How Does Chunking Help Working Memory?
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Chapter 16 Improving Your Memory + 2 Tips for Selecting Passwords
+ Chapter 16 Improving Your Memory + 2 Tips for Selecting Passwords Use a transformation of some memorable cue involving a mix of letters and symbols Keep a record of all passwords in a place to which only you have access (e.g. a safe deposit box) It is easier to recall the location of a hidden object when the location is likely than when it is unexpected + 3 Popular Mnemonic Aids Harris (1980) surveyed housewives and students on their mnemonic use: Both groups used largely similar techniques; however, Students were more likely to write on their hands Housewives were more likely to write on calendars External aids (e.g. diaries, calendars, lists, and timers) were especially popular …Today we have laptops, PDAs, and mobile telephones Very few internal mnemonics were reported These are especially useful in situations that ban external aids + 4 Memory Experts Shereshevskii The Mind of a Mnemonist by Luria A Russian with an amazing memory A former journalist who never took notes but could repeat back quotes verbatim Had seemingly limitless memory for: Digits (100+) Nonsense syllables Foreign-language poetry Complex figures Complex scientific formulae His memory relied heavily on imagery and synesthesia: The tendency for one sense modality to evoke another His apparent inability to forget, and his synesthesia, caused great complications and struggle for him + Wilding and Valentine (1994) 5 Naturals vs. Strategists Naturals Strategists Innately gifted Highly practiced in certain mnemonic techniques Possess a close relative who exhibits a comparable level of memory ability Tested both kinds of mnemonists at the World Memory Championships on two types of tasks: Strategic Tasks e.g. -
Richard Semon's Theory of Memory
JOURNAL OF VERBAL LEARNING AND VERBAL BEHAVIOR 17, 721--743 (1978) Richard Semon's Theory of Memory DANIEL L. SCHACTER, JAMES ERIC EICH, AND ENDEL TULVlNG University of Toronto In the first decade of the 20th century, Richard Semon put forward a theory of memory that anticipated numerous recent developments in memory research. The theory is discussed both in its historical context and with reference to modem ideas. Semon's theoretical concern for retrieval phenomena is particularly noteworthy. Several reasons are suggested why the theory is virtually unknown today. Current research in the area of human Wolfgang Semon, a German scientist who memory owes many of its present orienting wrote two books on the subject of human attitudes and research techniques to pioneer- memory in the first decade of the 20th century. ing psychologists of the late 19th and early In fact, Semon's work has been almost com- 20th centuries. Among the most well known pletely ignored by mainstream psychologists and important of these early investigators are concerned with processes of memory and Hermann Ebbinghaus, who performed the learning; later in this paper we will explore first systematic laboratory studies of human some of the reasons why Semon's work has memory; William James, whose distinction been bypassed. Yet prominent anatomist J. Z. between primary and secondary memory is Young (1965, p.288) commented that still today the target of much research and "...many modern ideas on the subject [of theorizing~ G. E. Miiller, who performed memoryl go back to Richard Semon...;" important early research on grouping and Gestalt psychologist Kurt Koffka (1935, interference; and Sir Frederic Bartlett, whose p. -
Redintegration and Lexicality Effects in Children: Do They Depend Upon the Demands of the Memory Task?
