Exploring the influence of temporal factors on age differences in working memory dual task costs.

Abstract

Working memory is defined by many as the system that allows us to simultaneously store information over brief time periods while engaging in other information processing activities. In a previous study (Rhodes, Jaroslawska et al. (2019) Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 148, 1204-1227 we found that retention of serially presented letters was disrupted by the introduction of an arithmetic processing task during a 10 second delay period. Importantly, the magnitude of this dual task disruption increased with age from 18 to 81. The demands of each task were adjusted prior to dual task so that age differences did not reflect baseline differences in single task performance. Motivated by these findings, theories of working memory, and additional analyses of processing reaction times from this previous experiment, we report two experiments, using the same tasks and adjustment procedure, attempting to modulate the magnitude of age differences in dual task effects via manipulations focused on time for encoding to-be-remembered material. Providing a delay prior to processing activities, to facilitate switching between the two tasks, did not modulate age differences. Neither did separating the to-be-remembered material temporally, to allow for the creation of more distinct representations. These findings provide two replications of our initial finding and suggest that age differences in working memory dual tasking are not due to limitations in the speed of encoding.

The adversarial collaboration within each of us. Comment on Clark et al.

“…The collaboration was therefore concerned with examining dual-task effects under very controlled conditions (such as equating the storage and processing tasks for difficulty across individuals before combining them into a dual task). The results established the presence of some dual-task effects and not others and was of tremendous value in creating test conditions that both groups could trust (Belletier et al, in press;Doherty et al, 2019;Jaroslawska et al, 2021;Rhodes et al, 2021;Rhodes, Jaroslawska, et al, 2019). It was not, however, well suited for a broad-ranging spectrum of research that would be needed to settle the fundamental issue of the role of attention in working memory.…”

Cognitive-Cognitive Dual-task in aging: A cross-sectional online study

“…Importantly, task demands were adjusted beforehand to ensure age differences did not reflect baseline disparities in single-task performance [75]. Notably, age-related differences in working memory dual-tasking are not attributed to encoding speed limitations [76]. Verhaeghen and Zhang (2013) tested younger and older adults with a modified version of the N-back task.…”

Strategies, debates, and adversarial collaboration in working memory: The 51st Bartlett Lecture

“…The details of these experiments have been reported elsewhere (e.g., Doherty et al, 2019 ; Jaroslawska et al, 2021 ; Rhodes et al, 2019 , 2021 ; for a comprehensive list see http://womaac.psy.ed.ac.uk/research-output ). As an illustration, Figure 10 shows the predictions from each theoretical perspective for one of the experiments reported in Doherty et al (2019) along with the observed results.…”