Trait anxiety,visuospatial processing,and working memory

This experiment assessed the components of Baddeley's working memory system impaired by anxiety during performance of the Corsi Blocks Test. The Corsi task was performed concurrently with different secondary tasks (i.e., articulatory suppression; counting backwards; spatial tapping; simple tapping). Results showed Corsi performance depended mainly on the central executive and visuospatial sketchpad components of working memory. Adverse effects of trait anxiety on the Corsi task were observed on the central executive but not on the phonological loop or the visuospatial sketchpad. These effects were not mediated by state anxiety. The findings indicate for the first time that trait anxiety impairs central executive functioning on a nonverbal task, and that anxiety does not impair functioning of the “slave” systems (i.e., phonological loop; visuospatial sketchpad). Theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.     

工作记忆对类比推理的影响

该实验采用2(类比推理类型)×6(组别)双因素实验设计来探讨工作记忆与类比推理之间的关系,尤其关注工作记忆的各个子成分对类比推理的影响。控制组的被试只需完成类比推理测验,而实验组的被试是在双任务的条件下进行实验。结果表明,工作记忆是影响类比推理的一个重要因素。在图形类比推理中,主要有视空间模板中的空间成分,语音回路中的发音成分以及中央执行器的参与;在言语类比推理中,则是视空间模板中的空间成分起主要作用。     

Mental multiplication and working memory

This paper is concerned with the role of working memory resources in mental multiplication. In two experiments a dual-task paradigm was used. In the first experiment neutral tapping was contrasted to three modalityspecific secondary tasks: Irrelevant speech and articulatory suppression were used to disrupt the phonological loop and a visuo-spatial tapping was used to disrupt the visuo-spatial sketchpad. Multiplication sums needed to be solved mentally and results needed to be spoken aloud. Sums varied in difficulty (easy, e.g., 3 x 4 =, difficult, e.g., 8 x 17 =). Results from the first experiment revealed declines in performance on difficult sums under articulatory suppression but no interference effect for easy sums. To investigate the role of central executive processes, a second experiment extended the range of interference conditions to a central executive interference task (random letter generation). Now articulatory suppression and random generation caused a decrease of performance on difficult sums. In addition, performance on easy sums was negatively impacted by random letter generation as well. We infer that solving complex multiplication sums demands phonological loop and central executive processes, whereas retrieving numerical facts in solving simple multiplication sums requires only central executive processes. We found no evidence of modality-specific access to numerical facts stored in long-term memory.     

Individual Differences in Working Memory Abilities in Healthy Adults

The goal of this study was to understand the role of individual characteristics such as age, gender and education of healthy adults on working memory abilities, as conceptualized in the central executive, phonological loop, and visuospatial sketchpad. The sample comprised 302 adults aged from 18 to 65 with different educational backgrounds. Participants were submitted to a protocol of established neuropsychological tests that were selected to assess the central executive, phonological loop, and visuospatial sketchpad. The results revealed that these factors influenced working memory abilities differentially. Education level influenced all the three components in the same direction. Individuals with higher academic qualifications have better performance in tests assessing the central executive, phonological loop, and visuospatial sketchpad, whereas age affected performance in the task evaluating the central executive. Age and gender also influenced the performance in tasks related to visuospatial sketchpad in the sense that younger individuals or men reveal better visual and spatial abilities as conceptualized in the visuospatial sketchpad.     

The roles of the central executive and visuospatial storage in mental arithmetic: A comparison across strategies

Previous research has demonstrated that working memory plays an important role in arithmetic. Different arithmetical strategies rely on working memory to different extents—for example, verbal working memory has been found to be more important for procedural strategies, such as counting and decomposition, than for retrieval strategies. Surprisingly, given the close connection between spatial and mathematical skills, the role of visuospatial working memory has received less attention and is poorly understood. This study used a dual-task methodology to investigate the impact of a dynamic spatial n-back task (Experiment 1) and tasks loading the visuospatial sketchpad and central executive (Experiment 2) on adults' use of counting, decomposition, and direct retrieval strategies for addition. While Experiment 1 suggested that visuospatial working memory plays an important role in arithmetic, especially when counting, the results of Experiment 2 suggested this was primarily due to the domain-general executive demands of the n-back task. Taken together, these results suggest that maintaining visuospatial information in mind is required when adults solve addition arithmetic problems by any strategy but the role of domain-general executive resources is much greater than that of the visuospatial sketchpad.     

