颜色和形状工作记忆对非空间返回抑制效应的影响

为进一步考察非空间返回抑制效应是否受工作记忆内容的影响,分别采用颜色和形状工作记忆内容,通过两个实验考察了工作记忆对非空间返回抑制效应的影响。实验结果表明,在颜色和形状工作记忆条件下,均产生了颜色或形状返回抑制效应,并且颜色或形状返回抑制效应量之间均无显著差异,颜色和形状工作记忆内容只增加了判断靶刺激的反应时。研究结论对进一步认识工作记忆内容与非空间返回抑制效应之间的关系有重要参考价值。     

Understanding the role of mind wandering in stress-related working memory impairments

Mind wandering has been identified as a possible cause for stress-related working memory (WM) task impairments following laboratory stressors. The current study attempted to induce mind wandering regarding negative, positive, or neutral events using an expressive writing task and examined the impact on WM task performance. We examined the role of mind wandering in understanding the impact of life stress on WM. Additionally, we explored the role of thought suppression on the relationship between mind wandering and WM. One hundred and fifty participants completed WM measures before (Time 1) and after (Time 2) the writing manipulation. The writing manipulation did not alter mind wandering or WM task performance. Time 1 WM predicted mind wandering during the Time 2 WM task, which subsequently predicted poorer Time 2 WM task performance. The impact of daily life stress on WM was mediated by mind wandering. Trait levels of thought suppression moderated the impact of mind wandering on WM. Specifically, higher levels of suppression resulted in stronger negative impact of mind wandering on WM task performance. Findings are discussed in terms of the impact of mind wandering on WM task performance.     

Individual differences in the gesture effect on working memory

Co-speech gestures have been shown to interact with working memory (WM). However, no study has investigated whether there are individual differences in the effect of gestures on WM. Combining a novel gesture/no-gesture task and an operation span task, we examined the differences in WM accuracy between individuals who gestured and individuals who did not gesture in relation to their WM capacity. Our results showed individual differences in the gesture effect on WM. Specifically, only individuals with low WM capacity showed a reduced WM accuracy when they did not gesture. Individuals with low WM capacity who did gesture, as well as high-capacity individuals (irrespective of whether they gestured or not), did not show the effect. Our findings show that the interaction between co-speech gestures and WM is affected by an individual’s WM load.     

Distractor interference stays constant despite variation in working memory load

Previous studies have shown that working memory (WM) plays an important role in selective attention, so that high WM load leads to inefficient distractor inhibition, in comparison with low WM load. In the present study, we examined the effect of WM on distractor processing while the extent of attentional focus was held constant. Our results show that WM load affected distractor processing only when it was positively correlated with the extent of attentional focus. When the latter was held constant, the effect of WM became negligible. Furthermore, when low WM load was paired with a wide attentional focus and high WM load was matched with a narrow attentional focus, greater distractor processing was found when the WM load was low than when it was high. These results suggest that efficient distractor inhibition may require only minimal WM resources and that the effect of WM on distractor processing is more complex than has previously been assumed.     

知觉表征精度对工作记忆中抑制干扰能力的影响

工作记忆的容量十分有限,需要选择性地抑制与目标无关信息的干扰,工作记忆容量高的个体,其抑制干扰的能力也更强。本研究采用带有不同形状干扰刺激的色块颜色回忆任务考察干扰对工作记忆容量和表征精度的影响,结果发现,当负荷超出工作记忆容量范围时,干扰减少了记忆所能表征客体的个数;当负荷在工作记忆容量范围内时,干扰降低了记忆中表征客体的精度。更进一步,研究采用独立的知觉任务来测量知觉表征的精度,并探讨作为信息加工的初始阶段的知觉表征如何影响工作记忆加工过程中抑制干扰的能力。将实验中收集的48名有效被试按照知觉表征精度的高低平均分为两组,结果发现上述干扰效应主要表现在知觉表征精度较低的组中,并且该组中知觉表征精度越高的个体,其工作记忆抑制干扰的能力也越强。本研究为实践中通过知觉训练来提升工作记忆的抑制干扰能力提供了理论指导。     

Getting a grip on drinking behavior: training working memory to reduce alcohol abuse

