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Working Memory, Thought, and Action
Abstract
This book is the magnum opus of one of the most influential cognitive psychologists of the past 50 years. This new volume on the model he created (with Graham Hitch) discusses the developments that have occurred in the past 20 years, and places it within a broader context. Working memory is a temporary storage system that underpins onex' capacity for coherent thought. Some 30 years ago, Baddeley and Hitch proposed a way of thinking about working memory that has proved to be both valuable and influential in its application to practical problems. This book updates the theory, discussing both the evidence in its favour, and alternative approaches. In addition, it discusses the implications of the model for understanding social and emotional behaviour, concluding with an attempt to place working memory in a broader biological and philosophical context. Inside are chapters on the phonological loop, the visuo-spatial sketchpad, the central executive and the episodic buffer. There are also chapters on the relevance to working memory of studies of the recency effect, of work based on individual differences, and of neuroimaging research. The broader implications of the concept of working memory are discussed in the chapters on social psychology, anxiety, depression, consciousness, and on the control of action. Finally, the author discusses the relevance of a concept of working memory to the classic problems of consciousness and free will.
... Given the fact that memory regulates several aspects of our lives, such as habits, knowledge, and personality (EYSENCK; BRYSBAERT, 2018), it is natural that many researchers have shown interest in studying and deepening this area of knowledge (e.g., ATKINSON;SHIFFRIN, 1971;HITCH, 1974;BADDELEY, 1981BADDELEY, , 2000BADDELEY, , 2003BADDELEY, , 2007IZQUIERDO, 2002;STERNBERG, 2010;GATHERCOLE, 2012;COWAN, 2015;WEN, 2015). Atkinson and Shiffrin (1971) presented the initial model of WM, which was a view on the information flow, starting with the processing of environmental stimuli in the sensory receptors. ...
... The phonological loop is one of the subcomponents of WM responsible for speech-based information (BADDELEY, 2000(BADDELEY, , 2003(BADDELEY, , 2007(BADDELEY, , 2015b(BADDELEY, , 2020bVULCHANOVA et al., 2014;CHEMERISOVA;MARTYNOVA, 2019;MATTYS;BADDELEY, 2019), holding stimuli during the processing and development of analyzing, planning, and articulatory processing (VALLAR; PAPAGNO, 2002). ...
... Regarding the phonological loop, Baddeley (2015a, p. 44) states that "the store is assumed to be limited in capacity, with items registered as memory traces, which decay within a few seconds". The subvocal rehearsal (BADDELEY, 1981, 2000, 2003, 2007PAPAGNO, 2002), is the process of keeping on saying the items to yourself, which can refresh the traces and prevent their decay (VALLAR; PAPAGNO, 2002;BADDELEY, 2003BADDELEY, , 2007BADDELEY, , 2015aMATTYS;BADDELEY, 2019). This subvocal articulation can also store the visual material by recoding it phonologically; however, this process can be blocked by articulatory suppression, which is able to eliminate previous coding of visual information, allowing for the new acoustic material to be stored phonologically (BADDELEY, 1981(BADDELEY, , 2003(BADDELEY, , 2007. ...
... Baddeley & Hitch (2010); Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968)›in çoklu depolama bellek modelindeki kısa süreli belleğe alternatif olarak üç parçalı çalışma belleği modelini önermiştir. Bu model daha sonra Baddeley (2007) tarafından dördüncü bir bileşen eklenerek genişletilmiş ve çalışma belleği alanında baskın görüş haline gelmiştir. Baddeley & Hitch, 2010)' in orijinal modeli üç ana bileşenden oluşmaktadır: denetleyici bir sistem olarak hareket eden, bilgi akışını kontrol eden merkezi yönetici, fonolojik döngü ve görsel-uzamsal kopyalama. ...
... Baddeley & Logie (1999), merkezi yöneticiyi çeşitli süreçlerin entegrasyonunun bir sonucu olarak tanımlamıştır. Bunlar dikkati odaklama yeteneği, dikkati iki veya daha fazla görev arasında bölme yeteneği ve uzun süreli belleğe erişimini kontrol etme yeteneğidir (Logie vd., 2004;Baddeley, 2007). Bunu başarmanın yolu, bir veya daha fazla inhibisyon tipi ile olabilir (Engle vd., 1999;Miyake vd., 2000). ...
... Words which shared the same central phoneme (e.g., cat, bat, map, nap) are less recalled than phonologically dissimilar words (e.g., cat, bed, sick, luck). This effect known as the phonological similarity effect (PSE) had been frequently reported in previous studies (Baddeley, 1966(Baddeley, , 2007Camos et al., 2013;Larsen et al., 2000). PSE emerges from interference at the time of encoding and recall. ...
... A l'inverse, la présence d'un effet de similarité sémantique entre les items (PSE, voir Chapitre 1, partie 1.1) a été généralement observée comme détériorant le rappel de ces items (Baddeley, 1966(Baddeley, , 2007Camos et al., 2013;Larsen et al., 2000;Macnamara et al., représentation. En présence de similarité phonologique, cet effet du CL n'était pas visible. ...
Our results indicate that active maintenance in WM largely favors a process of direct access to verbatim- type representations rather than an engagement in a reconstruction process. The implication of knowledge in LTM can improve the encoding of these representations, as well as their reactivation in WM, but their beneficial effects are not attributable to the availability of the attentional refreshment mechanism as currently described in theoretical models of WM.
... There are four main types; sensory memory (information in the environment which is stored for a brief amount of time), short-term memory (information in the sensory store which is attended to), working memory (holds, rehearses, updates and manipulates information which guides one's behaviour) and long-term memory (information in the short-term store which is rehearsed. This has an unlimited capacity and can hold information for a long time) (Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968;Baddeley, 2007). ...
Automated Vehicles (AVs) are expected to bring many benefits to society (e.g. improved safety, increased capacity, reduced fuel use and emissions). However, there are also many challenges with AVs. These include issues associated with drivers’ trust, mental models of the automation’s capabilities and limitations and manual driving skill degradation. Therefore, solutions are needed to enhance the benefits and eliminate the challenges with AVs. One solution is driver training. Current training for drivers of AVs is limited to an owner’s manual and most drivers do not read their owner’s manual. Therefore, this thesis sought to understand the training needs for drivers of a Level 4 AV and to design, develop and evaluate a comprehensive training programme to address these needs. A grounded theory approach was used to identify nine key themes in AV driver training. These themes were applied to currently deployed training programmes, five AV collisions and IAM RoadSmart’s Advanced Driver Course to demonstrate the validity and relevance of these themes to AVs and driver training. A Training Needs Analysis (TNA) was conducted to establish the tasks and competencies that drivers need to safely operate the Level 4 AV. This TNA identified 7 main tasks, 25 sub-tasks, 2428 operations and 105 training needs and was used to develop an online video-based training resource and a training package for the safe activation of the Level 4 AV. Evaluation studies demonstrated short-term benefits of these training programmes over no training (more correct decisions, better activation behaviours) and owner’s manuals (more appropriate mental models, reduced mental demand), however the long-term retention benefits and applications to Level 5 AVs and other transport domains must be explored. This thesis should encourage further research into the development of better training for drivers of AVs, so that clear benefits of AVs can be realised without the challenges.
... By and large we can say that the central executive control is a framework of attention control with restricted processing capacity, the phonological loop guarantees retention of verbal information and the visuospatial sketchpad is in charge for storage of visual and spatial information 27 . Baddeley and Logie expressed that central executive is the aftereffect of the integration of few processes: the ability to focus attention, the capacity to divide consideration between two or more errands, and the capacity to control long-term memory approach [28][29][30] . Cognitive flexibility is an significant part of executive function that may be characterized as the ability to efficiently adapt to changing task requirements It is otherwise called "set-switching" which alludes to our capacity to switch between various mental sets, errands, or procedures 31 . ...
... Kellogg was among the first to articulate the intersection of working memory capacity based on the model proposed by Baddeley (1986Baddeley ( , 2007 and the systems and processes of composing based on the previous research of Flower and Hayes (1980). According to Baddeley, working memory is a limited capacity system comprising three main components: (a) a visuo-spatial sketchpad, tasked with storing visual and spatial input in such a way that it is easily accessible to long-term memory; (b) a phonological loop, tasked with storing auditory and phonological input in such a way that it is easily accessible to long term memory; and (c) a central executive, which directs the activities of the visuo-spatial sketchpad and phonological loop and provides additional support to each component should it become overburdened. ...
Recent second language (L2) writing research informed by task-based theories of second language acquisition has enthusiastically adopted task complexity frameworks to describe the specific cognitive demands of a given writing task and the effect of those cognitive demands on written L2 production. However, missing from many studies on the effects of task complexity on L2 written production is a discussion of genre as a potential source of task complexity. This paper examines the potential of genre as a resource-dispersing form of task complexity that is unique to writing. The article summarizes the predictions of task-based theories of second language acquisition particularly the predictions of the Cognition Hypothesis and its intersection with Kellogg’s widely-cited model of working memory in writing. It then argues that formal genre-specific knowledge constitutes a resource-dispersing form of task complexity that is distinct from general L2 proficiency and general writing proficiency.
... The contents of our consciousness can be decoupled from the sensory inputs -for example, when we dream. Even when we're awake, examples of ambiguity, like the well-known images with dual meanings due to shades and perception focus, for example showing both a rabbit and a duck at the same time, show that the contents of our consciousness aren't determined solely by the sensory inputs (Baddeley, 2007). ...
The biophysical roots of consciousness have been the subject of an ongoing debate for centuries. In order to understand the data, create novel experimental methodologies, and increase our ability to investigate this phenomenon of interest, the proposed theories must lead to empirical, repeatable, and testifiable studies. Contemporary theories of consciousness often do not relate to one another, and none of them has been distinguished as complete or proven empirically so far. The aim of this study is an investigation into some of the possible approaches that could merge neuronal brain activity with the laws of physics and some philosophical principles that may be associated with the emergence of consciousness in the first place. As a result, the relationship between consciousness and attention, working memory, access consciousness and phenomenal consciousness is evaluated. The contrast between conscious and unconscious perception, perceived visual inputs and subliminal ones is investigated to facilitate a discussion about the neural correlates of self-awareness. Consciousness as a global broadcast of information to integrated brain modules is being considered, as well as viewing a brain as a parallel information processor linked to attention inputs. Relationship between consciousness and attention is explored, as well as attention without consciousness and vice versa. Implications and shortcomings of the proposed approaches based on brain science, philosophy and quantum physics are also covered to shed some more light on this ever present experience of being conscious that everyone seems to self-witness but no one manages to adequately explain.
... The Cognitive theory of multimedia learning by Mayer [1] is based on an integration of Sweller's cognitive load theory [20], working memory model by Baddeley [21], and dual-coding theory by Paivio [22]. These theories claim that the information perceived should be presented in the ways that a learner's limited working memory resources are being used as efficiently as possible. ...