Effect of articulatory suppression on task-switching performance: implications for models of working memory

In a series of experiments, we examine some effects of articulatory suppression in task switching. The results from Experiments 1a and 2a showed that switch costs in the articulatory suppression condition were larger than those in the control and tapping conditions when the switching cues were not provided. On the other hand, articulatory suppression did not have any effect on switch costs in Experiments 1b and 2b, where the switching cues were provided. In Experiment 3, using a computer-assisted experimentation, this pattern of data was replicated in a two-factor design with articulatory suppression and switching cues factors. The results indicate that a specific component in working memory, the phonological loop, might contribute to the performance in task switching, at least in situations where the external task cues were not available. The data reported here suggest that the phonological loop plays an important role in one of the executive control processes, and challenge the traditional idea that the slave systems are simply governed by the central executive in the working memory.     

Effect of articulatory suppression on task‐switching performance: Implications for models of working memory

In a series of experiments, we examine some effects of articulatory suppression in task switching. The results from Experiments 1a and 2a showed that switch costs in the articulatory suppression condition were larger than those in the control and tapping conditions when the switching cues were not provided. On the other hand, articulatory suppression did not have any effect on switch costs in Experiments 1b and 2b, where the switching cues were provided. In Experiment 3, using a computer‐assisted experimentation, this pattern of data was replicated in a two‐factor design with articulatory suppression and switching cues factors. The results indicate that a specific component in working memory, the phonological loop, might contribute to the performance in task switching, at least in situations where the external task cues were not available. The data reported here suggest that the phonological loop plays an important role in one of the executive control processes, and challenge the traditional idea that the slave systems are simply governed by the central executive in the working memory.     

Age,working memory,and the Tower of London task

The current study explores the role of three components of working memory in age differences in an executive task, the Tower of London (TOL). The TOL task is sensitive to frontal lobe damage, and is widely used to measure planning ability. Dual tasks were used to test the involvement of the phonological loop (articulatory suppression), visuospatial buffer (pattern tapping), and central executive (random generation) in age effects on the TOL. Older adults showed greater reliance than young on domain-specific verbal and spatial memory components in performing the TOL. In terms of executive function, qualitatively different interference patterns were seen in young and old participants. However, the validity of using random generation tasks to assess executive function in older populations can be questioned. For older participants, performing the TOL loads all components of working memory, whereas for the younger participants the TOL more specifically loads executive functioning.     

Working memory and conditional reasoning

Little is known about the role of working memory in conditional reasoning. This paper reports three experiments that examine the contributions of the visuo-spatial scratch pad (VSSP), the articulatory loop, and the central executive components of Baddeley and Hitch's (1974) model of working memory to conditional reasoning. The first experiment employs a spatial memory task that is presented concurrently with two putative spatial interference tasks (tapping and tracking), articulatory suppression, and a verbal memory load. Only the tracking and memory load impaired performance, suggesting that these tap the VSSP and central executive, respectively. Having established the potency of these interference tasks two further experiments examined the effects of tapping and tracking (Experiment 2) and articulation and memory load (Experiment 3) on a conditional reasoning task. Neither tracking nor tapping affected the number of inferences accepted or response latency. Articulation also failed to affect conditional reasoning but memory load selectively reduced acceptance of modus tollens inferences. These results are discussed in terms of both rule-based and mental models theories of reasoning. While these data cannot discriminate between the two perspectives they provide support for one of the central assumptions in each: that some errors in reasoning are attributable directly to working memory demands. Taken together these experiments suggest that conditional reasoning requires an abstract working memory medium for representation; it does not require either the VSSP or the articulatory loop. It is concluded that the central executive provides the necessary substrate.     

Reducing the vividness and emotional impact of distressing autobiographical memories: the importance of modality-specific interference

Experimental analogues of post-traumatic stress disorder suggest that loading the visuospatial sketchpad of working memory with a concurrent task reduces the vividness and associated distress of predominantly visual images. The present experiments explicitly tested the hypothesis that interfering with the phonological loop could analogously reduce the vividness and emotional impact of auditory images. In Experiment 1, 30 undergraduates formed non-specific images of emotive autobiographical memories while performing a concurrent task designed to load either the visuospatial sketchpad (eye movements) or phonological loop (articulatory suppression). Participants reported their images to be primarily visual, corresponding to the greater dual-task disruption observed for eye movements. Experiment 2 instructed participants to form specifically visual or auditory images. As predicted, concurrent articulation reduced vividness and emotional intensity ratings of auditory images to a greater extent than did eye movements, whereas concurrent eye movements reduced ratings of visual images much more than did articulatory suppression. Such modality-specific dual-task interference could usefully contribute to the treatment and management of intrusive distressing images in both clinical and non-clinical settings.     

