Working Memory& Executive Function

Question 1

Short Term Memory (STM) and it’s importance to Working Memory

Answer 1

STM occupies working memory—> seed of consciousness (Where the actions happens)
LTM is for storing info.
*STM lasts only about 15-20s—> much longer than sensory memory

Question 2

STM: Bottleneck Concept & Span of Apprehension

Answer 2

STM: The neck of in an hour glass

Span of Apprehension- is just the amount of STM can hold and is a facet of all IQ tests

Question 3

Miller’s Magic Number Theory

Answer 3

Magic number 7 plus or minus 2
~ 7 + or -
-This magic number reflects the number of units of info.; often called CHUNKS; Between 5 or 9 things we can pay attention to (Chunks)

Question 4

Schmitt (1981)

Answer 4

Showed that grouping of categories is an ex. of adaptation of chunking to other tasks

*Gave a task with three conditions; no instruction, active rehearsal, and strategy—> People with strategy, had the best recall

Question 5

Chunks Meaningless Concept

Answer 5

Take a meaningful concept, break it down into parts—> makes it meaningless

Question 6

Chunks Meaningful Concept

Answer 6

Can makes chunks meaningful by creating #’s that have meaning

*Things that are personally meaningful, easily accessible.

Question 7

Mneomincs

Answer 7

*Anything that helps you remember something (mental only)

For it to work needs to be peaceful, meaningful

Question 8

Language Comprehesnion

Answer 8

Lanuage comprehesnsion recoding—> Putting something into your own words—> setting something up to go into semantic memory

Question 9

Intervention…

Answer 9

Doesn’t allow decay or interference, but prevents encoding

Question 10

Interference (Proactive and Retroactive)

Answer 10

• Proactive Interference: the first thing that you learn, prevents you from learning later things
• Retroactive Interference: Learn something new, and it prevents something learned before that,

Question 11

Clears Proactive Interference by…

Answer 11

Changing the stimulus clears out proactive interference… want to do this bc we basically want to unlearn something

Question 12

Interference vs. Decay

Answer 12

Interference is more common than decay..

-Delay seldom happens because there is always something going on

Question 13

Primacy Effect and Recency Effect

Answer 13

• Primacy Effect: Accuracy of recalls for the early list positions
• Recency Effect: Accuracy of correct recall on the last items presented on a list

“We remember the 1st things and the last things, but things in the middle suffer”

Question 14

Weak Primacy

Answer 14

Is the result of poor rehearsal example of list presentations where time is varied

~Stuff at beginning should have easy recall, but doesn’t always happen due to factors (Ex. interference)

Question 15

Rehearsal Buffer

Answer 15

A mental recycling system for holding info. temporarily

…more short term memory

Question 16

Sternberg Task

Answer 16

“We go from a parallel process to a serial process”

• Sternberg’s Task—> showed levels of capacity in memory (working memory)…falls apart under great stress.
• When stressed, we go towards more serial processing

Question 17

Codes

Answer 17

3 types of codes used in STM:
-Acoustic Articular Code: sound or the pronunciation—> sound codes, however also overlaps with language

• Semantic codes: are like a neural net model—> codes based upon MEANING..useful for problem solving…*Higher levels of STM
• Visual codes: mental rotation studies; manipulation visual images similar to the game tetris

Question 18

Working Memory

Answer 18

Baddely wanted to investigate the ROLE OF WORKING MEMORY, not the description of working memory… He had 3 components of working memory:

• Articulatory rehearsal loop (sounds)
• Visuospatial sketchpad (visual)
• Central executive (semantic memory; decision making)

Question 19

Central Executive, Visual spatial sketchpad, and Articular rehearsal loop

Answer 19

*Organized with a hierarchy

“Resources can be shared between the two, the central executive allows and determines this”

~Slave system—> another higher up system has access to them

Question 20

Central Executive, Visual spatial sketchpad, and Central executive continued…

Answer 20

~Central Executive: Responsible for… making decisions, planning, oversees memory storage and retrieval, and also inhibition—> either going with a decision or suppressing it
***Central executive is you, it is your consciousness and self awareness

~ Visual spatial sketchpad and articulatory rehearsal loop are slave systems

Question 21

Slave Systems

Answer 21

Lowlevel processors, they are domain specific, and have their own pool of resources.
*Utilizing all 3 systems at once has NEGATIVE consequences due to capacity

-The draining goes up from slave (visual spatial and auditory rehearsal loop) to executive: slave will suffer because Central executive is going to take the resources

Question 22

Wisconsin Card Sort Test

Answer 22

Top cards have 4 different factors, bottom you have a card…have to sort it, you have to guess.

Results can either be by number of objects, color, shape…Then criteria changes—> Shows errors that count

***Even when consciously aware that criteria has changed, old tasks occasionally creep in and mess us up.

Question 23

Controlled attention and working memory…

Answer 23

Controlled attention correlates with working memory= consciousness.

~N-back task—> showed higher rate of interference with working memory

Question 24

Negative Priming, Gamboz (2002) did an experiment with it…

Answer 24

Negative Priming is when a distracter on a previous trial becomes a target on the current..

• It increases reaction time
• Short term memory has the response code lingering

Question 25

The Atkinson Model

Answer 25

Stimulus—>Sensory memory—>STM—>LTM

***“Our decisions are made in STM…place for integration and work

Question 26

The Frontal Lobe Connection

Answer 26

Case studies on injuries to the frontal lobe has shown dramatic changes in memory, decision making, and personality

*Damage to the frontal lobes leads to dysexecutive syndrome—> “The central executive was damaged”

Question 27

Mild Cognitive Impairment

Answer 27

(MCI) is a disorder similar to dementia found in older adults

Ex: Forgetting where your keys are, forgetting dorctor’s appts., having to write things down bc forgetful of important things.

Question 28

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Answer 28

(ADHD) has neurological evidence indicating involvement of the frontal lobe
***ADHD individuals have trouble with inhibiton (impulse control), which is handled by teh central executive. And spatial attention , handled by the visuo-spatial sketchpad.