In many educational settings today, students have been found to lack the concentration and motivation to learn the content in the classroom. This reduces and disrupts the efficiency of their learning process. Humans have limitations in the amount of information that they can process at one time. Sound is used in many platforms, mostly in music, movies, and television, to affect human perceptions and moods. Sound plays a huge influential part in how humans interact with the world. The purpose of this research is to study how sound can be used to influence the teaching and learning environment and to enhance their concentration and motivation to learn. A conceptual framework will be designed to aid and guide the understanding of the relationship between sound and cognitive improvements.
... According to the Attentional Control Theory (ACT), human behaviour is governed by the topdown system, lead by knowledge, expectations and goals contents from the working memory; and the bottom-up system, in search for salient stimuli and potential threats in the environment (31). High-reinvesters tend to cope with potential threats by shifting attention control towards an internal attention focus and conscious information processing (21, 22), and therefore lower capacity in the working memory (32,33). Eysenck and his colleagues claim in this regard, that according to the explicit-monitoring theory internal attention focus occupies the working memory, and therefore favours the bottom-up system; and further affects gaze behaviour in highreinvesters towards the source of threat (34), rather than the solution. ...
Background
Sleep disruption (SD) increases sympathetic activity and cortisol secretion, and delays cognitive functions such as reaction-time (RT). Sympathetic activity of disturbed sleepers, is similar to those of so-called decision-reinvesters. Decision-reinvestment refers to traits in individuals with greater tendency to ruminate and reinvest in their decisions, with significant decrease in both motor-control and cognitive performance. Decision-making quality is a crucial attribute to athletic performance which relies on RT. Consequently, SD affects pitch-performance negatively, particularly in decision-reinvesters. This observational pilot-study examined the relationship between SD and cognitive function, perceived health, as well as reinvestment strategies. The hypothesis was that athletes with lower SD perceive their health better, report lower stress levels, perform better in cognitive tasks, and show lower tendency for decision-reinvestment.Methods
Twenty-one football player recorded their sleep with fit-trackers for 7 nights. Participants self-reported their mental and physical health, decision-reinvestment strategy, sleep behaviour, and perceived stress levels. Athletes then performed a set of cognitive tests to examine memory function (Backwards Corsi), selective attention (STROOP), and cognitive flexibility (Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, WCST). Normality was tested with a Shapiro-Wilk test, and analysed with a Pearson's or Spearman's correlation test.ResultsSignificant correlation appeared between extended sleep-interruptions and Backwards Corsi RT, r = 0.66, p = 0.010, as further in total sleep time and wellbeing r = 0.50, p = 0.029. A negative correlation exist in regard of pain scores and Backwards Corsi scores r = −0.57, p = 0.110. Physical health correlated with error-rates in the WCST, r = 0.69, p ≤ 0.001. Also, reinvestment negatively correlated with physical health, r = −0.80, p ≤ 0.001.Conclusion
Wellbeing relies on total sleep-time. Athletes with extended sleep-interruptions are slower in recalling memory, and those with greater reported pain have lower memory scores. Participants who rate physical health greater, have more error-rates in the WCST; indicating that cognitive flexibility is enhanced in individuals with inferior perceived health. However, individuals with lower physical health scores also have greater tendency to ruminate and reinvest in decisions, suggesting interrelation between reinvestment and physical health.
... WM has traditionally been defined as the memory system responsible for actively maintaining current information for a short period of time, allowing for it to be manipulated and accessed either in the present moment or later, and is suggested to support and underlie many complex processes such as learning, reasoning, and problem solving [20][21][22]. STM is also considered an interactive component of WM, which refers to a capacitylimited memory system involved in the brief storage of information received from either verbal or visuospatial representations [23]. WM is also often considered to be a component of nonverbal intelligence [24], or perhaps even synonymous [25]. ...
Although cognitive abilities have been shown to facilitate multisensory processing in adults, the development of cognitive abilities such as working memory and intelligence, and their relationship to multisensory motor reaction times (MRTs), has not been well investigated in children. Thus, the aim of the current study was to explore the contribution of age-related cognitive abilities in elementary school-age children (n = 75) aged 5–10 years, to multisensory MRTs in response to auditory, visual, and audiovisual stimuli, and a visuomotor eye–hand co-ordination processing task. Cognitive performance was measured on classical working memory tasks such as forward and backward visual and auditory digit spans, and the Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices (RCPM test of nonverbal intelligence). Bayesian Analysis revealed decisive evidence for age-group differences across grades on visual digit span tasks and RCPM scores but not on auditory digit span tasks. The results also showed decisive evidence for the relationship between performance on more complex visually based tasks, such as difficult items of the RCPM and visual digit span, and multisensory MRT tasks. Bayesian regression analysis demonstrated that visual WM digit span tasks together with nonverbal IQ were the strongest unique predictors of multisensory processing. This suggests that the capacity of visual memory rather than auditory processing abilities becomes the most important cognitive predictor of multisensory MRTs, and potentially contributes to the expected age-related increase in cognitive abilities and multisensory motor processing.
... The concept of a phonological loop has not gone unchallenged, however. To date, the theoretical underpinnings of the phonological loop continue to be researched and have produced interesting developments in our understanding of language acquisition and processing (Baddeley, 2007). In this study, we examined the effect of WM training through using dual n-back tasks on vocabulary recall and retention of Iranian EFL learners. ...
Working memory (WM) plays an important role in learning since it serves as the buffer between past sensations and future behaviour, making it essential to understand not only how we encode and recall sensory information in memory but also how we plan for its upcoming use. This study examined the effect of WM training on vocabulary recall and retention of Iranian EFL learners using the dual n-back task technique. N-back requires the individual to remember an item that was presented a certain number of items previously. To this end, 50 EFL learners were randomly assigned to the experimental (n = 25) and control (n = 25) groups. The participants were taught 100 English words in 20 sessions. In each session, the experimental group also received a dual n-back task. The obtained data were analysed through two-way repeated measures analysis of variance and independent samples t-tests. The results showed that the experimental group outperformed the control group in target words’ recall and retention. Keywords: Dual n-back task, EFL learners, working memory training, vocabulary recall, vocabulary retention
... [3][4][5] Memori kerja adalah komponen utama dari fungsi eksekutif (FE) yang bertanggung jawab dalam menyimpan informasi untuk sementara waktu, memproses dan memanipulasi informasi tersebut untuk suatu tujuan tertentu. 6,7 Gangguan memori kerja akan mengakibatkan anak kesulitan untuk memahami dan mengikuti instruksi yang diberikan, kesulitan mengerti pelajaran yang diajarkan oleh guru, kesulitan mengerjakan tugas sekolah, susah berkonsentrasi, perhatian mudah teralih yang berdampak pada performa akademik anak tersebut dan pada akhirnya berisiko drop out. 4,8,9 Studi melaporkan gangguan memori kerja banyak ditemukan pada gangguan pemusatan perhatian dan hiperaktivitas (GPPH). ...
Latar belakang. Penelitian menunjukkan memori kerja merupakan prediktor kapasitas belajar yang lebih bermakna daripada intelligence quotient (IQ). Bila fungsi ini terganggu, anak dapat mengalami kesulitan belajar. Studi melaporkan gangguan memori kerja banyak ditemukan pada gangguan pemusatan perhatian dan hiperaktivitas (GPPH).
Tujuan. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendapatkan data proporsi gangguan memori kerja pada anak GPPH dan perbandingan dengan anak tanpa GPPH. Data ini diharapkan dapat menjadi data dasar bagi pengembangan intervensi selanjutnya.
Metode. Penelitian ini dilakukan dengan desain potong lintang. Pengambilan sampel dilakukan dengan metode randomized sampling. Instrumen Working Memory Rating Scale (WMRS) yang telah divalidasi dalam Bahasa Indonesia oleh Wiguna, dkk. (2012) digunakan untuk menentukan ada tidaknya defisit memori kerja.
Hasil. Proporsi gangguan memori kerja pada kelompok anak dengan GPPH berbeda bermakna dibandingkan kelompok anak tanpa GPPH (44% vs 0%, p
... This factor has been shown to be uniformly important across studies, although it is often conceptualized and coded differently. This uniformity of effect may indicate that this factor is more broadly related to language processing and cognitive strategies and therefore not as restricted in scope as the other variables (e.g., Baddeley, 2007;Zahler, 2018). Future research may do well to explore this factor as it relates to processing abilities, such as short-term/working memory. ...
... Explicit memories about our experiences and general knowledge base are related to the hippocampus, the neocortex, and the amygdala while implicit memories such as motor skills are related to the cerebellum. Short-term working memory is associated mainly with brain activity in the prefrontal cortex [44,45]. ...
The term information is used in different meanings in different fields of study and daily life, causing misunderstanding and confusion. There is a need to clarify what information is and how it relates to knowledge. It is argued that information is meaning represented by physical symbols such as sights, sounds, and words. Knowledge is meaning that resides in a conscious mind. The basic building blocks of information are symbols and meaning, which cannot be reduced to one another. The symbols of information are the physical media of representation and the means of transmission of information. Without the associated meaning, the symbols of information have no significance since meaning is an ascribed and acquired quality and not an inherent property of the symbols. We can transmit symbols of information but cannot transmit meaning from one mind to another without a common protocol or convention. A concise and cohesive framework for information can be established on the common ground of the mind, meaning, and symbols trio. Using reasoned arguments, logical consistency, and conformity with common experiences and observations as the methodology, this paper offers valuable insights to facilitate clear understanding and unifies several definitions of information into one in a cohesive manner.
... Unlike auditory material, visually presented input is transformed into phonological code by subvocal articulation and then gains access to the phonological store. This process may be unsuccessful due to the acoustic confusion that might happen when subjects recall input during reading (Baddeley, 2007). Thus, despite the lower rate of learning compared to reading, listening is a valuable source for retaining the formmeaning connection and syntagmatic association because learners forget them less after three weeks. ...
The present study compares the effects of the second language (L2) reading and listening on incidental vocabulary learning and retention of three dimensions of word knowledge (i.e., part of speech, syntagmatic association, and form-meaning connection) among EFL learners. The relationship between word exposure frequency and vocabulary learning is also examined in reading versus listening. Sixty-three pre-intermediate EFL learners in four intact classes were randomly assigned to four experimental groups based on the number of target word (TW) exposures (i.e., 1, 3, 5, and 7 exposures) they received in treatment texts. The experimental groups read and listened to four texts with 36 TWs. The scores on the immediate and three-week delayed posttests revealed that reading contributed to a greater amount of vocabulary learning and retention in the three dimensions of word knowledge. The results further revealed that an increase in the word exposure frequency had a significant effect on acquiring form-meaning connection through reading, and on three dimensions through listening. Moreover, frequency improved retention gains in both input sources.
... Des chercheurs ont constaté que la charge émotionnelle négative de certaines pensées ou souvenirs peut être réduite par l'opposition d'une stimulation sollicitant les mêmes processus 204 cognitifs (Patel & McDowall, 2017). Cette théorie repose sur le fait que l'administrateur central de la mémoire de travail dispose de ressources limitées (Baddeley, 2007). Les pensées, souvenirs et affects nécessitent la mobilisation de la mémoire de travail (Mikels & Reuter-Lorenz, 2019) et donc de l'attention (Erickson, 2008). ...
