3.1 WM and it's capacity

Question 1

what is WM?

Answer 1

manipulation of info retrieved from long-term storage, or pulled directly from short-term storage

maintenance and manipulation is an explicit process bc it is part of our “conscious” experience

Question 2

characteristics of WM

Answer 2

duration
- WM info is held temporarily

WM is limited in capacity

WM requires sustained selective attention

Question 3

how does WM work?

Answer 3

WM involves the maintenance of info in the absence of sensory input

incoming info maintained by cognitive processes (attention and rehearsal)

processes operate on incoming info + related representations stored in LTM

Question 4

how does chunking increase capacity?

Answer 4

group info into meaningful units based on concepts stored in LTM

Question 5

what is the change detection task?

Answer 5

study visual WM in highly controlled environment

3 stages
1. encode
2. delay/retention period
3. response (identical or different)

Question 6

what is the discrete slots model?

Answer 6

each item is held in individual slots in WM

accuracy of memory is fixed for each item

only remember 3-4 items, no memory for others

Question 7

who provided evidence for the slots model? what were the results?

Answer 7

luck and vogel, 2013
use change detection task

theory
- perfect performance occurs up to 4 items (k)
- bigger arrays = guessing will impair performance

experiment
- subjects averaged 3 slots

Question 8

what is the resource model?

Answer 8

WM is a limited resource that is distributed evenly between all items

hazy memory of an object with or without a slot

there is evidence for this under different task conditions

Question 9

4 other tests to measure different aspects of WM?

Answer 9

digit span
- presented sequence of digits 1 by 1
- gets longer after correct responses

reading span
- measures linguistic-visual info processing
- presented sentence
- re-type sentences

N-back
- measure visual info processing
- presented sequence, must identify if it matches the one n steps earlier

PASAT (paced auditory serial addition task)
- measures auditory info processing
- presented recording of series of digits
- must add to number presented prior

Question 10

WM in ADHD?

Answer 10

WM is a core deficit of ADHD

ADHD = impaired organizational skills (anticipate, plan, enact) due to WM dysfunction