ability is related to working memory and, in particular, to the success in Daneman and Carpenter’s (1980) reading and listening span test. This research tested a similar hypothesis for arithmetic word problems, since, in order to maintain and process the information, they require working memory processes. A group of children possessing average vocabulary but poor arithmetic problem-solving skills was compared with a group of good problem solvers, matched for vocabulary, age, and socioeconomic status. Poor problem solvers presented lower recall and a greater number of intrusion errors in a series of tasks testing working memory and memory for problems. The results obtained over a series of six experimental phases, conducted during a 2-school-year period, offer evidence in favor of the hypotheses that groups of poor problem solvers may have poor performance in a working memory test requiring inhibition of irrelevant information (Hypothesis 1), but not in other short-term memory tests (Hypothesis 2), that this difficulty is related to poor recall of critical information and greater recall of to-be-inhibited information (Hypothesis 3), that poor problem solvers also have difficulty in remembering only relevant information included in arithmetic word problems (Hypothesis 4) despite the fact that they are able to identify relevant information (Hypothesis 5). The results show that problem-solving ability is related to the ability of reducing the memory accessibility of nontarget and irrelevant information.
1 Apr 1999
TL;DR: LT-WM reflects a complex skill acquired to meet the particular demands of future accessibility for information with tasks within a particular domain of expertise, so that the traditional assumption of a strict separation between memory, knowledge, and procedures for the task is not valid for skilled performance.
TL;DR: The Tower of Hanoi and Tower of London have become well-established executive function tasks that presumably tap cognitive skills mediated by the frontal cortex; however, there was a relatively weaker contribution of inhibition to TOH performance.
TL;DR: The findings indicate that phonological short-term memory is not a language-independent system but, rather, functions in a highly language-specific way.
Abstract: The sensitivity of children's phonological short-term memory performance to language-specific knowledge was investigated in two experiments. In Experiment 1, monolingual English children, English-French bilingual children, and English children who were learning French as a second language were compared on measures of phonological short-term memory and vocabulary in the two languages. The children's short-term memory performance in each language mirrored their familiarity with English and French, with greater vocabulary knowledge being associated with higher levels of recall of both words and nonwords in that language. This finding was replicated in Experiment 2, in which two groups of children with good knowledge of English and French were examined: native bilingual children who had comparable knowledge of the two languages and non-native bilingual children who had a greater knowledge of their native than second language. The findings indicate that phonological short-term memory is not a language-independent system but, rather, functions in a highly language-specific way.
TL;DR: Results suggest that depressed MS patients are characterized by limited working memory capacity and that the central executive component of the working memory system may be most affected.
Abstract: Recent research has shown that depression in multiple sclerosis (MS) is associated with deficits on cognitively demanding tasks. One explanation for this relationship is that depressed MS patients may have reduced working memory capacity. The present study was designed to test this hypothesis. Depressed MS patients were compared with nondepressed MS patients and nondepressed healthy controls on a task of working memory capacity (reading span) and a short-term memory task not taxing working memory capacity (word span). In support of the capacity-reduction model, compared with the nondepressed groups, depressed MS patients performed significantly worse on reading span (p<.001) but not on word span. Additionally, reading span was significantly correlated with capacity-demanding tasks shown to be impaired in depressed MS patients in previous reports. Results suggest that depressed MS patients are characterized by limited working memory capacity and that the central executive component of the working memory system may be most affected.
TL;DR: Surgical menopause is able to affect short-term verbal memory more than physiologicalMenopause and seems to represent a critical negative event within the female brain, in particular when it occurs prematurely.
Abstract: Estrogens are known to act selectively on some components of memory, exerting beneficial effects on cognitive performances. However, there are few data on the long-term effect of the lack of estrogen
TL;DR: Relative to reported reliabilities of other tasks used to assess individual differences in working memory capacity, the operation span task appears to have several statistical advantages.