Les bienfaits des espaces de nature urbains sur la santé mentale sont attestés par de nombreuses publications scientifiques. Aujourd’hui, les recherches montrent que la diversité paysagère ainsi que les caractéristiques inter-individuelles induisent des effets différentiels sur la santé et le bien-être des usagers. L’objectif de cette thèse est de spécifier comment une expérience de nature bénéfique combine les composantes subjectives et environnementales. La recherche est menée à partir d’une expérience de nature in situ. Les comportements sont évalués par l’oculométrie, les cognitions avec l’entretien d’explicitation et les affects par le biais d’échelles psychométriques relatives à l’humeur et l’anxiété. Nos données objectivent un phénomène de restauration attentionnelle lors de cette expérience. La combinaison des approches psychologiques et paysagères renseigne qu’un paysage avec une faible verticalité et un champ visuel étendu favorise davantage la restauration. Enfin, nos analyses indiquent que le caractère thérapeutique de l’expérience de nature est lié à l’expérimentation d’états de pleine conscience. L’originalité de ce travail est de proposer une méthodologie mettant en évidence l’effet bénéfique de paysages contrastés Elle présente cependant des limites pour lesquelles des solutions sont proposées. Nos résultats suggèrent que l’expérience de nature constitue une véritable stratégie pour réduire l’anxiété et promouvoir l’euthymie en ramenant aux sensations présentes, c’est-à-dire à une expérience proche de la pleine conscience.
... According to Baddeley (2007), the central executive is the most important component of the WM model. However, it has also proven to be the most challenging one to analyse and understand, as its processes are less tractable than the ones of the simpler slave systems (phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad). ...
This study explored the relationship of complex working memory (WM) and phonological
short-term memory (PSTM) to aspects of second language (L2) oral production and selfrepair
behaviour. The study drew on Levelt’s (1989; 1983) model of speech and perceptual
loop theory of monitoring while the concept of WM was based on Baddeley and Hitch’s
(1974) multicomponent model of WM. Complex WM refers to the cognitive capacity of
simultaneous storage and processing of information while PSTM refers to the capacity of the
phonological store. The participants were 84 Emirati female university students learning
English in an intensive language program in Abu Dhabi. It was hypothesised that given the
limited automaticity of the language building processes in less advanced EFL learners, and
thus the dependence of these processes on attentional resources, speakers with higher WM
and PSTM scores would perform better in terms of fluency, accuracy, lexical and syntactic
complexity in a task with simultaneous online planning. In addition, a relationship of WM
with the number and the types of overt self-repairs was anticipated based on the attentional
demands of the monitoring processes. Complex WM was measured with a backward digit
span test in participants’ L1 and a listening span test in L2. Phonological STM was measured
with a simple word-recall test in L2. Statistical analysis of the data showed a relationship of
complex WM with disfluency and general grammatical accuracy, while PSTM correlated
significantly with speech rate, general and specific measures of grammatical accuracy as well
as lexical variety. Complex WM and PSTM were also found to correlate moderately with
overall oral performance scores. No statistically significant results emerged between complex
WM, PSTM and number of self-repairs, but there was a significant negative correlation
between PSTM and phonological error-repairs. Overall, the findings support that WM
contributes to variation in L2 oral production but not overt self-repair behaviour.
... Sulla memoria, o meglio sulle memorie, sono stati condotti molti studi (a partire dai classici test di ebbinghaus nel 1885) e presentati molti modelli (atkinson e Shiffrin, 1968(atkinson e Shiffrin, , 1971Baddeley, 2007;Baddeley e hitch, 1974Baddeley e hitch, , 1976hebb, 1949;rubin, 2005;Schacter, 1992;Squire, 1992; tulving e Schacter, 1990). Per diversi aspetti, si è raggiunto un buon livello di accordo tra gli studiosi sui meccanismi in gioco in questa funzione cognitiva, ad eccezione della memoria autobiografica. ...
Because of their complexity, emotions are a very difficult phenomenon to define. For this reason, many theories have been proposed and different models have been developed to try to understand them better. In this review, we will limit ourselves to six main components that contribute to the emergence of emotions: environmental actors, attentional capacity, encoding, memory of events, appraisal, and emotional regulation.
Using the metaphor of a cube whose sides are interconnected and interact, we analyze each of these six elements and show how their articulation, starting from an affective core, enables the development of human emotions.
... The alteration found in a working memory task, in which information updating is highly required, demonstrates that, in these children, not only the articulatory repetition mechanism is compromised [7], but also the updating and the active manipulation of information are altered. The former contributes to the ability to retain information in the phonological circuit by keeping it "active" [98], while updating allows the modification of the contents of the memory to accommodate new input [99]. ...
Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a subtype of motor speech disorder usually co-occurring with language impairment. A supramodal processing difficulty, involving executive functions (EFs), might contribute to the cognitive endophenotypes and behavioral manifestations. The present study aimed to profile the EFs in CAS, investigating the relationship between EFs, speech and language severity, and the connectivity of the frontal aslant tract (FAT), a white matter tract involved in both speech and EFs. A total of 30 preschool children with CAS underwent speech, language, and EF assessments and brain MRIs. Their FAT connectivity metrics were compared to those of 30 children without other neurodevelopmental disorders (NoNDs), who also underwent brain MRIs. Alterations in some basic EF components were found. Inhibition and working memory correlated with speech and language severity. Compared to NoND children, a weak, significant reduction in fractional anisotropy (FA) in the left presupplementary motor area (preSMA) FAT component was found. Only speech severity correlated and predicted FA values along with the FAT in both of its components, and visual-spatial working memory moderated the relationship between speech severity and FA in the left SMA. Our study supports the conceptualization of a composite and complex picture of CAS, not limited to the speech core deficit, but also involving high-order cognitive skills.
... It involves the active, top-down manipulation of information that is held in the short-term memory. It includes distinct components, including the central executive (responsible for active manipulation of stored information), the phonological loop (responsible for short-term storage and rehearsal of verbal/auditory information), and the visuospatial sketchpad (which is responsible for short-term storage and rehearsal of visual/spatial information) (Baddeley, 2007). The processes in the working memory are often conceptualized as storage buffers that retain information briefly, rehearsal processes that refresh the buffers, and executive processes that manipulate the contents of the buffers (Jonides et al., 2005). ...
Background:
Cognitive impairment and affective symptoms are hallmark features of patients with schizophrenia. This study determines whether a computerized working memory training program improves the patient's working memory and affective perception.
Methods:
Thirty-nine male patients with schizophrenia, aged 25-65, participated in this study. The study uses a single-blind randomized controlled design. Twenty subjects were assigned to the experimental group and received an eight-week working memory computerized training course comprising four modules of the CogniPlus system. Nineteen subjects were assigned to the control group and received treatment as usual. All subjects received the same assessments twice, including the Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE), Working Memory Index (WMI) of Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition, and the subjective rating of pictures of the International affective picture system by Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM).
Results:
This study shows that computerized working memory training improves WMI and the score for MMSE and produces a significant increase in the pleasure score for S.A.M. for negative pictures, between the pretest and post-test for the experimental group.
Conclusions:
Working memory training improves working memory and emotion perception for patients with chronic schizophrenia and normal cognition. The limitations of this study and suggestions for future study are also discussed.
... Working memory, which is a temporary storage system under attentional control, is believed to render humans capable of complex thinking (Baddeley, 2007). Although there are several models of working memory, Baddeley's model, which is termed the multicomponent working memory model, is the most supported (Chai, Abd Hamid, & Abdullah, 2018). ...
Much attention has been paid to the enhancement of working memory, which can improve children’s lives. Part of the value of working memory training is that it activates the prefrontal cortex. Therefore, it is important to determine the parts of the prefrontal cortex that are activated by working memory training. While there is much evidence that mental abacus effectively trains working memory, few studies have assessed whether the abacus (Soroban) in Japan should be considered an effective training approach for working memory and if it activates the prefrontal cortex. Therefore, in this case study, a 16-channel functional near-infrared spectroscopy device (OEG-16H, Spectratech, Japan) was used to compare brain activation during the abacus task using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Working Memory Index tasks (i.e., digit span (forward), digit span (backward), letter–number sequencing, and picture span tasks). First-grade boys and fifth-grade girls participated in this study. The results revealed that the anterior part of the prefrontal cortex was specifically activated by the abacus task. These findings support the possibility that the abacus activity is an effective training approach for working memory.
... It seems that both impaired executive function, which makes it harder to meet challenges, and the reduced motivation due to this failure may produce a consistent pattern of lower than expected academic achievements (Trainin and Swanson, 2005). The multi-component model of working memory (Baddeley, 2007) is one of the prominent cognitive frameworks that has been linked with executive function. This model proposes one cognitive component that specializes in conserving speech-based phonological knowledge, another component for visual and spatial information, and a third component which the model assumes is the central control structure. ...
... It seems that both impaired executive function, which makes it harder to meet challenges, and the reduced motivation due to this failure may produce a consistent pattern of lower than expected academic achievements (Trainin and Swanson, 2005). The multi-component model of working memory (Baddeley, 2007) is one of the prominent cognitive frameworks that has been linked with executive function. This model proposes one cognitive component that specializes in conserving speech-based phonological knowledge, another component for visual and spatial information, and a third component which the model assumes is the central control structure. ...
This study examined the associations between executive functions, gender and personality traits in students with and without specific learning disabilities (SLD). In this study, 80 sixth-grade students were sampled. Of these, 40 were students diagnosed with learning disabilities, 22 boys (55%) and 18 girls (45%) and 40 with no such diagnosis, 23 boys (57%) and 17 girls (43%). All students were tested using two instruments, one for executive functions and the other for personality traits. The present study found a significant difference between students with and without specific learning disabilities on all measures of executive function and personality traits. Also found, was a significant gender-related interaction on measures of attention and time management (executive function) and on measures of neuroticism and of agreeableness (personality traits). Significant associations were also found between executive functions and personality traits on some of the tested measures in the study population. Of the Big Five personality traits, this study found the following significant correlations with executive functions: Response inhibition with extraversion and neuroticism, emotional control with extraversion, task initiation with openness, organization with neuroticism, meta-cognition with conscientiousness, goal-directed persistence with neuroticism and agreeableness, and the overall index with neuroticism. The marked disparities found between the two populations of students suggest that it is important to pay special attention to the population with specific learning disabilities and make an effort to bolster these students in the areas indicated by the measures tested in this study. Such action could have a positive impact on a variety of other pedagogical-related phenomena, such as dropout rates, academic achievements, and social interactions if gender-related aspects are addressed.
... Of the proposed mechanisms linking ADHD and emotion regulation, underdeveloped executive functions-particularly working memory and inhibitory control-reflect promising investigative targets. Working memory refers to the active, top-down manipulation of information held in short-term memory (29), and is impaired in 68-85% of children with ADHD (30)(31)(32). Inhibitory control refers to a set of interrelated cognitive processes that underlie the ability to withhold (action restraint) or stop (action cancelation) an ongoing behavioral response (33), and is impaired in 21-46% of children with ADHD (28,34,35). ...
Introduction:
Approximately 48-54% of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have impairing difficulties with emotion regulation, and these difficulties are not ameliorated by first-line ADHD treatments. Working memory and inhibitory control represent promising intervention targets given their functional, if not causal, links with ADHD-related emotion dysregulation.
