Cognition
Chapter 4
Working Memory
Cognition 7e, Margaret Matlin
Chapter 4
Introduction
working memory
short-term memory
long-term memory
Cognition 7e, Margaret Matlin
Chapter 4
The Classic Research on
Working Memory
George Miller's "Magical Number Seven"
suggested that people can remember about
seven items (give or take two)
chunk as memory unit
proposed that people engage in internal mental
processes in order to convert stimuli into a
manageable number of chunks
Cognition 7e, Margaret Matlin
Chapter 4
The Classic Research on
Working Memory
Other Early Research on Short-TermMemory Capacity
The Brown/Peterson & Peterson Technique
material held in memory for less than a minute is
frequently forgotten
remember three items; count backwards by threes
rehearsal
Cognition 7e, Margaret Matlin
Chapter 4
Brown/Peterson &
Peterson—Typical Results
Cognition 7e, Margaret Matlin
Chapter 4
The Classic Research on
Working Memory
Other Early Research on Short-TermMemory Capacity
The Recency Effect
serial position effect
recency effect
primacy effect
used to measure the size of short-term memory
Cognition 7e, Margaret Matlin
Chapter 4
Serial Position Effect
Cognition 7e, Margaret Matlin
Chapter 4
The Classic Research on
Working Memory
Atkinson and Shiffrin's Model
control processes
Other Factors Affecting Working Memory's
Capacity
Pronunciation Time
short names vs. long names
numbers in different languages
acoustic properties of stimuli
Cognition 7e, Margaret Matlin
Chapter 4
Pronunciation Rate &
Memory Span
Cognition 7e, Margaret Matlin
Chapter 4
The Classic Research on
Working Memory
Other Factors Affecting Working Memory's
Capacity (continued)
Semantic Similarity of the Items in Working
Memory
semantics
Wickens and colleagues (1976)
proactive interference (PI)
release from proactive interference
Brown/Peterson & Peterson task varying semantic similarity on
Trial 4
Cognition 7e, Margaret Matlin
Chapter 4
Release from Proactive
Interference
Cognition 7e, Margaret Matlin
Chapter 4
The Working-Memory
Approach
Alan Baddeley & Graham Hitch (1974); Baddeley
(2000, 2001, 2006)
What does short-term memory accomplish for
our cognitive processes?
Cognition 7e, Margaret Matlin
Chapter 4
Baddeley’s Model of
Working Memory
Cognition 7e, Margaret Matlin
Chapter 4
The Working-Memory
Approach
working-memory approach—our immediate
memory is a multipart system that temporarily
holds and manipulates information as we perform
cognitive tasks
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•
•
central executive
visuospatial sketchpad
episodic buffer
phonological loop
emphasis on active manipulation of information in
working memory
Cognition 7e, Margaret Matlin
Chapter 4
The Working-Memory
Approach
Evidence for Components with
Independent Capacities
Working memory is not unitary
Baddeley & Hitch (1974)
random numbers and spatial reasoning task
Cognition 7e, Margaret Matlin
Chapter 4
The Working-Memory
Approach
In Depth: Phonological Loop
phonological loop—processes a limited number of
sounds for a short period of time
subvocalization
Cognition 7e, Margaret Matlin
Chapter 4
The Working-Memory
Approach
In Depth: Phonological Loop
Research on Acoustic Confusions
acoustic confusions
Similar sounding items are more difficult to recall
BDPTVC
KMFQZL
Conrad & Hull (1964)
list of letters, presented visually
lists of words
Cognition 7e, Margaret Matlin
Chapter 4
The Working-Memory
Approach
In Depth: Phonological Loop
Other Uses for the Phonological Loop
counting
reading
acquiring new vocabulary
learning foreign language
mathematical calculations
problem-solving tasks
complex task instructions
Cognition 7e, Margaret Matlin
Chapter 4
The Working-Memory
Approach
Neuroscience Research on the Phonological
Loop
Cognition 7e, Margaret Matlin
Chapter 4
The Working-Memory
Approach
Visuospatial Sketchpad
visuospatial sketchpad—processes both visual and
spatial information
store appearance and relative position
store visual information encoded from verbal stimuli
limited capacity
Cognition 7e, Margaret Matlin
Chapter 4
The Working-Memory
Approach
Visuospatial Sketchpad
Research on the Visuospatial Sketchpad
performing two visuospatial tasks simultaneously
no standardized set of visual stimuli
tendency to provide names for visual stimuli, thus
using phonological loop instead
Brandimonte and colleagues (1992)—say "la la la"
while looking at complex visual stimulus
Cognition 7e, Margaret Matlin
Chapter 4
The Working-Memory
Approach
Visuospatial Sketchpad
Other Uses for the Visuospatial Sketchpad
engineering
art
architecture
retaining image of a scene
finding your way from one location to another
videogames, jigsaw puzzles, mazes
television
Cognition 7e, Margaret Matlin
Chapter 4
The Working-Memory
Approach
Neuroscience Research on the Visuospatial
Sketchpad
Parietal and
frontal areas
are active
during mental
rotation
Cognition 7e, Margaret Matlin
Chapter 4
The Working-Memory
Approach
Central Executive
central executive—integrates information from the
phonological loop, the visuospatial sketchpad, the
episodic buffer and from long-term memory
Characteristics of the Central Executive
plans and coordinates, but does not store information
executive supervisor
decides which issues deserve attention
selects a strategy
limited capacity to perform simultaneous tasks
Cognition 7e, Margaret Matlin
Chapter 4
The Working-Memory
Approach
Central Executive
The Central Executive and Daydreaming
Teasdale and colleagues (1995)
random-number generation task
report thoughts
Neuroscience Research on the Central
Executive
frontal lobe
Cognition 7e, Margaret Matlin
Chapter 4
The Working-Memory
Approach
Episodic Buffer
episodic buffer—temporary storehouse where
we can gather and combine information from the
phonological loop, the visuospatial sketchpad,
and long-term memory
integrates information from different modalities
limited
temporary
Cognition 7e, Margaret Matlin
Chapter 4
The Working-Memory
Approach
Individual Differences: Major Depression
and Working Memory
Working memory performance is related to:
• overall intelligence and grades in school
• verbal fluency, reading comprehension, reasoning
ability, note-taking skills
• reading ability
• Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
Cognition 7e, Margaret Matlin
Chapter 4
The Working-Memory
Approach
Individual Differences: Major Depression
and Working Memory
Major depression
Christopher and MacDonald (2005)
phonological loop
visuospatial sketchpad
central executive
difficulty concentrating
unwanted negative thoughts
Cognition 7e, Margaret Matlin
Chapter 4
Alterations in the Functional Anatomy
of Working Memory in Adult Attention
Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Data suggest the use of compensatory mental
and neural strategies by subjects with ADHD in
response to a disrupted ability to inhibit
attention to nonrelevant stimuli and the use of
internalized speech to guide behavior.
http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/article.aspx?Volume=157&page=278
&journalID=13
Cognition 7e, Margaret Matlin
Chapter 4