Compression in Working Memory and Its Relationship With Fluid Intelligence

Chekaf, Mustapha; Gauvrit, Nicolas; Guida, Alessandro; Mathy, Fabien

doi:10.1111/cogs.12601

Cited by 18 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…The compression account of chunking processes in simple span tasks is one in which participants can detect regularities in the stimulus set, which are used to pack a few stimuli together in fewer independent units (Chekaf, Gauvrit, Guida, & Mathy, in press; Mathy & Feldman, 2012). One example of regularity in a digit series would be the series of two digits ‘19’, which could point to a single idea (e.g., the 19 th century).…”

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confidence: 99%

Simple and Complex Working Memory Tasks Allow Similar Benefits of Information Compression

Mathy¹,

Chekaf²,

Cowan³

2018

Journal of Cognition

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Complex working memory span tasks were designed to engage multiple aspects of working memory and impose interleaved processing demands that limit the use of mnemonic strategies, such as chunking. Consequently, the average span is usually lower (4 ± 1 items) than in simple span tasks (7 ± 2 items). One possible reason for the higher span of simple span tasks is that participants can take advantage of the spare time to chunk multiple items together to form fewer independent units, approximating 4 ± 1 chunks. It follows that the respective spans of these two types of tasks could be equal (at around 4 ± 1) if stimulus lists exclusively used nonchunkable stimulus items. To manipulate the chunkability of the stimulus lists, our method involved a measure of their compressibility, i.e., the extent to which a pattern exists that can be detected and used as a basis of chunk formation. We predicted an interaction between the types of tasks and chunkability/compressibility, supporting a single higher span for the condition in which a simple span task was combined with chunkable items. The three other conditions were predicted to prevent chunking processes, either because the interleaved processing task did not allow any chunking process to occur or because the noncompressible material inherently limited the chunkability of information. The prediction that chunking is important solely in simple spans was not confirmed: Effects of information compression contributed to performance levels to a similar extent in both tasks according to a theoretically-based metric. This result suggests that i ) complex span tasks might overestimate storage capacity in general, and ii ) the difference between simple and complex span performance levels must rest in some mechanism other than prevention of a chunking strategy by the interleaved processing task in complex span tasks.

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Simple and Complex Working Memory Tasks Allow Similar Benefits of Information Compression

Mathy¹,

Chekaf²,

Cowan³

2018

Journal of Cognition

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“…Greater PA may have enhanced the strength of representations encoded in short-term memory, facilitating the recognition of phonological patterns in the memoranda that aided recall. The role of compression is dynamic (Chekaf et al, 2018), playing a greater role supporting recall as task demands increase. For typical adults, compression is not demanding of cognitive processing resources (Mathy et al, 2018), but may be for individuals with DLD (Montgomery et al, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Phonological activation may also facilitate word recall due to compressibility. Studies of nonverbal WM (Chekaf, Gauvrit, Guida, & Mathy, 2018;Mathy, Chekaf, & Cowan, 2018) show that longer sequences of items can be recalled if their complexity can be simplified by identifying features shared among the items. In a verbal complex span task, phonological activation may enhance encoding and thus the ability to recognize phonological patterns within and among target words, aiding compressibility.…”

Section: Phonological Activationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Speech production factors and verbal working memory in children and adults with developmental language disorder

Poll

Miller

2021

Applied Psycholinguistics

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Verbal working memory (VWM) deficits are common in individuals with developmental language disorder (DLD) but are not well understood. This study evaluated how both memory and language production factors influence VWM performance in children and adults with DLD, focusing on the influence of serial position, phonological activation (PA), and lexical frequency. Participants were 30 children with DLD and 26 with typical language, and 21 adults with DLD and 23 with typical language. The participants completed a listening span task in which they were asked to recall the final words of sentences in sets of increasing size. Responses (dependent variable) were coded as correct, incorrect, or no response. Final words were coded for frequency, serial position within the set, and PA (number of occurrences of the initial phoneme, vowel, and whole word in the task). These variables, along with age and language status, were entered as predictors in mixed-effects multinomial regression models. Extreme serial position, greater PA, and higher frequency reduced incorrect and no responses. These effects were attenuated for the DLD group, and the effect of greater PA varied with set size. The findings suggest that for individuals with DLD, VWM performance is affected by more limited effective language experience and by the dynamic task demands.

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“…in the final terms of Equation (5) applies when G and N are large, but with modern computer power the approximation is no longer necessary when evaluating the factorial terms. There remains today, however, some misconceptions about entropy, e.g., "As seen from (the Shannon) formula, the entropy of a string only depends on the relative proportions of symbols and is unaffected by the order in which they appear" [44]. This appears to ignore the work of Brillouin [19] whose expression (Equation (5)) for entropy can be evaluated for a number of sequences which not only have increasing numbers, G, of taps but also some repeats, N, of the same symbol (block or digit in the KCT, CBT or DST tests).…”

Section: Entropy and Construct Specification Equationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Entropy in Construct Specification Equations (CSE) to Improve the Validity of Memory Tests

Melin

Cano²,

Pendrill

2021

Entropy

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Commonly used rating scales and tests have been found lacking reliability and validity, for example in neurodegenerative diseases studies, owing to not making recourse to the inherent ordinality of human responses, nor acknowledging the separability of person ability and item difficulty parameters according to the well-known Rasch model. Here, we adopt an information theory approach, particularly extending deployment of the classic Brillouin entropy expression when explaining the difficulty of recalling non-verbal sequences in memory tests (i.e., Corsi Block Test and Digit Span Test): a more ordered task, of less entropy, will generally be easier to perform. Construct specification equations (CSEs) as a part of a methodological development, with entropy-based variables dominating, are found experimentally to explain (r =R2 = 0.98) and predict the construct of task difficulty for short-term memory tests using data from the NeuroMET (n = 88) and Gothenburg MCI (n = 257) studies. We propose entropy-based equivalence criteria, whereby different tasks (in the form of items) from different tests can be combined, enabling new memory tests to be formed by choosing a bespoke selection of items, leading to more efficient testing, improved reliability (reduced uncertainties) and validity. This provides opportunities for more practical and accurate measurement in clinical practice, research and trials.

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Compression in Working Memory and Its Relationship With Fluid Intelligence

Cited by 18 publications

References 49 publications

Simple and Complex Working Memory Tasks Allow Similar Benefits of Information Compression

Simple and Complex Working Memory Tasks Allow Similar Benefits of Information Compression

Speech production factors and verbal working memory in children and adults with developmental language disorder

The Role of Entropy in Construct Specification Equations (CSE) to Improve the Validity of Memory Tests

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