Perspectives on working memory: introduction to the special issue

Logie, Robert H.; Cowan, Nelson

doi:10.3758/s13421-015-0510-x

Cited by 49 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 71 publications

(91 reference statements)

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“…The earliest use I have found for the term WM was not in the psychological research literature, but in the early computer science literature (see Logie & Cowan, 2015). Newell and Simon (1956) developed a computer program that could solve proofs in symbolic logic, using methods depending Bheavily on heuristic methods similar to those that have been observed in human problem solving activity^(p. 1).…”

Section: Computer Wmmentioning

confidence: 99%

The many faces of working memory and short-term storage

2016

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The topic of working memory (WM) is ubiquitous in research on cognitive psychology and on individual differences. According to one definition, it is a small amount of information kept in a temporary state of heightened accessibility; it is used in most types of communication and problem solving. Short-term storage has been defined as the passive (i.e., non-attention-based, nonstrategic) component of WM or, alternatively, as a passive store separate from an attentionbased WM. Here I note that much confusion has been created by the use by various investigators of many, subtly different definitions of WM and short-term storage. The definitions are sometimes made explicit and sometimes implied. As I explain, the different definitions may have stemmed from the use of a wide variety of techniques to explore WM, along with differences in theoretical orientation. By delineating nine previously used definitions of WM and explaining how additional ones may emerge from combinations of these nine, I hope to improve scientific discourse on WM. The potential advantages of clarity about definitions of WM and short-term storage are illustrated with respect to several ongoing research controversies.Keywords Short term memory . Working memory During the past 40+ years, I have watched as working memory (WM) has become one of the most talked-about and written-about terms in the field of cognitive psychology. During that time I have noticed that many of the controversies that occur in the field are related to definitions of WM. Several times within the last decade, after having devoted much of my career to exploring WM, I have even been asked to write review papers largely to clarify what the meaning of the term WM is, and how it is different from other terms in the literature (Cowan, 2008(Cowan, , 2010. The alternative terms with which it can sometimes be confused include primary memory (James, 1890;Waugh & Norman, 1965), immediate memory (e.g., Miller, 1956), short-term storage (e.g., Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968) or short-term memory, and prospective memory (Einstein & McDaniel, 2005).It has become clearer to me that a major source of confusion is that researchers use different definitions of the malleable and useful concept of WM. We do not seem to be converging on a common definition of the term. Others also have noted this absence of clarity about definitions; see for example Postle (2015). The main purpose of this article is to delineate definitions that have been used. This could lead to better scientific discourse if researchers could qualify their statements in a convenient manner by indicating which of the following definitions, if any, they mean by WM. I will elaborate on different definitions of WM and short-term storage and say a bit about how the definitions may affect scientific debate. On scientific definitions and WMMy sensitivity to definitions was enhanced after a conference on WM in which each participating researcher was asked to define WM, with the definitions recorded within a volume of proceedings (Miy...

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Section: Computer Wmmentioning

confidence: 99%

The many faces of working memory and short-term storage

2016

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“…We investigated the nature of short-term memory deficits in second-grade children with a varied set of materials including spoken non-words, spoken digits, spatial locations and irregular shapes. Definitions of short-term or working memory vary (Logie & Cowan, 2015), but here we refer to tasks in which a certain series of materials is presented and, when the series ends, the instruction is that the participant is immediately to repeat the series or list using a well-suited response mode. The short-term retention of the order of letters, phonemes, words and ideas must be important early on in the process of reading, and therefore, our study is intended to determine if short-term retention could be impaired for reasons that either are specific to verbal materials or are more general.…”

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Short‐term Memory in Childhood Dyslexia: Deficient Serial Order in Multiple Modalities

et al. 2017

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In children with dyslexia, deficits in working memory have not been well-specified. We assessed second-grade children with dyslexia, with and without concomitant specific language impairment, and children with typical development. Immediate serial recall of lists of phonological (nonword), lexical (digit), spatial (location), and visual (shape) items were included. For the latter three modalities we used not only standard span but also running span tasks, in which the list length was unpredictable to limit mnemonic strategies. Nonword repetition tests indicated a phonological memory deficit in children with dyslexia alone compared to those with typical development, but this difference vanished when these groups were matched for nonverbal intelligence and language. Theoretically-important deficits in serial order memory in dyslexic children, however, persisted relative to matched typically-developing children. The deficits were in recall of (a) spoken digits in both standard and running span tasks, and (b) spatial locations, in running span only. Children with dyslexia with versus without language impairment, when matched on nonverbal intelligence, had comparable serial order memory, but differed in phonology. Because serial orderings of verbal and spatial elements occur in reading, the careful examination of order memory may allow a deeper understanding of dyslexia and its relation to language impairment.

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“…Auditory sensory memory is qualitatively different from post-sensory memory processes (Massaro, 1972; Crowder, 1982), including Atkinson and Shiffrin’s short-term store, which evolved into the working memory (WM) construct (see, e.g., Logie and Cowan, 2015). WM receives input from sensory memory about recent perceptual experiences, maintains and manipulates information during in-progress cognitive activities, and interfaces with long-term memory to reinstate information from the latent, permanent corpus of previous experiences.…”

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Have We Forgotten Auditory Sensory Memory? Retention Intervals in Studies of Nonverbal Auditory Working Memory

Nees

2016

Front. Psychol.

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Researchers have shown increased interest in mechanisms of working memory for nonverbal sounds such as music and environmental sounds. These studies often have used two-stimulus comparison tasks: two sounds separated by a brief retention interval (often 3–5 s) are compared, and a “same” or “different” judgment is recorded. Researchers seem to have assumed that sensory memory has a negligible impact on performance in auditory two-stimulus comparison tasks. This assumption is examined in detail in this comment. According to seminal texts and recent research reports, sensory memory persists in parallel with working memory for a period of time following hearing a stimulus and can influence behavioral responses on memory tasks. Unlike verbal working memory studies that use serial recall tasks, research paradigms for exploring nonverbal working memory—especially two-stimulus comparison tasks—may not be differentiating working memory from sensory memory processes in analyses of behavioral responses, because retention interval durations have not excluded the possibility that the sensory memory trace drives task performance. This conflation of different constructs may be one contributor to discrepant research findings and the resulting proliferation of theoretical conjectures regarding mechanisms of working memory for nonverbal sounds.

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Perspectives on working memory: introduction to the special issue

Cited by 49 publications

References 71 publications

The many faces of working memory and short-term storage

The many faces of working memory and short-term storage

Short‐term Memory in Childhood Dyslexia: Deficient Serial Order in Multiple Modalities

Have We Forgotten Auditory Sensory Memory? Retention Intervals in Studies of Nonverbal Auditory Working Memory

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