Alcohol abuse disrupts core executive functions, including working memory (WM)--the ability to maintain and manipulate goal-relevant information. When executive functions like WM are weakened, drinking behavior gets out of control and is guided more strongly by automatic impulses. This study investigated whether training WM restores control over drinking behavior. Forty-eight problem drinkers performed WM training tasks or control tasks during 25 sessions over at least 25 days. Before and after training, we measured WM and drinking behavior. Training WM improved WM and reduced alcohol intake for more than 1 month after the training. Further, the indirect effect of training on alcohol use through improved WM was moderated by participants' levels of automatic impulses: Increased WM reduced alcohol consumption in participants with relatively strong automatic preferences for alcohol. These findings are consistent with the theoretical framework and demonstrate that training WM may be an effective strategy to reduce alcohol use by increasing control over automatic impulses to drink alcohol.     

工作记忆负荷对无意注意的影响

通过探讨工作记忆负荷对无意注意的影响,考察工作记忆的认知控制功能对选择性注意的作用机制。为了避免工作记忆和选择注意的目标或者干扰子之间的知觉注意资源的竞争,采用言语工作记忆任务和视觉空间位置辨别任务,同时视觉干扰刺激采用被试无法识别的韩语。结果发现,在高负荷条件下,干扰效应显著;而在低和中负荷条件下,没有观察到干扰效应。说明在高负荷条件下,被试没有额外的资源来抑制干扰加工,从而出现了显著的干扰效应。由此,本研究支持负荷理论的观点：工作记忆在选择性注意中执行认知控制功能。     

Performance of schizophrenia and bipolar patients on verbal and figural working memory tasks

Working memory (WM) was studied in 82 healthy volunteers, 43 schizophrenia patients, and 81 bipolar patients. Schizophrenia patients were impaired on verbal and figural WM tasks that possessed similar test discriminating power. Bipolar patients performed similarly to healthy volunteers. A mathematical model of WM performance revealed a primary role for reduced WM span in accounting for the impaired verbal WM of schizophrenia patients and a primary role for diminished attention in accounting for impaired figural WM. Although WM impairment in schizophrenia is due neither to the general effects of severe mental illness nor to the specific type of material studied, the microarchitecture of abnormal WM in schizophrenia may depend on the stimulus material presented.     

A comparison of laboratory and clinical working memory tests and their prediction of fluid intelligence

The working memory (WM) construct is conceptualized similarly across domains of psychology, yet the methods used to measure WM function vary widely. The present study examined the relationship between WM measures used in the laboratory and those used in applied settings. A large sample of undergraduates completed three laboratory-based WM measures (operation span, listening span, and n-back), as well as the WM subtests from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III and the Wechsler Memory Scale-III. Performance on all of the WM subtests of the clinical batteries shared positive correlations with the lab measures; however, the Arithmetic and Spatial Span subtests shared lower correlations than the other WM tests. Factor analyses revealed that a factor comprising scores from the three lab WM measures and the clinical subtest, Letter-Number Sequencing (LNS), provided the best measurement of WM. Additionally, a latent variable approach was taken using fluid intelligence as a criterion construct to further discriminate between the WM tests. The results revealed that the lab measures, along with the LNS task, were the best predictors of fluid abilities.     

Teachers' Ratings of Working Memory in English Language Learners: Do Laboratory Measures Predict Classroom Analogues?

This study investigated the relationship between teachers' classroom ratings of working memory (WM) and laboratory measures of WM of English language learners (ELLs) in the elementary grades. Multilevel modeling was used to identify whether teacher ratings accurately predicted ELL children's performance on WM tasks. The results indicated that teachers' ratings of WM were predicted by isolated components of WM even when measures of achievement, vocabulary and gender representation were entered into the analysis. Teacher ratings of WM were predictive of student performance on latent measures of Spanish short‐term memory and the executive component of WM. Entering inattention ratings into the analysis partialed out the influence of the executive component of WM, while leaving variance related to a language‐specific storage system as a significant predictor of teachers' classroom ratings of WM. The results suggest that classroom ratings of WM provide a valid analogue of student laboratory performance. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