Abstract: The present study explored the psychometric properties of Turner and Engle's (1989) operation span task, a widely used measure of working memory capacity. We administered the task three times to 33 college students, using equivalent test materials. The interval between the first and second administrations was 3 weeks, with 6-7 weeks between the second and third administrations. Alpha coefficients were all .75 or more. Recall accuracy decreased as operation set size increased. Raw test-retest correlations ranged from .67 to .81, the corrected reliability was .88, and stability scores ranged from .76 to .92. Performance improved from the first to the second test. Relative to reported reliabilities of other tasks used to assess individual differences in working memory capacity, the operation span task appears to have several statistical advantages.
TL;DR: The results of the present study suggest a greater age deficits in spatial working memory than in verbal working memory, but provide no evidence of an age deficit in susceptibility to interference by secondary tasks in either domain.
Abstract: Young and older adults were administered digit and location memory span tasks with and without verbal and spatial secondary tasks. Age differences were greater in location span than in digit span; however, there were no age differences in either the magnitude or pattern of effects of secondary tasks. There were also no age differences in the effects of secondary tasks on a combined (digit and location) task. On the digit and location span tasks, both young and older adults showed only domain-specific interference: naming colors selectively interfered with memory for digits, leaving memory for locations unaffected; pointing to matching colors selectively interfered with memory for locations, leaving memory for digits unimpaired. The results of the present study suggest a greater age deficit in spatial working memory than in verbal working memory, but provide no evidence of an age deficit in susceptibility to interference by secondary tasks in either domain.
TL;DR: A meta-analysis showed that TBIs are impaired on divided attention when the tasks require controlled processing, but not when the task can be carried out relatively automatically.
TL;DR: The influence of age and individual ability differences on event-based prospective memory was examined using an adapted version of G. O. Einstein and M. A. McDaniel's (1990) task.
Abstract: The influence of age and individual ability differences on event-based prospective memory was examined using an adapted version of G. O. Einstein and M. A. McDaniel's (1990) task. Two samples of younger and older adults who differed in educational attainment, occupational status, and verbal ability were compared. Results yield comparable prospective performance for the younger groups and higher ability older adults; lower ability older adults performed more poorly by comparison. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that working memory span and recognition accounted for small but significant proportions of variance in prospective performance. The contribution of ability level to prospective memory remained significant even after statistically controlling for self-reported health and social activity characteristics. Implications for current views on prospective memory aging are discussed.
TL;DR: In this article, the level of competence of elderly people in tasks measuring visuo-spatial working memory and, in particular, passive and active components of the system was investigated, showing that elderly people are selectively impaired in active tasks, and these tasks were also more sensitive in detecting differences within the older group.
Abstract: Recent theoretical accounts of working memory proposed a distinction between passive storage and active processing of visuo-spatial information. These hypotheses are based on empirical evidence showing that individual differences in visuo-spatial abilities are frequently modulated by this variable. However, results from age differences studies are not clear, and this research was designed to specifically investigate the level of competence of elderly people in tasks measuring visuo-spatial working memory and, in particular, passive and active components of the system. Three groups of participants (mean ages were approximately 22, 66, and 76) were tested in eight cognitive tasks tapping passive storage and active manipulation in various aspects of visuo-spatial and verbal processing. Results showed that elderly people are selectively impaired in active tasks, and these tasks were also more sensitive in detecting differences within the older group. These data highlight the need for theoretical models of wor...
TL;DR: In this article, a model of verbal short-term memory span is described in which trace selection from a shortterm store and the redintegration (restoration) of degraded phonological traces both occur in the pauses between saying successive items.
Abstract: Immediate memory span and speed of memory search were assessed for words and nonwords of short and long spoken duration. Memory span was substantially greater for words than for nonwords and for short than for long items, though speed of memory search was unaffected by either length or lexicality. An analysis of the temporal pattern of responses in the memory span task indicated that inter-item pauses were longer between nonwords than words but that these pause durations were unaffected by item length. A model of verbal short-term memory span is described in which trace selection from a short-term store and the redintegration (restoration) of degraded phonological traces both occur in the pauses between saying successive items. Both trace selection and trace redintegration appear to play important roles in accounting for individual differences in memory span.
TL;DR: Vigilance performance was studied in a sample of elderly subjects who were tested over a 40-min period involving perceptual or memory-based tasks which were matched for initial level of performance, and results are interpreted as consistent with a role for the executive processes of working memory in both visual rehearsal and vigilance performance.