A função executiva de atualização de informações na memória de trabalho para a ordem serial de eventos visuais e espaciais

Abstract

In the multicomponent model of working memory is still unclear how the serial order of visual and spatial events is retained in memory. The literature suggests that the central executive resources (the attentional control system of working memory) are used to maintain the representation of serial position. More precisely, it is proposed that the executive function of updating information is involved with this process. This function makes continuous modification of mental representation to accommodate new information in the cognitive system. However, until now had not yet been determined whether there is a visual-spatial dissociation in use of executive function of updating information for the registration of serial order. The aim of this study was to investigate the involvement of the executive function of updating information in memory for the order of visual and spatial events. Participants were undergraduate students (n = 71) who performed memory tasks designed under the paradigm of dual-tasks. In this procedure the primary tasks of visual and spatial memory were combined with secondary executive tasks of choice reaction time (CRT) and tasks that occupied resources required to update the information (oneback choice reaction time -CRT-1). In the CRT task the participant should judge two auditory tones as high or low frequency. In CRT-1 task this response should be delayed in one item, that is, the response to the n stimulus should only be given when the n + 1 stimulus was presented. The secondary tasks were performed during the presentation of the stimuli and the retention interval of the primary tasks. In the first experiment the capacity (span) to retain spatial and visual information was established in pre-test session, and in the second experiment the participants memorized sequences of three to seven items. The results showed that, overall, participants' performance on primary tasks was impaired by interference on the updating information. The similarities between visual and spatial serial memory were: primacy and recency in serial position curves; most frequent serial position error of transposition in one item; detrimental effect of increasing the size of the sequence, performance impaired by the interference in the executive resources, especially those designed to support the executive function of updating information. The differences between the two types of serial representation, in general, were: smaller capacity and precision in the representation of visual items as compared to the spatial characteristics; the vulnerability of visual memory to the increasing the amount of items is bigger than in spatial memory, and for visual memory there is not a clear differentiation between the effects of two types of executive interference (CRT and CRT-1) as could be determined for the spatial task. We conclude that executive resources of updating information are part of the mechanisms involved in the registration of the serial order of visual and spatial events, and they work in an integrated manner to specific...