On perfect working-memory performance with large numbers of items |
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Authors: | Jonathan E Thiele Michael S Pratte Jeffrey N Rouder |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, 210 McAlester Hall, Columbia, MO 65211, USA;(2) Psychology Department, Vanderbilt University, 301 Wilson Hall, Nashville, TN 37240, USA;; |
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Abstract: | Many popular models conceptualize working memory as consisting of three or four discrete slots or bins. This conceptualization,
however, has been seemingly refuted by Bays and Husain (2009), who reported perfect performance on a working memory task with a large number of very simple items. We show, however, that
this perfect-performance result likely reflects a design flaw rather than mnemonic structure. The flaw is that the test array
itself in Bays and Husain’s study provides information about the correct answer without recourse to working memory. We show
perfect performance on eight items for 18 participants when this information is present. We show that performance is poorer,
however, when this information is removed. Hence, the Bays and Husain result does not threaten models that stipulate that
working memory is composed of limited slots. |
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