成就目标定向、测验焦虑与工作记忆的关系

在工作记忆广度测验情境下,以152名中学生为被试,考察成就目标定向、测验焦虑和工作记忆的关系。结果表明四种成就目标定向与测验焦虑和工作记忆间具有不同的关系模式：成绩-接近目标与较低的测验焦虑水平和较高的工作记忆广度相关;掌握-接近目标与担忧、情绪化,与工作记忆广度相关不显著;成绩-回避目标与测验焦虑中的担忧和情绪化正相关,与工作记忆广度负相关;掌握-回避目标与担忧和情绪化存在正相关,与工作记忆广度存在接近显著的相关。测验焦虑是成绩-接近和成绩-回避目标影响工作记忆的中介变量。在测验焦虑中,情绪化对工作记忆的干扰大于担忧的干扰     

Cognitive control over working memory biases of selection

Across many studies, researchers have found that representations in working memory (WM) can guide visual attention toward items that match the features of the WM contents. While some researchers have contended that this occurs involuntarily, others have suggested that the impact of WM contents on attention can be strategically controlled. Here, we varied the probability that WM items would coincide with either targets or distractors in a visual search task to examine (1) whether participants could intentionally enhance or inhibit the influence of WM items on attention and (2) whether cognitive control over WM biases would also affect access to the memory contents in a surprise recognition test. We found visual search to be faster when the WM item coincided with the search target, and this effect was enhanced when the memory item reliably predicted the location of the target. Conversely, visual search was slowed when the memory item coincided with a search distractor, and this effect was diminished, but not abolished, when the memory item was reliably associated with distractors. This strategic dampening of the influence of WM items on attention came at a price to memory, however, as participants were slowest to perform WM recognition tests on blocks in which the WM contents were consistently invalid. These results document that attentional capture by WM contents is partly, but not fully, malleable by top-down control, which appears to adjust the state of the WM contents to optimize search behavior. These data illustrate the role of cognitive control in modulating the strength of WM biases of selection, and they support a tight coupling between WM and attention.     

When children forget to remember: Effects of reduced working memory availability on prospective memory performance

The preparatory attentional and memory processes theory (PAM) of prospective memory (PM) proposes that prospective remembering is influenced by the variation in the availability of WM resources. Consequently, PM should be impaired when WM resources are reduced either by direct WM manipulation or by individual differences associated with restricted WM performance. Our study tested this prediction in school-age children by examining the independent and interactive effects of three factors known to deplete availability of WM resources: increased processing demands of a concurrent arithmetic task, additional WM span requirements, and high trait anxiety. A sample of 10-year-old children (N = 128) performed a PM task, embedded in an ongoing arithmetic task, which progressively imposed greater WM processing demands. Half of these participants also concurrently carried out an embedded WM span task. The results supported the PAM hypothesis, showing that children’s PM was compromised by the restriction of WM resources, whether this resulted from increasing the processing demands on the ongoing task, from imposing additional WM span requirements, or from high trait anxiety. However, these WM-depleting factors exerted additive effects rather than an interactive impact, suggesting that they might each deplete different aspects of WM resource availability necessary for prospective remembering. Overall findings imply that children’s PM success is not only associated to their WM capacity but it mostly depends upon how many of those WM resources are available to be devoted to the PM requirement.     

Worry and working memory influence each other iteratively over time

Little research has examined whether the relationship between working memory (WM) and anxiety/worry remains stable or changes over time; and, if changes occur, the factor(s) influencing change. Claims about influence are typically inferred from data collected at a single time point, and may misrepresent the nature of influence. To investigate the iterative influence of WM and Worry and/or vice versa, 133 fourteen-year-olds completed WM and Worry measures several times over the course of a single day as they prepared for a math test. We used a bivariate latent difference score model to analyse possible changes in WM–Worry relationships. The best fitting model indicated high Worry predicts decreases in WM, and low or decreased WM predicts increases in Worry; high WM with low Worry predicts accurate problem solving; low WM with high Worry predicts inaccurate problem solving. Findings show relationships between WM and Worry varies considerably over a single day, and initial disadvantages become worse over time.     

Dopamine, working memory, and training induced plasticity: implications for developmental research

Cognitive deficits and particularly deficits in working memory (WM) capacity are common features in neuropsychiatric disorders. Understanding the underlying mechanisms through which WM capacity can be improved is therefore of great importance. Several lines of research indicate that dopamine plays an important role not only in WM function but also for improving WM capacity. For example, pharmacological interventions acting on the dopaminergic system, such as methylphenidate, improve WM performance. In addition, behavioral interventions for improving WM performance in the form of intensive computerized training have recently been associated with changes in dopamine receptor density. These two different means of improving WM performance--pharmacological and behavioral--are thus associated with similar biological mechanisms in the brain involving dopaminergic systems. This article reviews some of the evidence for the role of dopamine in WM functioning, in particular concerning the link to WM development and cognitive plasticity. Novel data are presented showing that variation in the dopamine transporter gene (DAT1) influences improvements in WM and fluid intelligence in preschool-age children following cognitive training. Our results emphasize the importance of the role of dopamine in determining cognitive plasticity.     

