WORKING MEMORY: AN OVERVIEW

WORKING MEMORY: AN OVERVIEW

1. Working Memory

   • comprises a coherent collection of specialised cognitive functions
     • Visual cache
     • phonological loop
     • Central executive
     • All of the components draw on prior knowledge
       • 'knowledge base'
     • And on the products of moment-to-moment perception
       • interpreted via the knowledge base

2. Basics of working memory

   • limited capacity
   • only some of our immediate past experience is retained
     • with the selection based at least in part on task demands
   • has to deal with the products of
     • perception from vision
     • hearing
     • taste
     • smell
     • touch
   • temporary nature of working memory
     • is essential for updating moment to moment, and to avoid crowding our mind with irrelevant information

3. Visual appearance and location

   • we have a temporary memory that can hold information about where objects are and what those objects are
     • allowing us to guide hand and arm movements to the correct location and to pick up the objects in the absence of vision.
       • This ability is highly adaptive
         • it allows us to recall the location of objects in our immediate environment that are not currently in view
           • recall those locations when we change our location or orientation
   • This temporary memory also allows us to recall and describe the physical appearance or layout of familiar environments

4. Memory span, counting and language acquisition

   • Any activity that requires retention of a verbal sequence would rely on this aspect of working memory
   • A second important application for working memory is in counting and mental arithmetic
   • articulatory suppression affects verbal working memory
     • had a dramatic effect on counting
   • the ability to repeat an unfamiliar speech sound is important for acquiring vocabulary and other language skills

5. Long-term working memory

   • working memory should offer temporary memory for immediate past experience
   • Having activated such knowledge, we can then manipulate it and extract novel information that had not been explicitly stored away