Memory & Cognition 2004, 32 (3), 501-510 Redintegration and lexicality effects in children: Do they depend upon the demands of the memory task? JUDY E. TURNER University of Reading, Reading, England LUCY A. HENRY Institute of Psychiatry, London, England and PHILIP T. SMITH and PENELOPE A. BROWN University of Reading, Reading, England The effect of long-term knowledge upon performance in short-term memory tasks was examined for children from 5 to 10 years of age. The emergence of a lexicality effect, in which familiar words were recalled more accurately than unfamiliar words, was found to depend upon the nature of the memory task. Lexicality effects were interpreted as reflecting the use of redintegration, or reconstruction pro- cesses, in short-term memory. Redintegration increased with age for tasks requiring spoken item recall and decreased with age when position information but not naming was required. In a second experi- ment, redintegration was found in a recognition task when some of the foils rhymed with the target. Older children were able to profit from a rhyming foil, whereas younger children were confused by it, suggesting that the older children make use of sublexical phonological information in reconstructing the target. It was proposed that redintegrative processes in their mature form support the reconstruc- tion of detailed phonological knowledge of words. The concept of redintegration has proved to be a pro- memory tasks. For example, long-term knowledge has an ductive approach to examining why long-term memory effect prelexically: Vitevitch and Luce (1999) found that (LTM) knowledge affects performance on short-term decisions could be made more rapidly about auditory memory (STM) tasks. -
Chunking As a Rational Strategy for Lossy Data Compression in Visual Working Memory
Psychological Review © 2018 American Psychological Association 2018, Vol. 125, No. 4, 486–511 0033-295X/18/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/rev0000101 Chunking as a Rational Strategy for Lossy Data Compression in Visual Working Memory Matthew R. Nassar, Julie C. Helmers, and Michael J. Frank Brown University The nature of capacity limits for visual working memory has been the subject of an intense debate that has relied on models that assume items are encoded independently. Here we propose that instead, similar features are jointly encoded through a “chunking” process to optimize performance on visual working memory tasks. We show that such chunking can: (a) facilitate performance improvements for abstract capacity-limited systems, (b) be optimized through reinforcement, (c) be implemented by center-surround dynamics, and (d) increase effective storage capacity at the expense of recall precision. Human performance on a variant of a canonical working memory task demonstrated performance advantages, precision detriments, interitem dependencies, and trial-to-trial behavioral adjustments diagnostic of performance optimization through center- surround chunking. Models incorporating center-surround chunking provided a better quantitative description of human performance in our study as well as in a meta-analytic dataset, and apparent differences in working memory capacity across individuals were attributable to individual differences in the implementation of chunking. Our results reveal a normative rationale for center-surround connectivity in working memory circuitry, call for reevaluation of memory performance differences that have previously been attributed to differences in capacity, and support a more nuanced view of visual working memory capacity limitations: strategic tradeoff between storage capacity and memory precision through chunking contribute to flexible capacity limitations that include both discrete and continuous aspects. -
Semantic Coherence Stabilizes Phonological Sequences in Short-Term Memory : Semantic Coherence Stabilizes Phonological Sequences in Short-Term Memory
This is a repository copy of Keeping It Together: Semantic Coherence Stabilizes Phonological Sequences in Short-Term Memory : Semantic coherence stabilizes phonological sequences in short-term memory. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/125356/ Version: Accepted Version Article: Savill, Nicola, Ellis, Rachel, Brooke, Emma et al. (6 more authors) (2017) Keeping It Together: Semantic Coherence Stabilizes Phonological Sequences in Short-Term Memory : Semantic coherence stabilizes phonological sequences in short-term memory. Memory & Cognition. pp. 1-12. ISSN 0090-502X https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-017-0775-3 Reuse Items deposited in White Rose Research Online are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved unless indicated otherwise. They may be downloaded and/or printed for private study, or other acts as permitted by national copyright laws. The publisher or other rights holders may allow further reproduction and re-use of the full text version. This is indicated by the licence information on the White Rose Research Online record for the item. Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing [email protected] including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. [email protected] https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ Running head: SEMANTIC AND PHONOLOGICAL COHERENCE This is a postprint of a paper to appear in Memory & Cognition DOI: 10.3758/s13421-017-0775-3 Keeping It Together: Semantic Coherence -
Freeing Capacity in WM Through the Use of LTM Representations
