5- Working Memory

Question 1

What kind of process is working memory?

Answer 1

Cognitive

Question 2

How is working memory defined?

Answer 2

Retaining, refreshing and manipulating visual and verbal information

Question 3

What kind of responses would we have without working memory?

Answer 3

Automatic responses that we don’t have to consciously think about

Question 4

What is the way we would respond to stimuli without working memory?

Answer 4

Simple behaviour

Question 5

What responses to stimuli are allowed with working memory?

Answer 5

Stimuli cause internal representations that cause concepts and plans that cause complex behaviour

Question 6

What is caused by an impairment in working memory?

Answer 6

Behavioural disorders

Question 7

How is visual working memory studied in monkeys?

Answer 7

Delayed-saccade task

Question 8

What is shown by the delayed-saccade task?

Answer 8

There is a delay before carrying out the action

Question 9

When are neurons in the lateral intraparietal cortex active in the delayed-saccade task?

Answer 9

During the delay period ALSO

Question 10

When are neurons in the prefrontal cortex active in the delayed-saccade task?

Answer 10

In the delay period ONLY

Question 11

What implication for working memory was found by the delayed-saccade task?

Answer 11

PFC neurons being only active in the delay period shows involvement of PFC in all stages of working memory

Question 12

How is visual working memory investigated in humans?

Answer 12

Match-to-sample task

Question 13

When is the intraparietal sulcus active in the match-to-sample task?

Answer 13

During the delay period ALSO

Question 14

What does neural activity in the IPS correlate with in the match-to-sample task?

Answer 14

With the number of encoded dots

Question 15

What does the match-to-sample task show about the storage capacity of the IPS?

Answer 15

Limited to only encode info presented to us

Question 16

Which 3 brain areas are important for short-term visual memory?

Answer 16

1. Intraparietal sulcus
2. Inferior occipital areas
3. Medial frontal brain areas

Question 17

How is the intraparietal sulcus important in short-term visual memory?

Answer 17

Responsible for transient and limited storage of visuo-spatial info

Question 18

How are the inferior occipital areas important for short-term visual memory?

Answer 18

Involved in visual processing

Question 19

How are the medial frontal brain areas important for short-term visual memory?

Answer 19

Important for monitoring tasks

Question 20

How is verbal working memory investigated in humans?

Answer 20

A PET study investigating the articulatory loop

Question 21

What design was used to investigate the articulatory loop?

Answer 21

Cognitive subtraction design

Question 22

What does the phonological/articulatory loop include?

Answer 22

Storage and rehearsal

Question 23

What does rhyming judgement include?

Answer 23

Rehearsal

Question 24

What is common in both the articulatory loop and rhyming judgement?

Answer 24

Rehearsal

Question 25

What was found about Broca’s area in studying human verbal working memory?

Answer 25

It is involved in rehearsal

Question 26

What was found about the supramarginal gyrus from studying human verbal working memory?

Answer 26

Involved in storage

Question 27

How was the central executive studied?

Answer 27

Wisconsin card-sorting task

Question 28

What did the Wisconsin card-sorting task reveal about the central executive store?

Answer 28

It is involved in chunking

Question 29

Where was neural activity observed in the Wisconsin card-sorting task?

Answer 29

Occipital cortex, superior parietal lobule, prefrontal cortex

Question 30

How did the Wisconsin card-sorting task suggest executive working memory operations?

Answer 30

PFC neural activity correlates with task difficulty

Question 31

How was chunking demonstrated with a cognitive subtraction design?

Answer 31

Memorisation of structured patterns

Question 32

What demonstrated that the PFC was involved in chunking?

Answer 32

PFC is more active in memorised structured patterns

Question 33

What does working memory involve?

Answer 33

Retaining, refreshing, and manipulating info

Question 34

What does working memory allow?

Answer 34

Complex and adaptive behaviour

Question 35

How are working memory functions supported?

Answer 35

By a distributed frontoparietal network

Question 36

How are parietal regions demonstrated to be involved in STM?

Answer 36

Have a limited storage capacity

Question 37

How are frontal regions demonstrated to be involved in the central executive?

Answer 37

Involved in manipulations

Question 38

How are working memory and attention demonstrated to be strongly linked?

Answer 38

Dual-task interference makes working memory operations harder