A Working Memory System With Distributed Executive Control

Abstract

Working memory consists of domain-specific storage facilities and domain-general executive control processes. In some working memory theories, these control processes are accounted for via a homunculus, the central executive. In the present article, the author defends a mechanistic view of executive control by adopting the position that executive control is situated in the context of goal-directed behavior to maintain and protect the goal and to select an action to attain the goal. On the basis of findings in task switching and dual tasking, he proposes an adapted multicomponent working memory model in which the central executive is replaced by three interacting components: an executive memory that maintains the task set, a collection of acquired procedural rules, and an engine that executes the procedural rules that match the ensemble of working memory contents. The strongest among the rules that match the ensemble of working memory contents is applied, resulting in changes of the working memory contents or in motor actions. According to this model, goals are attained when the route to the goals is known or can be searched when the route is unknown (problem solving). Empirical evidence for this proposal and new predictions are discussed.

Dynamic range of frontoparietal functional modulation is associated with working memory capacity limitations in older adults

“…These findings are consistent with recent neurocognitive theories of distributed WM and fit well with the presumed role of a frontoparietal brain network in controlled cognition (Christophel, Klink, Spitzer, Roelfsema, & Haynes, 2017; Cole, Repovš, & Anticevic, 2014; Hazy, Frank, & O’Reilly, 2007; Jurado & Rosselli, 2007; Niendam et al, 2012; G. R. Turner & Spreng, 2012; Vandierendonck, 2016; Vincent, Kahn, Snyder, Raichle, & Buckner, 2008; Zanto & Gazzaley, 2013)…”

Value-driven attentional capture is modulated by the contents of working memory: An EEG study

“…The presented results have several theoretical implications, as they contribute to a better understanding of the influence of VDAC on WM maintenance, and how this influence is modulated by the type of information maintained in WM. The current results have implications for current frameworks of WM processing (e.g., Baddeley et al, 2010;Barrouillet et al, 2004;Barrouillet and Camos, 2010;Courtney, 2004;Vandierendonck, 2016), as they provide evidence that (a) the nature of attentional capture by distracting stimuli can modulate the efficacy of WM maintenance, and (b) the relationship between WM and attention depends on the type of information maintained in WM. Allocation of attention is sometimes considered as a part of these models, but these models mostly consider the maintenance of sensory information.…”

Annual Research Review: On the relations among self‐regulation, self‐control, executive functioning, effortful control, cognitive control, impulsivity, risk‐taking, and inhibition for developmental psychopathology

“…Executive functions are interrelated abilities that emerge hierarchically in development, although their precise fractionation varies somewhat across statistical (Miyake et al., ), computational (Vandierendonck, ), and developmental approaches (Diamond, ; Marcovitch & Zelazo, ; Wiebe et al., ), perhaps in part because components vary with development. EF means the top‐down processing of information, including emotion information, and therefore is involved in a domain‐general way in all top‐down aspects of SR.…”