Methods:
This preregistered randomized controlled trial tested whether two digital therapeutic training protocols that have been previously shown to improve working memory (Central Executive Training [CET]) and inhibitory control (Inhibitory Control Training [ICT]) can improve emotion regulation in a sample of 94 children with ADHD aged 8-13 years (M = 10.22, SD = 1.43; 76% White/non-Hispanic; 29 girls).
Results:
Results of Bayesian mixed model ANOVAs indicated both treatment groups demonstrated significant decreases in emotion dysregulation relative to pre-treatment at immediate post-treatment (parent report; d = 1.25, BF10 = 8.04 × 1013, p < 0.001), at 1-2 months after completing treatment (teacher report; d = 0.99, BF10 = 1.22 × 106, p < 0.001), and at 2-4-months follow-up (parent report; d = 1.22, BF10 = 1.15 × 1014, p < 0.001). Contrary to our hypotheses, the CET and ICT groups demonstrated equivalent reductions in emotion dysregulation and maintenance of effects. Exploratory analyses revealed that results were robust to control for informant expectancies, ADHD medication status/changes, in-person vs. at-home treatment, child age, and time from treatment completion to post-treatment ratings.
Discussion:
To determine whether working memory and inhibitory control are causally linked with ADHD-related emotion dysregulation, future studies should include active control conditions that do not train executive functions prior to making decisions about the clinical utility of CET/ICT for the treatment of emotion dysregulation in ADHD.
Clinical trial registration:
[https://clinicaltrials.gov/], identifier [NCT03324464].
... WM is a key component of human cognition, conceived as a system that uses a capacity-limited resource, most often conceptualized as attention, to temporally maintain and process a small amount of information during ongoing cognition [8][9][10][11]. The role of WM in stereotype threat effects has been extensively studied in young adults. Using typical WM tasks, such as the complex span task [12,13], several studies have demonstrated that stereotype threat impairs WM performance in young adults [14][15][16][17]. ...
Stereotype threat arises when the activation of negative stereotypes about a group impairs performance of stigmatized individuals on stereotype relevant tasks. There is ample evidence that stereotype threat leads to performance detriments by consuming executive resources. Several studies indeed showed that working memory (WM) mediates stereotype threat effects among young adults. More recently, researchers have sought to understand whether the same mechanisms underlie age-based stereotype threat, but findings are mixed regarding the role of WM and some authors rather favor a motivational explanation based on regulatory fit. The present review critically appraises the empirical support for distinct forms of stereotype threat effects mediated by distinct mechanisms. We propose a novel approach based on one of the most recent WM models, the time-based resource sharing model, to evaluate the impact of stereotype threat on attentional resources in WM among both young and older adults.
... Previous research has established that the ability to follow instructions is linked to Working Memory (WM) abilities in adults (Yang et al., 2014; in children (Gathercole et al., 2006;Jaroslawska et al., 2016Jaroslawska et al., , 2018Yang et al., 2014;. Working Memory refers to a limited capacity cognitive system that underlies complex thinking (Baddeley, 2007) and has been linked to a range of higher order cognitive skills such as fluid intelligence, educational achievement, reading and mathematical abilities (Conway et al., 2003). ...
Previous research in adults has showed that physical performance (i.e. enactment) of instructions at recall leads to better memory compared to verbal recall and that this effect does not rely solely on Working Memory resources. The current study aimed to replicate this finding in children. A group of 32 children encoded simple instructions verbally while engaging in a series of distractor tasks (articulatory suppression, backwards counting and a motor suppression task). Participants recalled information verbally or physically through enactment. The findings showed that although distractors impaired performance compared to a control condition (no distractor task), the enactment advantage remained intact in all conditions. These findings show that children’s memory is superior when they perform, rather than when they verbally repeat instructions and that crucially this effect does not rely on Working Memory resources.
... Odkazuje na požadavky na pracovní paměť vyvolané složitým úkolem v konkrétním případě, kdy je vyžadována nová informace nebo její nové zpracování(Sweller et al. 1998). Je dobře známo, že dvě hlavní omezení zdrojů pracovní paměti jsou její kapacita a doba trvání(Baddeley 2007).V pracovní paměti může být najednou uložen pouze omezený počet položek, a to pouze po omezenou dobu(Cowan 2001). Tato omezení nejsou nikdy zjevnější, než když uživatelé provádějí složité úkoly nebo když se učí. ...
Hlavním tématem předložené disertační práce je detailní analýza toho, jak žáci pracují
s webovou mapovou aplikací ArcGIS StoryMaps, pomocí metod biometrického testování.
Výběr tohoto tématu souvisí s rozvojem a větším zapojováním digitálních technologií do
výuky, který byl akcelerován vypuknutím pandemie Covidu-19. Vliv digitálních technologií na současnost společnost zapříčinil novou průmyslovou revoluci 4.0, kdy většina pracovních procesů začíná být automatizována a řízena počítači
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The main focus of the present dissertation is a detailed analysis of how students
interact with the ArcGIS StoryMaps web mapping application using biometric testing methods. The choice of this topic is related to the development and greater involvement of digital technologies in education, which was accelerated by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The impact of digital technologies on contemporary society has caused a new industrial revolution 4.0, where most work processes are becoming automated, and computer controlled.
This study aimed to determine the effect of educational packages based on executive functions on students' working memory. This was a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest study with a control group. In this study, the statistical population was all fifth-grade male students of Shahreza city located in Iran in the academic year 2020-2021. A boys' primary school and 40 students were selected using the available sampling method randomly. Experiments and controls were replaced in two groups of 20 people. The experimental group underwent 10 sessions of training based on executive functions; The control group did not receive any intervention. The data collection process was performed in the pre-test and post-test stages with Daniman and Carpenter's (1980) working memory scale for all participants in two groups. The collected data were analyzed by the ANCOVA method. ANCOVA results showed that performance-based education increased the working memory of students in the experimental group compared to the control group in the post-test (P<0.05). According to the results, the educational package based on executive functions can be used to increase the working memory of students in schools and educational centers.
Welche Wahrnehmungsprozesse laufen in einem Sportspiel wie ab? Wie und wann fällt z. B. die Entscheidung für Passen oder Torschuss? Wie entsteht Angst im Turnunterricht, und wie lässt sie sich abbauen? Wie kann man erreichen, dass sich Menschen einen bewegungsaktiveren Lebensstil aneignen? Fördert Schulsport die Persönlichkeitsentwicklung von Kindern und Jugendlichen? Welche Persönlichkeitsmerkmale weisen erfolgreiche Sportler auf? Auf welche Art und Weise gelingt es dem Menschen, Neues zu lernen? Wie verändert sich der Mensch im Lebenslauf, wie lassen sich diese Veränderungen erklären, und welche Rolle spielen dabei sportliche Aktivitäten? Wie muss ein Fußballteam zusammengestellt werden, damit es möglichst erfolgreich ist? – Mit Fragen dieser Art befasst sich die Sportpsychologie. Das vorliegende Kapitel gibt einen Überblick über die wichtigsten Grundlagen der Sportpsychologie.
Aphasia is a common post-stroke disorder characterized by impairments in speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Although cognitive impairments have been well studied in cortical aphasia, deficits associated with subcortical aphasia remain to be elucidated. The current study aimed to assess executive functions (EF) and working memory (WM) in patients with subcortical aphasia, and investigate the relationship between language abilities and cognition deficits. Participants of this research included patients with thalamus lesions (n = 9; mean age = 53.89 years) and healthy individuals (n = 9; mean age = 54.33 years). Assessment materials were the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Persian Western Aphasia Battery (P-WAB-1), digit span subtest of Adult Wechsler Test (WAIS-R), and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Obtained results revealed significant differences in all components of EF, as well as in WM forward and backward digit spans between patients and healthy individuals. However, investigating the relationship between MMSE and AQ scores and components of EF and WM revealed no significant difference. In conclusion, the findings of the present research indicated defects in cognitive functions, including WM and EF, in patients with subcortical stroke. Accordingly, it is crucial to provide optimal rehabilitation therapies for the improvement of language and cognitive problems upon subcortical aphasia.
Types of mathematical learning disability (MLD) are very heterogeneous. Lower scores on mathematics and several cognitive skills have been revealed in samples with MLD compared with those with typical development (TD), but these studies vary in sample selection, making it difficult to generalize conclusions. Furthermore, many studies have investigated only one or few cognitive skills, making it difficult to compare their relative discrepancies. The current meta-analysis (k = 145) was conducted to (a) give a state-of-the-art overview of the mathematical and cognitive skills associated with MLD and (b) investigate how selection criteria influence conclusions regarding this topic. Results indicated that people with MLD display lower scores not only on mathematics but also on number sense, working memory, and rapid automatized naming compared with those with TD, in general independently of the criteria used to define MLD. A profile that distinguishes people with more serious, persistent, or specific MLD from those with less severe MLD was not detected.
Background:
Previous studies indicated that working memory (WM) updating and WM capacity play essential roles in mathematical ability. However, it is unclear whether WM capacity mediates the effect of WM updating on mathematics, and whether the cascading effects vary with different mathematical domains.
Aims:
The current study aims to explore the longitudinal mediating role of WM capacity between WM updating and mathematical performance, and how the relations change with the age and domains.
Sample:
A total of 131 Chinese first-graders participated the study.
Methods:
Participants were required to complete tasks on WM updating and WM capacity in Grade 1 and Grade 2, as well as paper-and-pencil tests on mathematics achievement in Grade 3. The role of WM updating and capacity in the development of pupil's mathematical achievement was examined.
Results:
Results revealed that verbal WM updating in Grade 1 predicted basic arithmetic and logical-visuospatial ability in Grade 3 via its cascading effect on verbal WM capacity in Grade 2. Moreover, visuospatial WM updating in Grade 1 predicted visuospatial WM capacity in Grade 2. Visuospatial WM capacity in Grade 1 predicted logical-visuospatial ability in Grade 3 instead of basic arithmetic ability in Grade 3.
Conclusions:
The findings suggested that WM updating exerts effect on pupil's mathematical performance via WM capacity, meanwhile, this effect depends on children's mathematics domain.
Reasoning and question answering as a basic cognitive function for humans, is nevertheless a great challenge for current artificial intelligence. Although the Differentiable Neural Computer (DNC) model could solve such problems to a certain extent, the development is still limited by its high algorithm complexity, slow convergence speed, and poor test robustness. Inspired by the learning and memory mechanism of the brain, this paper proposed a Memory Transformation based Differentiable Neural Computer (MT-DNC) model. MT-DNC incorporates working memory and long-term memory into DNC, and realizes the autonomous transformation of acquired experience between working memory and long-term memory, thereby helping to effectively extract acquired knowledge to improve reasoning ability. Experimental results on bAbI question answering task demonstrated that our proposed method achieves superior performance and faster convergence speed compared to other existing DNN and DNC models. Ablation studies also indicated that the memory transformation from working memory to long-term memory plays essential role in improving the robustness and stability of reasoning. This work explores how brain-inspired memory transformation can be integrated and applied to complex intelligent dialogue and reasoning systems.