Freeing capacity in WM through the use of LTM representations Lea M. Bartsch1 and Peter Shepherdson2 1 University of Zurich 2 University of Akureyri Author Note We thank Atalia Adank and Dawid Strzelczyk for helping with data collection. The preregistration, data and the analysis scripts can be accessed on the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/7d9aj/). Correspondence should be addressed to Lea M. Bartsch, E-mail: [email protected]. © 2021, American Psychological Association. This paper is not the copy of record and may not exactly replicate the final, authoritative version of the article. Please do not copy or cite without authors' permission. The final article will be available, upon publication, via its DOI: 10.1037/xlm0001024 Freeing capacity in WM through the use of LTM representations 2 Abstract Previous research indicates that long-term memory (LTM) may contribute to performance in working memory (WM) tasks. Across three experiments we investigated the extent to which active maintenance in WM can be replaced by relying on information stored in episodic LTM, thereby freeing capacity for additional information in WM. First, participants encoded word pairs into LTM, and then completed a WM task, also involving word pairs. Crucially, the pairs presented in each WM trial comprised varying numbers of new pairs and the previously learned LTM pairs. Experiment 1 showed that recall performance in the WM task was unaffected when memory set size increased through the addition of LTM pairs, but that it deteriorated when set size increased through adding new pairs. In Experiment 2 we investigated the robustness of this effect, orthogonally manipulating the number of new and LTM pairs used in the WM task. -
Verbal Short-Term Memory Reflects the Organization of Long-Term
VERBAL SHORT-TERM MEMORY REFLECTS THE ORGANIZATION OF LONG-TERM MEMORY. FURTHER EVIDENCE FROM SHORT-TERM MEMORY FOR EMOTIONAL WORDS. Steve Majerus 1,2 & Arnaud D‟Argembeau 1,2 1 Université de Liège, Belgium 2 Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique FNRS, Belgium RUNNING HEAD: STM AND EMOTIONAL VALENCE Journal of Memory and Language, 2011, 64, 181-197 Address for correspondence: Steve Majerus, PhD Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience Boulevard du Rectorat, B33 4000 Liège, Belgium Phone : 0032 4 3664656 Fax : 0032 4 3662808 Email : [email protected] 1 ABSTRACT Many studies suggest that long-term lexical-semantic knowledge is an important determinant of verbal short-term memory (STM) performance. This study explored the impact of emotional valence on word immediate serial recall as a further lexico-semantic long-term memory (LTM) effect on STM. This effect is particularly interesting for the study of STM-LTM interactions since emotional words not only activate specific lexico-semantic LTM features but also capture attentional resources, and hence allow for the study of both LTM and attentional factors on STM tasks. In Experiments 1 and 2, we observed a robust effect of emotional valence on pure list recall in both young and elderly adults, with higher recall performance for emotional lists as opposed to neutral lists, as predicted by increased LTM support for emotional words. In Experiments 3 and 4 however, using mixed lists, it was the lists containing a minority of emotional words which led to higher recall performance over lists containing a majority of emotional words. This was predicted by a weak version of the attentional capture account. -
An ERP Study of Lexical and Sublexical Processing
Immediate Auditory Repetition of Words and Nonwords: An ERP Study of Lexical and Sublexical Processing Xiaorong Cheng1,2,3, Graham Schafer3*, Patricia M. Riddell3 1 Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior (CCNU), Ministry of Education, Wuhan, China, 2 School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China, 3 School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom Abstract ERPs were elicited to (1) words, (2) pseudowords derived from these words, and (3) nonwords with no lexical neighbors, in a task involving listening to immediately repeated auditory stimuli. There was a significant early (P200) effect of phonotactic probability in the first auditory presentation, which discriminated words and pseudowords from nonwords; and a significant somewhat later (N400) effect of lexicality, which discriminated words from pseudowords and nonwords. There was no reliable effect of lexicality in the ERPs to the second auditory presentation. We conclude that early sublexical phonological processing differed according to phonotactic probability of the stimuli, and that lexically-based redintegration occurred for words but did not occur for pseudowords or nonwords. Thus, in online word recognition and immediate retrieval, phonological and/or sublexical processing plays a more important role than lexical level redintegration. Citation: Cheng X, Schafer G, Riddell PM (2014) Immediate Auditory Repetition of Words and Nonwords: An ERP Study of Lexical and Sublexical Processing. PLoS ONE 9(3): e91988. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0091988 Editor: Kevin Paterson, University of Leicester, United Kingdom Received December 3, 2013; Accepted February 16, 2014; Published March 18, 2014 Copyright: ß 2014 Cheng et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. -
Working Memory Training: Assessing the Efficiency of Mnemonic Strategies
entropy Article Working Memory Training: Assessing the Efficiency of Mnemonic Strategies 1, 2 1 1, Serena Di Santo y, Vanni De Luca , Alessio Isaja and Sara Andreetta * 1 Cognitive Neuroscience, Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati, I-34136 Trieste, Italy; [email protected] (S.D.S.); [email protected] (A.I.) 2 Scuola Peripatetica d’Arte Mnemonica (S.P.A.M.), 10125 Turin, Italy; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected] Current address: Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA. y Received: 6 April 2020; Accepted: 18 May 2020; Published: 20 May 2020 Abstract: Recently, there has been increasing interest in techniques for enhancing working memory (WM), casting a new light on the classical picture of a rigid system. One reason is that WM performance has been associated with intelligence and reasoning, while its impairment showed correlations with cognitive deficits, hence the possibility of training it is highly appealing. However, results on WM changes following training are controversial, leaving it unclear whether it can really be potentiated. This study aims at assessing changes in WM performance by comparing it with and without training by a professional mnemonist. Two groups, experimental and control, participated in the study, organized in two phases. In the morning, both groups were familiarized with stimuli through an N-back task, and then attended a 2-hour lecture. For the experimental group, the lecture, given by the mnemonist, introduced memory encoding techniques; for the control group, it was a standard academic lecture about memory systems. In the afternoon, both groups were administered five tests, in which they had to remember the position of 16 items, when asked in random order. -
