Central executive paper (Logie)

Question 1

Attention

Answer 1

Selective; limited capacity

Dividing

Dual-task performance
- Two tasks on different modals
- Early Alzheimer had 40% drop in performance

Question 2

Main finding

Answer 2

Shift away from the idea of a single EF toward a model of multiple specialized cognitive processes interacting within a self-organizing system

EFs emerge from the interaction of various networks w communication between these to perform tasks.

Evidence increasingly supports the idea of multiple specialized functions operating in concert.

Question 3

Measuring the central executive

Answer 3

Random generation
- Generate random digits, letters, states etc.
- Inhibit used orders (shoud inhibit LTM use)
- Strongly involves CE but hard to use

Complex span
- Remember last word of each sentence
- Number of sentences and all last words remembered makes the reading span

Question 4

Complex spans

Answer 4

Predicitive of other tasks;
- Language comprehension (understanding difficult text)
- IQ (BUT there’s a span task in WAIS IV)

Low correlation with n-back task (updating)

Question 5

Proposed view on relationship between WM and LTM

Answer 5

Stimuli activate representations in LTM, and the products of those activations are transferred to multiple components in WM

WM works together w activated LTM to support task performance, rather than relying on 1 system

Supported by domain-specific interference feffects in dual task studies (alzheimer)

Question 6

Retire vs understand CE

Answer 6

Communication between different cognitive functions is crucial for
- successful dual task performance
- Successful temporary feature binding
Well divided integration of features and attention allocation

Retrieval strategies appear to be another form (through Miyake’s model