This study explored how working memory resources contributed to reading comprehension using tasks that focused on maintenance of verbal information in the phonological store, the interaction between the central executive and the phonological store (WMI), and the storage of bound semantic content in the episodic buffer (immediate narrative memory). We analysed how performance in these tasks was related to text decoding (reading speed and accuracy), listening and reading comprehension. The participants were 62 monolingual and 36 bilingual children (mean age nine years, SD = 9 months) enrolled in the same Italian primary school. Bilingual children were born to immigrant parents and had a long history of exposure to Italian as a second language. The regression analyses showed that reading accuracy and listening comprehension were associated with reading comprehension for monolingual and bilingual children. Two working memory components—WMI and immediate narrative memory—exhibited indirect effects on reading comprehension through reading accuracy and listening comprehension, respectively. Such effects occurred only for monolingual children. We discuss the implications of such findings for text reading and comprehension in monolinguals and bilinguals.
Empirical and theoretical advances and application to society are moved at different speed. Application work is frequently developed later because it requires the integration of knowledge from different research areas. In the present paper, we integrate literature coming from diverse areas of research in order to design a deductive reasoning intervention, based on the involved executive functions. Executive functions include working memory (WM)’s online executive processes and other off-line functions such as task revising and planning. Deductive reasoning is a sequential thinking process driven by reasoners’ meta-deductive knowledge and goals that requires the construction and manipulation of representations. We present a new theoretical view about the relationship between executive function and higher-level thinking, a critical analysis of the possibilities and limitations of cognitive training, and a metacognitive training procedure on executive functions to improve deductive reasoning. This procedure integrates direct instruction on deduction and meta-deductive concepts (consistency, necessity) and strategies (search for counterexamples and exhaustivity), together with the simultaneous training of WM and executive functions involved: Focus and switch attention, update WM representations, inhibit and revise intuitive responses, and control the emotional stress yielded by tasks. Likewise, it includes direct training of some complex WM tasks that demands people to carry out similar cognitive assignment than deduction. Our training program would be included in the school curriculum and attempts not only to improve deductive reasoning in experimental tasks, but also to increase students’ ability to uncover fallacies in discourse, to automatize some basic logical skills, and to be able to use logical intuitions.
ا Abstract his study aimed to determine the effectiveness of Phonological Awareness Training (PAT) on visuospatial working memory of 3rd grade students with written expression disorder. The study design was quasi-experimental with a pretest, posttest, and control group. Thirty students were randomly selected and evaluated by the Writing Expression Test (Fallahchai, 1379), Wechsler
This chapter describes how Behavioral Investment Theory (BIT) functions as a metatheoretical framework that can frame Mind1 and the general domain of mental behaviors. BIT’s six core principles are reviewed and their connections to physics and chemistry, evolution and genetics, neuroscience, behavioral-learning, ethology, cognitive science, and developmental systems theory are made explicit. The chapter then demonstrates how BIT can function to frame animal behavioral research by examining a series of articles chosen from the May 2020 issue of the journal Animal Behavior. The analysis of the various research programs shows how BIT effectively frames the way scientists study and interpret animal behavior. The chapter then reviews how BIT frames mental behavioral evolution in terms of four basic steps from: (1) reacting to (2) learning to (3) thinking to (4) talking in humans. These four steps are mirrored in the computational control structure in the nervous system of animals, including humans. The chapter concludes by reviewing how this neurocognitive architecture can be used to map human neurocognitive processes found in research studying human intelligence and memory. The conclusion is that BIT provides a coherent framework for understanding the neurocognitive functionalist view of mental behavior.KeywordsMental evolutionAnimal behaviorCognitionIntelligenceMemory
Purpose
This study examined the extent to which prelingual cochlear implant (CI) users show a slowed speaking rate compared with typical-hearing (TH) talkers when repeating various speech stimuli and whether the slowed speech of CI users relates to their immediate verbal memory.
Method
Participants included 10 prelingually deaf teenagers who received CIs before the age of 5 years and 10 age-matched TH teenagers. Participants repeated nonword syllable strings, word strings, and center-embedded sentences, with conditions balanced for syllable length and metrical structure. Participants' digit span forward and backward scores were collected to measure immediate verbal memory. Speaking rate data were analyzed using a mixed-design, repeated-measures analysis of variance, and the relationships between speaking rate and digit spans were evaluated by Pearson correlation.
Results
Participants with CIs spoke more slowly than their TH peers during the sentence repetition task but not in the nonword string and word string repetition tasks. For the CI group, significant correlations emerged between speaking rate and digit span scores (both forward and backward) for the sentence repetition task but not for the nonword string or word string repetition task. For the TH group, no significant correlations were found.
Conclusions
The findings indicate a relation between slowed speech production, reduced immediate verbal memory, and diminished language capabilities of prelingual CI users, particularly for syntactic processing. These results support theories claiming that immediate memory, including components of a central executive, influences the speaking rate of these talkers. Implications for therapies designed to increase speech fluency in CI recipients are discussed.
Supplemental Material
https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.21644795
Attention is defined as the brain function and its accompanying behavior that concern the selective focus on a distinct part of a stimulus or an information and could be either external/objective or internal/subjective. Attention also leads to the selection of these parts which the brain will neglect (James 1890; Homskaya 2001; Posner and Petersen 1990). It is through attention that the limited mental resources are invested in real time, as the brain has limited ability to process the incoming information (Anderson 2004). Sustaining attention for a prolonged period is called concentration.
The current study investigated the contribution of multiple verbal and working memory (WM) skills to morphosyntactic prediction in Turkish-speaking 4- to 8-year-old children. In a visual world eye-tracking experiment, 76 children were presented with verb-final sentences with nominative and accusative case markers on the initial noun (e.g., the fast rabbit-nominative … the carrot-accusative eat-future vs. the fast rabbit-accusative … the fox-nominative eat-future) while they were looking at a visual display with three objects (e.g., rabbit, carrot, and fox). Importantly, the case markers on the initial noun could be used to predict the second noun in these sentences. The results revealed that when children’s early productive vocabulary and language production skills were higher, the better and faster they were in predicting the upcoming noun. The episodic buffer, a component of WM, was also positively associated with children’s morphosyntactic prediction abilities. The implications of these results for the mechanisms of linguistic prediction are discussed.
Bu çalışmada İngilizceyi yabancı dil olarak öğrenenlerin yardımlı okumaya yönelik tutumlarını değerlendirmek üzere geçerli ve güvenilir bir ölçme aracının geliştirilmesi amaçlandı. Ölçeğin psikometrik işlemleri, uygun örnekleme (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2007; Fraenkel & Wallen, 2006) ile belirlenen 324 (Kadın=251 Erkek=73) İngiliz Dili ve Edebiyatı programında öğrenim gören gönüllü öğrenci üzerinde yapıldı. Çalışmanın verileri Bilgi Formu ve Yardımlı Okumaya Yönelik Tutum Ölçeği taslağı kullanılarak toplandı. Ölçek geliştirme sürecinde araştırmacılar beşli Likert ile derecelendirilen 30 maddeden oluşan bir madde havuzu oluşturdu. Kapsam geçerliği için alınan uzman görüşlerinden sonra ölçekteki madde sayısı 27’ye, pilot çalışmada yapılan madde analizinden sonra 15’e düşürüldü. Araştırma grupları üzerinde gerçekleştirilen geçerlik işlemlerinde açımlayıcı (AFA) ve doğrulayıcı (DAFA) faktör analizinden yararlanıldı. Güvenirlik işlemleri kapsamında ise Cronbach alfa iç tutarlılık katsayısı, madde-toplam puan korelasyonu ve testi yarıya bölme tekniği kullanıldı. Ölçek taslağında yer alan 15 maddenin toplam varyansın %50.03’ünü açıklayan tek faktörlü bir yapı gösterdiği tespit edildi. Tek faktörlü yapının sınandığı DFA sonucunda ise modelin veri ile uyumlu olduğu görüldü (χ2\sd= 2.53, CFI= .94, GFI= .89, AGFI= .84, RMSEA= .08 ve SRMR=.05). Ölçeğin güvenirlik işlemleri sonucunda Cronbach alfa iç tutarlılık katsayısının .89 olduğu saptandı. Testi yarılama tekniği sonucunda elde edilen katsayı .86 olarak bulunurken, madde-toplam korelasyonlarının -.23 ile .85 arasında değiştiği görüldü. Çalışmanın bulgularına dayanarak Yardımlı Okumaya Yönelik Tutum Ölçeğinin yabancı dil öğrenen öğrencilerde kullanılabilecek geçerli ve güvenilir bir ölçme aracı olduğu sonucuna varıldı.
Previous studies have shown that emotions evoked through music can have transient effects on cognitive performance. Considering the importance of working memory (WM) in the processing of new information, in this study, we investigated the impact of positive and negative emotions evoked through music on visuospatial WM performance using a within-subjects design. Moreover, we concomitantly recorded the participants’ physiological responses during listening to musical stimuli. Seventy-eight participants were allocated to counterbalanced positive, negative, and neutral emotional inductions through music (EIM) followed by an adaptive visuospatial WM task. Results revealed that participants’ visuospatial WM performance was increased after positive EIM compared with negative and neutral EIMs transiently. We also observed increased skin conductance levels during positive EIM compared with baseline and a lower heart rate throughout positive EIM than the other conditions. Overall, these findings suggest that music evoking positive emotions can boost visuospatial WM performance. This is the first study to explore cognitive performance after EIM and physiological responses to musical stimuli simultaneously, which may have important practical implications since we engage in cognitively demanding activities after listening to music that could evoke happy or sad emotions.
Considerable research has documented the impact of teacher perceptions on students’ academic-related outcomes (e.g., classroom performance). This body of literature clearly shows that teacher perceptions (resulting from direct interactions with students) can have both positive and negative effects with respect to student behaviors and experiences in the classroom. What remains unclear is whether teachers perceive changes that result from interventions administered outside of their classrooms. The purpose of this study was to examine changes in teacher perceptions of working memory and executive function concerns (two important predictors of academic success) among students who participated in a computerized cognitive training program designed to enhance working memory skills. The current results indicate that teachers perceived fewer concerns following students’ participation in the training; this outcome was supplemented with significant improvements in the students’ working memory capabilities following the training program. These findings have important implications given the literature highlighting the relation between teacher perceptions and student outcomes as a function of a school-based computerized cognitive training intervention.
Working memory is a system for recalling and manipulating data. Main of this research was constructing, providing and standardization of Tehran Working Memory Test (TWMT) with developing tables and norm scores in 6-12 years old age children. In this research and development design, after conducting primary study, final version with 6 subtests-forward words recalling, backward word recalling, forward pictures recalling, backward pictures recalling, non-words recalling and listening recalling-were provided. The study sample consisted of 352 elementary students (173=girls and boys=179), who were selected using cluster random sampling. In this stage, descriptive statistics, t-test and multivariate analysis of variance were used for analyzing data. Conducted analysis leads to presenting working memory profiles with using means and standard deviations for different elementary grades and age six groups. The mean scores of basic combinations component were close to 0.5 norm for most age groups. So, there was no significant difference between all subtests between girls and boys. However, difference between academic grades was significant. TWMT is appropriate test for presenting working memory profile in elementary students with six subtests.