Independent operation of implicit working memory under cognitive load

Implicit working memory (WM) has been known to operate non-consciously and unintentionally. The current study investigated whether implicit WM is a discrete mechanism from explicit WM in terms of cognitive resource. To induce cognitive resource competition, we used a conjunction search task (Experiment 1) and imposed spatial WM load (Experiment 2a and 2b). Each trial was composed of a set of five consecutive search displays. The location of the first four displays appeared as per pre-determined patterns, but the fifth display could follow the same pattern or not. If implicit WM can extract the moving pattern of stimuli, response times for the fifth target would be faster when it followed the pattern compared to when it did not. Our results showed implicit WM can operate when participants are searching for the conjunction target and even while maintaining spatial WM information. These results suggest that implicit WM is independent from explicit spatial WM.     

Spatial and nonspatial working memory and visual search

It has been indicated that visual search is interfered with in spatial working memory (WM), although not in nonspatial WM. In this study, the effects on visual search of individual differences in spatial and nonspatial WM were examined. Two visual search conditions were used: a conjunction search condition comprising two features (color and shape) and a disjunction condition comprising only one feature (color or shape). 96 participants (42 men, 54 women, M age = 20.9 yr., SD = 3.5) participated in this study. The participants were divided into high and low WM groups based on their spatial and nonspatial WM test scores. As a result, statistically significant group differences in the conjunction search rate were observed in spatial WM but not in nonspatial WM. These results suggest there is a relationship between visual search and the individual spatial WM ability, but this does not hold for nonspatial WM.     

Working memory impairments in schizophrenia: a meta-analysis

Working memory (WM) deficit is a cardinal cognitive symptom of schizophrenia, but the differences among the tasks and measures used to assess WM make it difficult to compare across studies. The authors conducted a meta-analytic review to address 3 major questions: (a) Do patients with schizophrenia show WM deficits across diverse methodology; (b) Is WM deficit supramodal; and (c) Does the WM deficit worsen with longer delays? The results indicate that significant WM deficit was present in schizophrenia patients in all modalities examined. Increasing delay beyond 1 s did not influence the performance difference between schizophrenia patients and healthy control participants in WM. These results suggest that WM deficit in schizophrenia is modality independent and that encoding and/or early part of maintenance may be problematic.     

The persistence of thought: evidence for a role of working memory in the maintenance of task-unrelated thinking

Tasks that tax working memory (WM) have consistently been found to decrease mind wandering. These findings may indicate that maintenance of mind wandering requires WM resources, such that mind wandering cannot persist when WM resources are being consumed by a task. An alternative explanation for these findings, however, is that mind wandering persists without the support of WM but is nonetheless decreased during any demanding task because good task performance requires that attention be restricted from task-unrelated thought (TUT). The present study tested these two competing theories by investigating whether individuals with greater WM resources mind-wander more during an undemanding task, as would be predicted only by the theory that WM supports TUT. We found that individuals with higher WM capacity reported more TUT in undemanding tasks, which suggests that WM enables the maintenance of mind wandering.     

工作记忆负荷对反馈加工过程的影响:来自脑电研究的证据

个体对行为后反馈结果的加工在学习和环境适应方面有重要意义,工作记忆负荷(working memory load,WM load)如何影响反馈加工过程尚不清楚。采用双任务范式,设置基线、低WM load、高WM load三种条件,结合ERP技术对这一问题进行探究。发现RewP (reward positivity,奖赏正波)对效价敏感,而不受WM load条件影响;Theta震荡的正、负反馈差异波在高WMload条件下比在低WM load条件下小。结果支持等级强化学习-前扣带回理论(HRL-ACC, hierarchical reinforcement learning theory of anterior cingulate cortex)对于RewP和theta震荡的观点:RewP反映了反馈效价评估功能, theta震荡反映了认知控制功能,并且WM load选择性影响了ACC的认知控制功能而不是反馈效价评估功能。