A visuospatial “phonological loop” in working memory: Evidence from American Sign Language

In two experiments, the question of whether working memory could support an articulatory rehearsal loop in the visuospatial domain was investigated. Deaf subjects fluent in American Sign Language (ASL) were tested on immediate serial recall. In Experiment 1, using ASL stimuli, evidence for manual motoric coding (worse recall under articulatory suppression) was found, replicating findings of ASL-based phonological coding (worse recall for phonologically similar lists). The two effects did not interact, suggesting separate components which both contribute to performance. Stimuli in Experiment 2 were namable pictures, which had to be recoded for ASL-based rehearsal to occur. Under these conditions, articulatory suppression eliminated the phonological similarity effect. Thus, an articulatory process seems to be used in translating pictures into a phonological code for memory maintenance. These results indicate a configuration of components similar to the phonological loop for speech, suggesting that working memory can develop a language-based rehearsal loop in the visuospatial modality.     

Visual working memory is enhanced by mixed strategy use and semantic coding

Visual working memory is enhanced by processes related to verbalisation. However, the mechanism underlying this enhancement is unclear. Experiment 1 investigated the potential contribution of the phonological loop of working memory, by assessing the effects of articulatory suppression on two versions of the Visual Patterns Test—one low and one high in availability of verbal coding. The lack of interaction suggested that the phonological loop is not responsible; however, active use of combined verbal and visual strategies, as well as activated semantic knowledge, both appear to be related to increased capacity. Experiment 2 assessed the role of central executive resources. Because central executive suppression removed the benefit of the high verbal coding task version, central executive resources, assumed to relate to the temporary maintenance of multimodal codes in the episodic buffer, appear to underlie the benefit associated with verbalisation.     

Localizing Localization: The Role of Working Memory in Auditory Localization

It is unclear from current accounts of working memory which, if any, of its components might be involved in our ability to specify the location of a sound source. A series of studies were performed to assess the degree of interference in localization of broadband noise, by a concurrent articulatory suppression (articulatory loop—Experiment 1), serial recall (phonological store and articulatory loop—Experiment 2), and Paced Visual Serial Addition Test (central executive—Experiment 3). No significant disruption of auditory localization was revealed by the first two experiments, ruling out a role for the phonological loop in auditory localization. In Experiment 3, a large degree of error was exhibited in localization, when performed concurrently with the addition task, indicating a requirement for central resources. This suggestion is confirmed by comparison of localization performance across all three studies, which demonstrates a clear deterioration in performance as the demand of concurrent tasks on central resources increases. Finally, concurrent localization was shown to disrupt the primacy portion of the serial position curve, as well as performance on the Paced Visual Serial Addition Test.     

Working memory and individual differences in mathematics achievement: A longitudinal study from first grade to second grade

This longitudinal study examined the relationship between working memory and individual differences in mathematics. Working memory measures, comprising the phonological loop, the visuospatial sketchpad, and the central executive, were administered at the start of first grade. Mathematics achievement was assessed 4 months later (at the middle of first grade) and 1 year later (at the start of second grade). Working memory was significantly related to mathematics achievement in both grades, showing that working memory clearly predicts later mathematics achievement. The central executive was a unique predictor of both first- and second-grade mathematics achievement. There were age-related differences with regard to the contribution of the slave systems to mathematics performance; the visuospatial sketchpad was a unique predictor of first-grade, but not second-grade, mathematics achievement, whereas the phonological loop emerged as a unique predictor of second-grade, but not first-grade, mathematics achievement.     

Working memory in chess

Three experiments investigated the role of working memory in various aspects of thinking in chess. Experiment 1 examined the immediate memory for briefly presented chess positions from master games in players from a wide range of abilities, following the imposition of various secondary tasks designed to block separate components of working memory. Suppression of the articulatory loop (by preventing subvocal rehearsal) had no effect on measures of recall, whereas blocking the visuospatial sketchpad (by manipulation of a keypad) and blocking the central executive (by random letter generation) had equivalent disruptive effects, in comparison with a control condition. Experiment 2 investigated the effects of similar secondary tasks on the solution (i.e., move selection) of tactical chess positions, and a similar pattern was found, except that blocking the central executive was much more disruptive than in Experiment 1. Experiment 3 compared performance on two types of primary task, one concerned with solving chess positions as in Experiment 2, and the other a sentence-rearrangement task. The secondary tasks in each case were both designed to block the central executive, but one was verbal (vocal generation of random numbers), while the other was spatial in nature (random generation of keypresses). Performance of the spatial secondary task was affected to a greater extent by the chess primary task than by the verbal primary task, whereas there were no differential effects on these secondary tasks by the verbal primary task. In none of the three experiments were there any differential effects between weak and strong players. These results are interpreted in the context of the workingmemory model and previous theories of the nature of cognition in chess.     