Behavior rating scales measuring executive function have grown popular among school psychologists and other professions. To examine the generalizability of executive function rating scales, 42 parent-adolescent dyads, recruited from a school-based sample, completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function, Second Edition and the Comprehensive Executive Function Inventory. Caregivers were mostly mothers (79%), and adolescents were mostly girls (81%). Both groups included approximately two-thirds participants who were White and not-Hispanic, and more than a quarter of participants were Black and not-Hispanic. A total of 1260 scores representing general and specific executive functions were submitted to generalizability theory analyses to evaluate rater effects, instrument effects, dimension effects, and all interactions on the variation across the total scores and subscale scores from the rating scales. The generalizability of scores was markedly low (.09–.19) and much lower than expected given prior research and analysis evaluating these effects in isolation. Partial models examining variance components for each rater in isolation indicated higher yet inadequate generalizability (.59–.69). These findings indicate that practitioners should be cautious when generalizing ratings of executive function across different raters, similar instruments, and specific executive functions—especially in school-based populations like those from which we sampled.
Children with ADHD show impairments in set shifting task performance. However, the limited available evidence suggests that directly training shifting may not improve shifting performance in this population. We hypothesized that this incongruence may be because impairments exhibited by children with ADHD during shifting tasks are due to deficits in other executive functions, as shifting tasks also engage children’s working memory and/or inhibitory control abilities. This randomized controlled trial examined the extent to which neurocognitive training of working memory vs. inhibitory control can produce downstream (far-transfer) improvements in set shifting task performance. Children with ADHD ages 8–12 (M = 10.41, SD = 1.46; 12 girls; 74% White/Non-Hispanic) were randomized to either central executive training (CET; n = 25) or inhibitory control training (ICT; n = 29), two next-generation digital therapeutics previously shown to improve their intended neurocognitive targets. Two criterion set shifting tests were administered at pre- and post-treatment. Results indicated that ICT was superior to CET for improving shifting accuracy (treatmentxtime: p = .03, BF10 = 3.01, η² = .09, d = 0.63). ICT was also superior to CET for improving shifting speed, albeit on only one of the two outcome tasks (p = .02, BF10 = 4.53, η² = .08, d = 0.59). CET did not produce improvements in shifting speed or accuracy on either task (p > .52, BF01 > 2.62), but showed evidence for more general (non-shifting-specific) improvement in response times on one of the outcome tasks (shift trials, d = 0.70; non-shift trials, d = 0.68). Taken together, these findings confirm that inhibitory control is important for successful performance on shifting tests, and suggest that training inhibitory control may reflect a method for improving set shifting difficulties in children with ADHD.
Is stressor exposure necessary to produce "stress" effects, or can these effects result from stressor anticipation alone? The present research explores whether it is possible to obtain "stress responses" during and after the period in which stressor exposure is being anticipated. In the first study, the expectation of submerging one's hand in ice water resulted in decreased frustration tolerance and increased blood pressure when compared with control groups not expecting this stressor. A second study replicated and extended these results to show that the expectation of control over the stressor ameliorates the negative impact of stressor expectation. The second study also examined the aftereffects of expectations. Particularly, it found that despite being relieved of the expectation that they would immerse their hand in ice water, subjects who had expected stressor exposure had decreased frustration tolerance when compared with either subjects who had expected a nonstressful procedure or those who had expected to have control over stressor termination. A third study, using noise as the expected stressor, replicated both the aftereffect of the anticipation period and the moderation of that effect by perceived control. The discussion (a) focuses on the implications of this work for understanding why aftereffects occur and (b) proposes that previously observed stressor exposure effects may in fact be postexpectation effects.
A core question of cognitive archaeology is the evolution of modern thinking. In this article, it is argued that a cluster of specific cognitive abilities, , was one of the key evolutionary acquisitions that led to the development of modern thinking. A review of the history of executive functions is presented as well as current opinions as to their nature and genetic basis. Examples are also presented from the cognitive archaeological record that may be representative of executive functions in the evolution of modern thought.
Five experienced divers and 15 novice divers completed a complex underwater assembly task and sets of written problems in a water-filled tank and in the ocean. Performance measurements included subtask completion times, problem-solving accuracy, activity analysis, and basic physiological variables. Experienced divers showed essentially unchanged performance between tank and ocean. Novice divers performed slower than the experienced divers in the tank and showed a marked decrement in both assembly time and problem-solving accuracy in the ocean. The results suggest that diving experience improves underwater motor skills rather than work strategy, and that psychological stress was a significant factor even at shallow ocean depths for novices.
Three experiments are reported which examine attentional bias in high trait-anxious, low trait-anxious, and repressor subjects. Measures of interference did not provide consistent results. However, negative priming effects suggested that high trait-anxious subjects had difficulty inhibiting threat-related information, as well as nonthreat-related distracting information under conditions of attentional search. There was some evidence that individuals with a repressive coping style were particularly efficient in inhibiting threat-related information. It is suggested that defective inhibition of distracting information may be an important mechanism in understanding the cognitive basis of anxiety.
A fundamental problem for ecological and cognitive psychology alike is to explain how agents are situated, that is, functionally coupled to their environments so as to facilitate adaptive actions. Herbert Simon (1969/1996) argued that such coupling is artifactual (rule governed), being mediated by symbol functions and necessarily in-volving information processing. An alternative to this computational approach is of-fered by James Gibson's (1979/1986) view that the interface is natural (law gov-erned), being a direct informational coupling rather than a symbolically mediated one. This latter view necessarily involves the agent's awareness, whereas the former, being mechanistic, does not. I review the coupling problem from historical, logical, and semantic perspectives. I give arguments that the computational approach pro-vides an inadequate account of situated adaptive actions and founders on the symbol grounding problem, whereas the ecological approach does a better job on both. Per-sonal comments are interspersed throughout, providing an autobiographical perspec-tive on issues germane to these topics. Perhaps the composition and layout of surfaces constitute what they afford. If so, to perceive them is to perceive what they afford. This is a radical hypothe-sis, for it implies that the "values" and "meanings" of things in the environ-ment can be directly perceived. Moreover, it would explain the sense in which values and meanings are external to the perceiver.
Good and poor readers in the 2nd grade can be distinguished by the extent to which their recall of random letter strings is affected by the phonetic characteristics (rhyming or not rhyming) of the items. The recall performance of 16 mildly backward readers was less penalized by phonetic confusability than that of 17 superior readers, and 13 severely backward readers showed a still weaker effect of confusability. These results were obtained not only for visual presentation of the letter strings (Exps I–II) but also for auditory presentation (Exp III). Taken together, the findings support the hypothesis that good and poor readers differ in their use of phonetic coding in working memory, whatever the sensory route of access, and suggest that individual variation in coding efficiency may be a relevant factor in learning to read. It is suggested that a number of memory-related problems typical of poor readers may be manifestations of deficiencies in phonetic coding. (35 ref)
Backward counting was used to interfere with working memory during tree search from chess game positions. Skilled players at different levels of expertise analyzed games while counting or not, and also while moving the pieces or not. Counting had the effect of reducing the maximum depth of search, the number of branches searched, the total number of moves considered, and the quality of the moves. Moving the pieces increased the depth of search at the expense of alternative branches slightly, but with no reliable effect on move quality. Level of playing skill was correlated with move quality and evaluation accuracy, and interacted with both counting and moving such that stronger players were more, rather than less, affected by counting interference. Such interference seems more likely to affect the central executive than the verbal or visuospatial components of working memory.
According to the prevalent articulatory loop hypothesis of memory span (Baddeley, 1986), subjects recall items from a decaying phonological store that is refreshed by a covert articulatory process. The rate of covert articulation is said to determine memory span. The present research indicates that this account underemphasizes effects of (1) other covert mnemonic processes and (2) overt pronunciation in recall. Memory span and maximal speech rate for sets of one-, two-, and three-syllable words were examined in groups of children with mean ages of 4;5 and 8;8. Although the usual linear relation between the maximal speech rate and memory span was replicated, speech timing measurements based on the memory responses revealed that age and word length effects had different effects on the timing of responding. Whereas word length affected the duration of words in the response but not silent intervals, age affected the duration of silent, preparatory and interword intervals in the response but not the duration of words. These results are discussed in light of the hypothesis that the speeds of multiple, mnemonically relevant covert and overt processes affect memory Span. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.
Adiscussion of the editorial policies and philosophy over the past 12 years of the author's editorship of the Journal of Experimental Psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The effects of rhythmic finger tapping on the phonological similarity effect were investigated in two experiments. In both, subjects were tested for serial recall of visually presented letter sequences that were either phonologically similar or dissimilar. The letter sequences had to be remembered under three tapping conditions: right-hand tapping, left-hand tapping, and a no-tapping control. Experiment 1 showed clear phonological similarity effects in both the control and the left-hand tapping conditions, but not in the right-hand tapping condition, when recall responses were written with the right hand. When the number of tapping practice trials was fixed at two and recall was vocal in Experiment 2, the phonological similarity effect was eliminated in both the right-hand and the left-hand tapping conditions. These results suggest that some form of speech motor programs played an important role in serial recall.
Recent studies on developmental differences in spatial memory have reported equivocal results. Some found an age-dependent improvement of memory performance whereas others did not. The two studies reported here investigate age differences in memory for visual-spatial information. A picture reconstruction task with simultaneous presentation of scene-like visual-spatial arrangements was used. Subjects had to recognise objects and to reconstruct the initial spatial arrangement. The first study with 5to 10year-olds produced the typical age-dependent improvement in recognising visual material as well as in remembering the locations of specific objects. No effect for age was obtained in memory for the critical loci themselves. The second study with 4to 6-year-olds revealed similar results. Error analyses indicated that in younger children the association between object identity and object location is weaker than in older children. The results are considered as evidence for the assumption that spatial information is not necessarily represented as a feature of an item. Alternative types of representations of spatial information in the picture reconstruction task are discussed.
The effects of malodorous pollution upon evaluative and cognitive judgments were examined in two experiments. In one experiment, 24 male and 24 female undergraduates evaluated paintings, peers in photographs, and persons described by adjectives while breathing air that was either unpolluted or polluted by ethyl mercoptan. As predicted, evaluations of unfamiliar, neutral, but not extreme stimuli were lowered by pollution. In a second experiment, 40 males and 40 females were exposed to one of four IS-minute sequences of odor and no-odor while they worked on simple (arithmetic) and complex (proofreading) tasks. Half of these subjects were led to believe that they could avoid exposure, and the other half were led to believe that exposure was uncontrollable. As hypothesized, malodor impaired performances on complex but not simple tasks; as was also hypothesized, exposure produced behavioral aftereffects in the form of lowered tolerance for frustration when subjects had been deprived of control. Under conditions of low control, aftereffects were greatest when subjects were exposed to malodor for relatively long periods of time and were tested immediately after exposure. It was concluded that malodorous pollution exerts effects similar to ones produced by noise, density, and other stressors.
