Memory Retrieval from Long and Short Lists

Burrows, David; Okada, Ronald

doi:10.1126/science.188.4192.1031

Cited by 70 publications

(93 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…First, accuracy and RTs were consistently related to list length in the short-list task block but not in the long-list task block. Previous investigators have taken this pattern as prima facie evidence of a qualitative disjunction between STM and LTM processes occurring around the boundary of STM capacity (e.g., Burrows & Okada, 1975;Sternberg, 1966Sternberg, , 1967. Second, on matched six-word trials, the participants were more accurate when those trials were presented in the context of the short-list task block.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…On the basis of the results of similar studies involving maintenance-focusedstrategies (Burrows & Okada, 1975;Sternberg, 1966Sternberg, , 1967, response times (RTs) and accurate performance in responding to the probe word were expected to increase in a linear fashion with increases in list length during the short-list task block. However, there is no reason to expect a linear increase when participants are using a retrieval-focused strategy.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Strategy-dependent changes in memory: Effects on behavior and brain activity

Speer

Jacoby

Braver

2003

Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience

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In the present study, an implicit strategy manipulation was used to explore the contribution of memory strategyto brain activationand behavioral performance. Participantswere biased to use either a shortterm (maintenance-focused) or long-term (retrieval-focused)memory strategy within a single memory task through manipulation of task context. In comparing directly matched trials across the different task contexts, we observed clear changes in both behavioral performance and brain activity across a network of regions located primarily within lateral and medial frontal cortex. These effects of the memory strategy manipulation suggest that when a retrieval-focused strategy is induced, mnemonic processes are preferentiallyengagedduring the encoding period. In contrast, when a maintenance-focused strategy is induced, mnemonic processes are preferentially engaged during the delay and response periods. Taken together, the results imply that covert cognitive strategies play an important role in modulating brain activation and behavior during memory tasks.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Strategy-dependent changes in memory: Effects on behavior and brain activity

Speer

Jacoby

Braver

2003

Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience

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“…If the classic idea of retrieval from long-term memory into working memory is correct, then the correct retrieval of the probed item can result from two types of retrieval (22)(23)(24). On some trials, the probed item was actively represented within working memory at the time the gray memory probe was presented, making it readily accessible, thus producing fast reaction times (RTs) (within-working-memory RTs).…”

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

Visual working memory buffers information retrieved from visual long-term memory

Fukuda

Woodman

2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Human memory is thought to consist of long-term storage and shortterm storage mechanisms, the latter known as working memory. Although it has long been assumed that information retrieved from long-term memory is represented in working memory, we lack neural evidence for this and need neural measures that allow us to watch this retrieval into working memory unfold with high temporal resolution. Here, we show that human electrophysiology can be used to track information as it is brought back into working memory during retrieval from long-term memory. Specifically, we found that the retrieval of information from long-term memory was limited to just a few simple objects' worth of information at once, and elicited a pattern of neurophysiological activity similar to that observed when people encode new information into working memory. Our findings suggest that working memory is where information is buffered when being retrieved from long-term memory and reconcile current theories of memory retrieval with classic notions about the memory mechanisms involved.visual working memory | visual long-term memory retrieval | EEG H umans are capable of storing an essentially limitless amount of information in long-term memory and can remember specific pieces of information when needed to guide behavior. For over a century, researchers have proposed that, when humans retrieve information from long-term memory, we do this by bringing the information back into working memory (1-3). This has become so engrained in the dogma regarding how human memory works that retrieving information from long-term memory into working memory is described in introductory textbooks (e.g., refs. 4 and 5). However, although there is behavioral evidence in line with the notion that information retrieved from long-term memory is brought back into working memory (ref. 6; see ref. 7 for a review of additional classic evidence; refs. 8-10), a direct demonstration that this is occurring in brain is needed. If we were able to track this cognitive process, we could use it to understand the fine-grained dynamics of memory retrieval.In the present study, we took advantage of the fact that encoding new sensory information into working memory is capacity limited (11-16). Neuroscientific studies have established that the encoding of a subset of the available visual information into working memory can be measured by frequency-specific oscillations of subjects' electroencephalograms (EEGs) (17)(18)(19)(20). Specifically, the magnitude of suppression of alpha-band oscillations (8-13 Hz) measured across parieto-occipital channels as new information is held in working memory changes as additional information is loaded into working memory and hits an asymptote at a subject's working-memory capacity estimated from behavioral performance. We chose this neural correlate of working memory over other correlates (e.g., the contralateral delay activity in ref. 12) because it allowed the estimation of working-memory load without necessitating the presentation of to-be-ignored dis...

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“…Although the time course of information retrieval has been extensively studied (e.g., Atkinson & Juola, 1973;Burrows & Okada, 1975;Corbett, 1977;Dosher, 1976;Dosher & Rosedale, 1991;Gronlund & Ratcliff, 1989;Hintzman & Caulton, 1997;Hintzman & Curran, 1994;McElree & Dosher, 1989, 1993Morin, DeRosa, & Shultz, 1967;Mulligan & Hirshman, 1995;Ratcliff, 1978;Ratcliff & McKoon, 1982;Ratcliff & Murdock, 1976;Reed, 1973Reed, , 1976Thomas, Milner, & Haberlandt, 2003), there have been few studies directly investigating the differences in the time course of feature information retrieval between different attributes of the same item. The majority of studies that have looked at within-item retrieval differences have been designed to investigate the differences between the time courses of different retrieval processes (e.g., recognition and recall).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%