The role of long-term memory in a test of visual working memory: Proactive facilitation but no proactive interference.

Oberauer, Klaus; Awh, Edward; Sutterer, David

doi:10.1037/xlm0000302

Cited by 66 publications

(107 citation statements)

References 71 publications

(108 reference statements)

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“…Alternatively, the PI effect may be better interpreted as a decision-making phenomenon that occurs during retrieval. Oberauer, Awh, and Sutterer (2017) proposed that responses to the probe involve a competition between a familiarity signal from LTM and the available content of WM. Familiarity with the probe can be used to make a decision, which is beneficial on positive trials but detrimental on RP trials.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The visual nonverbal memory trace is fragile when actively maintained, but endures passively for tens of seconds

et al. 2019

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Despite attempts at active maintenance in the focus of attention, the fragile nature of the visual nonverbal memory trace may be revealed when the retention interval between target memoranda and probed recall on a trial is extended. In contrast, a passively maintained or unattended visual memory trace may be revealed as persisting proactive interference extending across quite extended intervals between trials in a recent probes task. The present study, comprising five experiments, used this task to explore the persistence of such a passive visual memory trace over time. Participants viewed some target visual items (for example, abstract colored patterns) followed by a variable retention interval and a probe item. The task was to report whether the probe matched one of the targets or not. A decaying active memory trace was indicated by poorer performance as the memory retention interval was extended on a trial. However, when the probe was a member of the target set from the preceding trial, task performance was poorer than a comparison novel probe, demonstrating proactive interference. Manipulations of the intertrial interval revealed that the temporal persistence of the passive memory trace of an old target was impressive, and proactive interference was largely resilient to a simple 'cued forgetting' manipulation. These data support the proposed two-process memory conception (active-passive memory) contrasting fragile active memory traces decaying over a few seconds with robust passive traces extending to tens of seconds.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The visual nonverbal memory trace is fragile when actively maintained, but endures passively for tens of seconds

et al. 2019

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“…For the WM system to work effectively, it has to retrieve information from long-term memory selectively, so that only information useful for the current task enters WM (Oberauer, 2009). A demonstration of the effectiveness of this gating mechanism comes from experiments investigating the effect of previously acquired long-term memories on WM performance (Oberauer, Awh, & Sutterer, 2017). We had participants learn 120 associations between everyday objects and randomly selected colors.…”

Section: Attention As Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Working Memory and Attention – A Conceptual Analysis and Review

Oberauer

2019

Journal of Cognition

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321

236

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There is broad agreement that working memory is closely related to attention. This article delineates several theoretical options for conceptualizing this link, and evaluates their viability in light of their theoretical implications and the empirical support they received. A first divide exists between the concept of attention as a limited resource, and the concept of attention as selective information processing. Theories conceptualizing attention as a resource assume that this resource is responsible for the limited capacity of working memory. Three versions of this idea have been proposed: Attention as a resource for storage and processing, a shared resource for perceptual attention and memory maintenance, and a resource for the control of attention. The first of these three is empirically well supported, but the other two are not. By contrast, when attention is understood as a selection mechanism, it is usually not invoked to explain the capacity limit of working memory – rather, researchers ask how different forms of attention interact with working memory, in two areas. The first pertains to attentional selection of the contents of working memory, controlled by mechanisms of filtering out irrelevant stimuli, and removing no-longer relevant representations from working memory. Within working memory contents, a single item is often selected into the focus of attention for processing. The second area pertains to the role of working memory in cognitive control. Working memory contributes to controlling perceptual attention – by holding templates for targets of perceptual selection – and controlling action – by holding task sets to implement our current goals.

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“…Our knowledge of the external world is always based on the long-term memories we experienced previously. Human studies have shown the benefits of long-term memory for learning new information with similar principle (Gerven et al, 2017;Oberauer et al, 2017;Wang et al, 2017). In addition, rule-based learning (combined cues with an abstract principle) has been reported during associative learning both in human and animal studies (Racht-Delatour and Massioui, 1999;Wills et al, 2011;Maes et al, 2017;Broschard et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Memory Traces Diminished by Exercise Affect New Learning as Proactive Facilitation

Zhou

2020

Front. Neurosci.

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Exercise enhances cognitive function through increased neurogenesis but can also cause neurogenesis-induced forgetting. It remains unclear whether the diminished memory traces are completely forgotten. Our goals were to determine whether spatial memory is diminished by exercise, and if so, whether the memory is completely gone or whether only the local details disappear but not the acquired strategy. Two-monthold male C57BL/6J mice were trained on a spatial memory task using the Morris water maze and tested to determine that they had learned the platform location. Another mouse group received no training. Half the mice in each group then exercised on a running wheel, while the other half remained sedentary in home cages. After 4 weeks of this, previously trained mice were tested for their retention of the platform location. All mice were then subjected to the task, but the platform was located in a different position (reversal learning for previously trained mice). We found that exercise significantly facilitated the forgetting of the first platform location (i.e., diminished spatial memory) but also significantly enhanced reversal learning. Compared with mice that received no pre-exercise training, mice that had been previously trained, even those in the exercise group that had decreased recall, showed significantly better performance in the reversal learning test. Activation of new adult-born neurons was also examined. Although newborn neuron activation between groups that had or had not received prior task training was not different, activation was significantly higher in exercise groups than in sedentary groups after the probe test for reversal learning. These results indicated that the experience of pre-exercise training equally facilitated new learning in the sedentary and exercise groups, even though significantly lower memory retention was found in the exercise group, suggesting rule-based learning in mice. Furthermore, newborn neurons equally participated in similar and novel memory acquisition.

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The role of long-term memory in a test of visual working memory: Proactive facilitation but no proactive interference.

Cited by 66 publications

References 71 publications

The visual nonverbal memory trace is fragile when actively maintained, but endures passively for tens of seconds

The visual nonverbal memory trace is fragile when actively maintained, but endures passively for tens of seconds

Working Memory and Attention – A Conceptual Analysis and Review

Memory Traces Diminished by Exercise Affect New Learning as Proactive Facilitation

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