Some patients with phonological short-term memory deficits also show deficits in speech perception. This study investigated the possibility that these patients' short-term memory pattern derives from a general phonological processing deficit. We compared the short-term memory performance of patient EA, who has previously been shown to have a short-term memory deficit and a mild speech perception deficit, to that of other aphasic patients who show similar deficits in speech perception. Only EA showed the short-term memory pattern that has been identified as due to a phonological retention deficit. It is concluded that the retention of phonological information depends on capacities that are separate from those employed in speech perception. A model of speech perception and phonological storage is discussed that can account for mild impairments of speech perception co-existing with normal phonological short-term memory.
The memory performance of patients suffering from senile dementia of the Alzheimer type (SDAT) (N = 29), normal subjects of equivalent age and education (N = 58), and young normal controls (N = 42) was tested using free recall and verbal and nonverbal span. Three measures were derived from the free recall task: primacy based on the first item, secondary memory based on the middle serial positions, and primary memory based on recency and the Waugh-Norman correction factor. The SDAT patients differed from the normal elderly on all free recall and span measures except for primary memory. The elderly were clearly inferior to the young on secondary memory, and were marginally poorer on primary memory and the two span measures. Three possible explanations of this pattern of results are considered, based on the dichotomous modal model of memory, levels of processing, and working memory. It is suggested that the assumption that SDAT patients suffer from a deficit in the central executive component of working memory offers the best of these interpretations.
The grammatical and semantic processing of auditorily presented sentences and passages of prose was investigated in a left brain-damaged patient (PV), who has a reduced auditory memory span, interpreted in terms of a selective deficit of the phonological short-term store component of working memory. In the case of short sentences the patient's performance is well within the normal range, whether tested by sentence-picture matching or by the detection of syntactic or semantic anomalies.She retains an intact capacity to detect semantic anomalies whether tested using short sentences, long sentences, or prose passages. She retains some capacity for detecting syntactic anomalies even in long sentences, provided these are tested under conditions where such mismatches are very frequent; when they are embedded in more varied material, however, her performance deteriorates. Finally, when the syntactic anomaly involves an anaphoric mismatch across sentences, her performance drops to chance level. These results are consistent with the view that the short-term phonological store serves as a “mnemonic window” that facilitates certain aspects of the comprehension of sentential material.
This study explored the functioning of the articulatory loop system in patients at the early stages of Senile Dementia of the Alzheimer's Type. The results showed that, in comparison to controls, memory span is clearly impaired, but the effect of phonemic confusability on immediate memory span is relatively normal and the effect of word length on span is also normal. Both effects are abolished by concurrent articulation if the stimulus material is presented visually. With auditory presentation only the word-length effect is abolished. Taken together, these results indicate that, despite overall cognitive impairment and reduced memory span, the articulatory loop system is relatively unimpaired by mild dementia.
Three experiments are reported that examine the circumstances under which irrelevant material causes interference with visual memory. Experiment 1 indicates that the amount of interference is related to the extent of the dynamic aspect within a visual noise field when the field is used as the irrelevant material. When the dynamic aspect comprises only a single dot changing within a field of 80 x 80 dots, interference is significant. Experiments 2 and 3 indicate that when the dot is extracted from the noise field and presented against a uniform plain background interference crucially depends on whether the dot is presented and re-presented at the same spatial location or at different locations. Only when the dot occupies successively different locations is interference caused. It is argued that the results are to be understood in terms of the two component parts of the VSSP. When the dot is presented against a uniform field and in different spatial locations, interference acts through the active spatial component. When the dot occupies a single position, interference acts through the passive visual store. The passive visual store only is sensitive to the visual noise background.
The effects of test anxiety and evaluative stress on reading speed, articulatory rehearsal, reading regressions, and comprehension were examined. High- and low-test-anxiety subjects read texts under conditions of stress (Studies 1, 2 and 3) or non-stress (Study 4). Texts were presented either with concurrent irrelevant speech (heard), an articulatory suppression task, or no concurrent task. Measures of working memory span and prior vacabulary knowledge were collected under non-stress conditions (Study 5). There were no differences in comprehension performance as a function of anxiety, but high anxious subjects were less efficient than low-anxious subjects, as the former employed more reading time and regressions, though not more articulation, than the latter to obtain an equivalent comprehension score. Reading regressions emerged as the most discriminating compensatory strategy associated with anxiety. This reduced efficiency is partly dependent on a basic deficit in vocabulary knowledge—but not in memory span—, and it is partly transitory and dependent on the presence of external evaluative stress.
Based on Foa and Kozak's (1986) information processing theory of fear, we hypothesised that panic-disordered (PD) patients, in contrast to normal controls (NC), would exhibit a memory bias for anxiety-related information, and that physiological arousal would enhance this bias. PD subjects met DSM-III-R criteria for panic disorder. Self-report measures of mood, heart rate, and spontaneous skin conductance fluctuations were taken at baseline and at recall. After baseline, subjects rated the self-descriptiveness of anxiety (e.g. nervous) and nonanxiety (e.g. POLITE) words. Half of the subjects in each group then performed a 5-minute exercise step-task (i.e. high arousal condition); the remaining subjects relaxed for 5 minutes (i.e. low arousal condition). After this manipulation, subjects were asked to recall the rated words. Consistent with our prediction, PD subjects recalled more anxiety than nonanxiety words, whereas NC subjects recalled more nonanxiety than anxiety words. This memory bias was nonsignificantly (P < 0.11) enhanced in PD subjects in the high arousal condition. The results were not interpretable in terms of a response bias for reporting anxiety words in general. Nor was the rated self-descriptiveness of the words the principal determinant of recall.
Previous research has indicated that 2 processing rates may constrain verbal short-term memory performance. These have been linked to individual differences in (a) the time taken to articulate spoken words and (b) the duration of pauses that occur between words in the output responses to memory tasks. Two experiments examined whether evidence for these effects on memory can be obtained for measures taken from a single speech sample. Children articulated pairs of words as rapidly as possible. In both experiments, the spoken duration of words and the length of the pauses between them predicted significant variance in verbal short-term memory performance. It is argued that the duration of words is linked to memory performance through the processes underlying time-based forgetting in short-term memory. In contrast, the duration of pauses in speeded articulation may index individual differences in speech planning processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This chapter focuses on a comprehensive theory of emotion. The concept of emotion has played an extraordinarily varied role in behavioral theories. In psychology, emotions account for the drive and reinforcement mechanisms involved in learning and explain defense processes, addictions, and attachments. Ethology has used emotion to account for aspects of natural selection, while in anthropological, social and clinical study, emotion has been a focus for research on expressive behavior and interpersonal communication. Finally, physiological investigators interested in emotion concentrate on studies of autonomic and central nervous functions. The abundance of all research perspectives may well be the source of the one thing upon which various emotion theorists agree: The concept of emotion is defined poorly and research is fragmented and unintegrated. The chapter provides a provisional model of emotion that is both comprehensive and unified. The chapter discusses the key questions raised by past theories and research to which the new conceptualization is addressed. A limited elaboration of the model, drawing upon empirical findings where available and raising questions for future study is presented. In the absence of an integrated database, the model obviously is general and suggestive rather than specific and quantitative. It hopes that this shortcoming does not minimize its integrative and heuristic value.
Two experiments explored the role of subvocal articulatory rehearsal in the Peterson short-term forgetting task. In the first of these, subjects recalled consonant trigrams after an interval of 0, 5 or 15 s during which they either counted backwards in threes, suppressed articulation by continuously uttering the word “the”, or in a third control condition continuously tapped on the table. While counting backwards caused the usual dramatic forgetting, tapping caused no forgetting, and articulatory suppression only minimal forgetting at the longest delay. A second study used the same procedure but included only two conditions, articulatory suppression during the retention interval and articulatory suppression during both input and retention. Neither showed evidence of forgetting over the 15 s delay. These results suggest that covert speech is not necessary for rehearsal in short-term verbal memory. As such they call for a re-evaluation of the nature and function of rehearsal.
A number of studies were conducted, in each of which a series of abstract visual patterns was presented, and the subject was then asked to choose which of two test items was in the list. The items contained specifiable visual features, and similarity could therefore be varied in a relatively known way. As in earlier studies by other workers with randomly generated patterns, a recency effect was obtained. However, this effect did not depend on similarity between the items in the list, or between them and an intervening activity. Such factors do in some cases affect the average level of performance, but not the magnitude of recency. Nor was recency abolished by tasks interposed between presentation and test. These findings suggest a general mechanism of short-term memory, rather than a specifically sensory one. However, the recency effect did depend on the similarity of location of items in the visual display. Thus there is some evidence for a specific sensory store, with items arriving more recently over-writing those which came earlier and which were similar in location.
The relation of 4- to 6-year-olds' sociometric status to teacher- or peer-reported negative emotionality and regulation was examined across two semesters (Tl and T2), Social status at T2 was positively related to teacher-reported regulation and negatively related to emotional intensity, as well as peer-reported anger and crying. Regulation and emotionality (in combination) accounted for additional variance in T2 social status after controlling for initial social preference. Initial (Tl) social status infrequently predicted subsequent regulation and emotionality after controlling for scores on initial emotionality/regulation. Thus, emotionality/regulation predicted future social status whereas social status did not appear to account for changes in emotionality and regulation over time. Social behavior (aggression) did not mediate the relation of emotionality/regulation to later social status.
The word-length effect in immediate serial recall has been explained as the possible consequence of rehearsal processes or of output processes. In the first experiment adult subjects heard lists of five long or short words while engaging in articulatory suppression during presentation. Full serial recall or probed recall for a single item followed the list either immediately or after a 5-second delay to encourage rehearsal. The word-length effect was not influenced by recall delay, but was much smaller in probed than in serial recall. Examination of the serial position curves suggested that this might be due to a recency component operating in probed recall. Experiment 2 confirmed a word-length-insensitive recency effect in probed recall and showed that this was resistant to an auditory suffix, unlike the small recency effect found in serial recall. Experiment 3 used visual presentation without concurrent articulation. Under these conditions there was no recency effect for either recall method, but the word-length effect was again much smaller in probed than in serial recall. This was confirmed in Experiment 4, in which the presentation of serial and probed recall was randomized across trials, showing that the differences between recall methods could not be due to encoding strategies. We conclude that for visual presentation, at least part of the word-length effect originates in output processes. For auditory presentation the position is less clear, as serial and probed recall appear to draw on different resources. The nature of the output processes that may give rise to word-length effects is discussed.
Most of the literature on attitude formation assumes that attitudes are the products of deductive integration of an individual's beliefs about an object's attributes. Two studies demonstrate that attitudes can develop without deduction from such beliefs and, indeed, without individuals' being aware of the antecedents of those attitudes. Subjects viewed nine slides of a target person going about normal daily activities; immediately preceding the presentation of each photograph was a subliminal exposure of an affect-arousing photograph. Half the subjects in each study were subliminally exposed to positive-affect-arousing photos and half to negative-affect-arousing photos. The subliminal photographs affected attitudes toward the target person and shaped beliefs about the target person's personality traits. Presumably because relevant objective data were available, the subliminal photographs apparently had less impact on judgments of the target person's physical attractiveness. These findings demonstrate conditioning of attitudes without awareness of their antecedents.