Counting on working memory in arithmetic problem solving

Mental calculation is an important everyday skill involving access to well-learned procedures, problem solving, and working memory. Although there is an active literature on acquiring concepts and procedures for mental arithmetic, relatively little is known about the role of working memory in this task. This paper reports two experiments in which dual-task methodology is used to study the role of components of working memory in mental addition. In Experiment 1, mental addition of auditorily presented two-digit numbers was significantly disrupted by concurrent random letter generation and, to a lesser extent, by concurrent articulatory suppression, but was unimpaired by concurrent hand movement or by presentation of irrelevant pictures. Although the number of errors increased with two of the dual tasks, the incorrect responses tended to be quite close to the correct answer. In Experiment 2, the numbers for addition were presented visually. Here again, random generation produced the largest disruption of mental arithmetic performance, while a smaller amount of disruption was observed for articulatory suppression, hand movement, and unattended auditorily presented two-digit numbers. The overall levels of performance were better and the absolute size of the disruptive effects shown with visual presentation was very small compared with those found for auditory presentation. This pattern of results is consistent with a role for a central executive component of working memory in performing the calculations required for mental addition and in producing approximately correct answers. Visuospatial resources in working memory may also be involved in approximations. The data support the view that the subvocal rehearsal component of working memory provides a means of maintaining accuracy in mental arithmetic, and this matches a similar conclusion derived from previous work on counting. The general implications for the role of working memory in arithmetic problem solving will be discussed.     

A modality congruency effect in verbal false memory

The involvement of working memory sub-systems in syllogistic reasoning problems was assessed by dual task methods. Effects of skill level and training on working memory involvement in syllogistic reasoning were examined. In Study 1, participants were pre-selected into groups of High and Low skill at syllogistic reasoning on the basis of a pencil-and-paper screening test. Six separate High and Low skill groups completed syllogistic reasoning tasks in control conditions and each group was also tested under one of the following six dual task conditions: articulatory suppression, unattended speech, verbal random generation, spatial random generation, tapping in a simple pattern, unattended pictures. The results indicated that the more skilled participants were generally following a high demand strategy, which loaded the central executive, phonological loop and imagery sub-systems, but that lower skill participants were generally following a less demanding strategy which did not load working memory components so heavily. In two Pilot Studies a training procedure was assessed and validated. In Study 2, participants were selected, on the basis of a screening test, as being unskilled at solving syllogisms but as performing above guessing level. These participants underwent the training regime validated in the Pilot Studies. Following training, separate groups of participants carried out syllogistic tests with and without one of the following four secondary tasks: articulatory suppression, unattended pictures, spatial random generation, and verbal random generation. The pattern of results indicated that training had induced high demand strategies (often logic-equivalent), which loaded the central executive and to a lesser extent the phonological loop.     

Contribution of articulatory rehearsal to short-term memory: evidence from a case of selective disruption.

We describe a brain-damaged patient with disturbed articulatory rehearsal in whom all predictions derived from a working memory model were fulfilled. The patient showed a reduced verbal span, no word-length effect on immediate recall in both the visual or the auditory modalities, no phonological similarity effect in the visual modality, and no effect of articulatory suppression. A slowed overt articulation rate provided independent evidence for disrupted articulatory rehearsal. The other components of working memory, the visuospatial scratch-pad, phonological storage system, and central executive, were functional. The selectivity of the deficit can be taken as evidence for the specific role of articulatory rehearsal in working memory.     

The phonological loop in task alternation and task repetition

It has recently been proposed that task repetition is easier than task alternation because the appropriate task settings are already present in working memory, whereas during task alternation task settings must be retrieved from long-term memory (Mayr & Kliegl, 2000). The present study tested whether the phonological loop is involved in keeping the relevant task settings active in working memory. It may then be expected that concurrent articulatory suppression would diminish the facilitation associated with task repetition because the phonological loop could no longer maintain the appropriate task settings active in working memory. Both during task repetition and task alternation the relevant task settings should then be retrieved from long-term memory. Three dual-task experiments were conducted. The results of Experiment 1 were in support of our prediction. Experiment 2 replicated the findings of Experiment 1 and showed that the task settings probably represent the adequate response mappings. Experiment 3 ruled out the involvement of the visuo-spatial sketchpad and more general coordination demands during dual tasking.     

The phonological loop in task alternation and task repetition

It has recently been proposed that task repetition is easier than task alternation because the appropriate task settings are already present in working memory, whereas during task alternation task settings must be retrieved from long-term memory (Mayr & Kliegl, 2000). The present study tested whether the phonological loop is involved in keeping the relevant task settings active in working memory. It may then be expected that concurrent articulatory suppression would diminish the facilitation associated with task repetition because the phonological loop could no longer maintain the appropriate task settings active in working memory. Both during task repetition and task alternation the relevant task settings should then be retrieved from long-term memory. Three dual-task experiments were conducted. The results of Experiment 1 were in support of our prediction. Experiment 2 replicated the findings of Experiment 1 and showed that the task settings probably represent the adequate response mappings. Experiment 3 ruled out the involvement of the visuo-spatial sketchpad and more general coordination demands during dual tasking.