Free Recall of Word Lists Differing in Phonological Similarity, Word Frequency, and Phonotactic Pattern Frequency in SLI
Free recall of word lists differing in phonological similarity, word frequency, and phonotactic pattern frequency in SLI Jeffry A. Coady Julia L. Evans Elina Mainela-Arnold Keith R. Kluender Boston University San Diego State University Penn State University University of Wisconsin Abstract Memory Deficits in SLI Method Results Phonological encoding refers Phonological Similarity to the reciprocal processes in Children with SLI have difficulty with verbal recall. Participants 1. Group. Children with SLI recalled 100 which phonological strings are SLI TYP fewer words overall. broken down into smaller In recall tasks, children with SLI recall fewer items than their typically developing peers. 16 monolingual English-speaking children with SLI and 16 age-matched control children 80 t units for subsequent tasks like 1 c e r 60 Some theories view this as an underlying cause of SLI , while others view memory participated. All children had highly intelligible articulation and nonverbal IQ scores r o 2. List Length. Accuracy decreased as C recall or repetition, or where t n 2 e c r 40 deficits as resulting from a more pervasive linguistic deficit . greater than 85. The children with SLI included 2 with E-SLI and 14 with ER-SLI, 9 e smaller units are combined P list length increased. This effect was into larger phonological 1Gathercole & Baddeley, 1990; 2van der Lely & Howard, 1993; MacDonald & Christiansen, 2002 females and 7 males aged 8;7 to 11;8. The age-matched control children included 8 20 the same for both groups. strings for articulation. It can be measured by having females and 8 males aged 8;5 to 12;3. -
Chunking in Working Memory and Its Relationship to Intelligence
Chunking in Working Memory and its Relationship to Intelligence Mustapha Chekaf ([email protected]) Département de Psychologie EA 3188, Université de Franche-Comté, 30, rue Mégevand 25030 Besançon Cedex, France Nicolas Gauvrit ([email protected]) CHArt Lab (PARIS-reasoning), École Pratique des hautes Études, 4-14 rue Ferrus 75014 Paris, France Alessandro Guida ([email protected]) CRPCC, EA 1285, Université Rennes 2, Place du Recteur Henri Le Moal 35043 Rennes Cedex, France Fabien Mathy ([email protected]) BCL, CNRS, UMR 7320, Université Nice Sophia Antipolis, 24, avenue des diables bleus 06357 Nice Cedex 4, France Abstract of complexity that allows one to capture the sum of information that can be grouped to form chunks. In this Short-term memory and working memory are two distinct concepts that have been measured in simple and complex paper, we examine how this new span measure relates to span tasks respectively. A new span task was designed to intelligence and other span tasks measures. manipulate a chunking factor while using a procedure similar to simple span tasks. This span task allowed studying the Span Tasks Taxonomy interaction between storage and processing in working memory, when processing is fully dedicated to optimizing Simple span tasks traditionally require retaining a series storage. The main hypothesis was that the storage × of items (digits, words, pictures), whereas in complex span processing interaction that can be induced by the chunking tasks, participants have to maintain the to-be-recalled factor is an excellent indicator of intelligence because both material while continuously performing concurrent tasks. working memory and intelligence depend on optimizing Therefore, it has been assumed that short-term memory and storage. -
Computational Models of Working Memory: Putting Long-Term Memory Into Context
Review TRENDS in Cognitive Sciences Vol.9 No.11 November 2005 Computational models of working memory: putting long-term memory into context Neil Burgess1 and Graham Hitch2 1Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, University College London, 17 Queen Square, London, WC1N 3AR, UK 2Department of Psychology, York University, York, YO10 5DD, UK Detailed computational modeling of human memory important for the other and how they interact is a topical has typically been aimed at either short-term (working) question in memory research [12,13]. memory or long-term memory in isolation. However, One of the clearest examples of the dissociation recent research highlights the importance of inter- between STM and LTM comes from the Hebb repetition actions between these systems for both item and effect, in which repeated presentation of a digit sequence order information. At the same time, computational for ISR results in gradual learning of that sequence, even models of both systems are beginning to converge onto though presentation and recall of other sequences a common framework in which items are associated intervenes between the repetitions [14]. Hebb concluded with an evolving ‘context’ signal and subsequently that there must be some change in LTM from a single trial. compete with one another at recall. We review some Milner and colleagues subsequently found that the Hebb of these models, and discuss a common mechanism repetition effect for lists of digits or spatial locations capable of modelling working memory and its inter- depended on the integrity of the medial temporal lobe action with long-term memory, focussing on memory (more specifically, on the left and right hippocampi, for verbal sequences.