One of the fundamental differences between actual and laboratory-simulated stress situations is that in the latter the Ss fail to experience a cognitive response associated with a genuine threatening situation. The investigators propose 3 criteria that must be met if one is to assume the presence of psychological stress in an experimental study. These are: (a) Ss choose from a checklist words indicating significantly greater mean negative affect than those selected by controls, (b) the distribution of scores made by experimental Ss must differ in either location or shape from controls, and (c) circulating blood eosinophil count or urinary corticosteroids must give a statistically significant variance of a mean disturbance of the normal physiological balance. The authors then applied these criteria in the evaluation of 5 experimental situations which clearly illustrate the effectiveness of these criteria in selecting situations that approach realistic stress experience in the Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
To investigate phonological factors in short-term memory (STM), immediate memory for sequences of 5, 6, 7, or 8 phonologically similar or dissimilar consonants was studied in 20 French undergraduates using visual presentation accompanied by silence or continuous speech in an unfamiliar language, Arabic. There were significant effects of list length, phonological similarity, and unattended speech, and significant interactions between similarity and unattended speech and between similarity and list length. The interactions are shown to stem primarily from the absence of a decrement due to phonological similarity at list length 8. It is suggested that this absence is attributable to a strategy of abandoning phonological coding when performance drops below some minimum level. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Previous research is not clear on how violence in the family of origin translates into violence and aggression later in life. The author develops and estimates an empirical model in which M. Gottfredson and T. Hirschi's (1990) concept of self-control is specified to mediate the relationship between violence in the family of origin and conjugal psychological aggression. Data generated from the 1975 National Family Violence Survey of 2,143 respondents were used for the study. Psychological aggression was measured with the Conflict Tactics Scale, and self-control was operationalized as a continuous variable. There were 2 dimensions of physical punishment: fathers' and mothers'. Results suggest that fathers' violence is more likely to exert the aggression amplification effect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Tested the explanation of the effects of unattended speech on serial recall put forward by P. Salamé and A. Baddeley (1982). As in their study, the effects of unattended speech were examined under conditions of articulatory suppression but whereas Salamé and Baddeley used visual presentation of target items, the study reported here employed auditory presentation. 89 college students served as Ss. In Exp I, there were no effects of unattended speech when articulation was suppressed. Exps II and III attempted to make the experimental task less exacting. Under these conditions, an unattended speech effect was observed, regardless of whether articulatory suppression occurred during list presentation only or whether it continued during recall. It is argued that unattended speech produces interference to a phonological input store rather than to the process of articulation itself. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Two experiments examined the development of subvocal rehearsal in short-term memory (STM). To provide an indication of rehearsal, word length of pictured objects and spoken words was manipulated. Exp 1 tested 54 6–20 yr old children's ability to recall sequences of fixed length, while Exp 2 used a memory-span procedure with 72 4–11 yr olds. STM for spoken words was sensitive to word length at all ages, while STM for pictured objects showed equivalent reliable effects only in Ss aged over 8 yrs. Analysis of the relation between recall of spoken words and speech rate confirmed that the temporal capacity of the articulatory rehearsal loop to store inner speech remains approximately constant during development. This rehearsal system appears to be present from an early age, and development may involve a broadening of the range of stimuli that can gain access to it. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Examined the relationship between individual differences in self-control at an early age and adult behavior, using data from a Finnish longitudinal study on the social development of 196 males and 173 females, followed up between ages 8–32 yrs. Results show that the concept of self-control was useful when the risks of crime and accidents were described: Low self-control in childhood and adolescence was a precursor to crime and accidents. However, the relationship between low self-control and crime and accidents was found to be non-linear, as significant results were obtained only for Ss exhibiting prominent negative behavior (above the 75th percentile) patterned with other problem behaviors. Findings suggest that problem behaviors and adverse life conditions accumulated in these Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
In Study I, 53 female undergraduates high and low in general self-esteem (Self-Description Inventory and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale) performed a series of anagrams on which they either appeared to succeed or fail or received little evaluative feedback. Their persistence at a subsequent set of anagrams was assessed. Following initial failure, low self-esteem Ss persisted less than high self-esteem Ss. Low self-esteem Ss who had failed also performed more poorly on the 2nd set of items than did those who had succeeded. Study II, using a similar procedure with 84 Ss, indicated that the lowered persistence of low general-self-esteem Ss occurred only when their initial failure had been consistent across trials and not when they had shown some improvement. Study II also demonstrated that general self-esteem related more strongly to persistence and performance differences than did task-specific self-esteem. Conceptual and pragmatic implications of the findings are discussed. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Conducted 2 experiments with 54 college and graduate students in which imagery vividness successfully predicted long-term incidental memory and short-term intentional memory for color. Ss with vivid imagery performed reliably worse on these tasks. In a 3rd experiment, long-term incidental memory for appearance details showed the same pattern but did not reach significance levels. It is argued that high imagers are lured by their imagery into false-alarm responses, inadvertently turning a familiarity judgment into a judgment of imageability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Examined whether the effect of articulatory suppression is due to the activation of an irrelevant phonology or to intermittent articulatory movements. In Exp 1, 24 undergraduates were tested for serial recall of visually presented letter sequences that were either phonologically similar or dissimilar, and had to remember each of the letter sequences under a no-suppression control or a suppression condition. In the suppression condition, half of the Ss were engaged in an intermittent speech suppression and the other half were in an intermittent whistle suppression task. The phonological similarity effects appeared in the control condition, but not in the suppression condition, irrespective of the type of suppression. In Exp 2, the phonological similarity effect again disappeared in the intermittent whistling condition, but not in the condition in which the 15 undergraduates required to engage a continuous whistling task. The results suggest that the effect of articulatory suppression was due to intermittent articulatory activity rather than the activation of an irrelevant phonology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
30 children at 5 age levels (2–6 yrs) were exposed to novel actions involving 1, 2, or 3 semantic features. Simultaneously, they were taught novel labels for these actions. The labels marked the semantic features syntactically, with either a suffix, a prefix, or both a suffix and a prefix. In posttests Ss had to either supply the appropriate label for an action or produce an appropriate action for a label. Results show that (a) semantic complexity affected the difficulty of producing actions but not labels, (b) syntactic complexity affected the difficulty of producing labels but not actions, (c) there was an age below which little learning was evident on either test, (d) short-term memory (STM) was a better predictor of performance than was age, and (e) the STM value associated with each item corresponded approximately to the number of features, syntactic or semantic, that had to be processed to produce the form in question. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Investigated psychological outcome in 134 severe closed-head injury patients 2–7 yrs postinjury. Ss had suffered a coma, intracranial hematoma, or posttraumatic amnesia (PTA). Ss and family members completed a structured questionnaire on behavioral, affective, social, leisure, and vocational sequelae. Data indicate that Ss' deficits, while broadly physical, primarily involved behavior, mood, or cognition. Cognitive and dependency defects were most related to the duration of PTA. It is concluded that Ss' deficits reflected a combination of organic brain damage, secondary frustration, and changes in relationships with family. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This paper explores the changes in cognitive function which occur as someone "loses consciousness" under anesthesia. Seven volunteers attempted a categorization task and a within-list recognition test while inhaling air, 0.2% isoflurane, and 0.4% isoflurane. In general, performance on these tests declined as the dose of anesthetic was increased and returned to baseline after 10 min of breathing air. A measure of auditory evoked responding termed "coherent frequency" showed parallel changes. At 0.2% isoflurane, subjects could still identify and respond to category exemplars but showed impaired short-term memory function. Electrical stimulation at 0.4% isoflurane, intended to mimic the arousing effects of surgery, had a small, beneficial effect on performance. A mean of 63% of category exemplars was identified at this stage, but recognition memory for those exemplars was at chance on recovery. There was no evidence for learning of words presented at 0.8% isoflurane.
We question the arguments and data presented by Larsen and Baddeley (this issue 2003) in support of the phonological loop account of verbal short-term memory on a number of grounds. These include the correlation between effect size and the presence of a phonological similarity effect in the data, and the existence elsewhere in the literature of effects of articulatory suppression and interference between verbal and nonverbal information that undermines the phonological loop account. We question the idea that short-term memory phenomena are best conceived of in terms of phonological storage, and we sketch an alternative perspective that does not rely on the notion of a bespoke phonological store, an entity that we argue represents a reification.
According to DSM-III-R, bulimics are characterized by a persistent overconcern with body shape and weight. In the present experiment, we attempted to validate this new diagnostic criterion by using a dichotic listening procedure. More specifically, we examined whether DSM-III-R bulimics would exhibit enhanced perceptual and physiological sensitivity for material related to their concerns about body shape and weight (i.e., the target word FAT) than for neutral material (i.e., the target word PICK). Support for the validity of this criterion was obtained in that bulimics detected the target word FAT more often than the target word PICK when both were presented on the unattended channel. Additionally, bulimics tended to exhibit larger skin conductance responses to FAT than to PICK. These differences were not observed in normal controls.
If there is a limited-capacity mechanism in STM then introducing a concurrent subsidiary task should adversely affect recall. Two experiments on free recall were conducted with card sorting as the subsidiary task. In the first experiment subjects dealt cards into one pile, into two piles by colour, or into four piles by suit while lists of common English words were being read. Subjects sorted cards only during presentation of the lists. As the subsidiary task became more demanding the number of words correctly recalled decreased. In the second experiment sorting by suit was combined with free recall, and the payoffs (relative importance of the two tasks) were varied. Performance on both the recall and the card sorting tasks deteriorated as the other task was stressed. Differences in recall could not easily be attributed to differences in original learning, and the results suggested that the subsidiary task interfered with rehearsal and/or decreased total presentation time for free recall.
The purpose of this study is to examine whether the phonological loop works under the conditions where an individual is required to produce an irrelevant speech sound which constitutes the minimum load on the speech motor programming. In the first experiment, participants were tested for serial recall of visually presented letter sequences that were phonologically either similar or dissimilar, and had to remember each of the letter sequences under three learning conditions: a control and two articulatory suppression conditions (intermittent suppression and continuous suppression conditions). Results showed that the phonological similarity effects appeared in the control condition and also in the continuous suppression condition in which an irrelevant speech sound was continuously uttered by the participants. On the other hand, the phonological similarity effect disappeared in the intermittent suppression condition in which an ordinary articulatory suppression was performed. This pattern of results was replicated in the second experiment where participants were exposed to an irrelevant speech sound auditorily in all three conditions. In the third experiment, a simple tapping in synchronization with the irrelevant speech sound did not decrease the size of the phonological similarity effect. Possible relationships between phonological loop, speech motor programming and abstract phonological representations are discussed.
Susan Gathercole and Susan Pickering, of the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Bristol, compared the working memory abilities of children recognised by their schools as having special educational needs with those of children making normal curricular progress. All three components of the working memory model of Baddeley and Hitch (1974) were assessed by administering a working memory test battery when the children were aged seven and eight years. Children recognised as having special educational needs had marked impairments on the working memory measures, and in particular on the tasks tapping the central executive. These findings suggest that poor working memory capacity may be a key feature in unexpected failure to make normal curricular progress, and also indicate the potential utility of working memory assessments in identifying children at risk of low achievement in school in future years.