Optimisation and rehabilitation of the working memory: A critical review

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Common serial order processes in musical and verbal short-term memory: evidence from a novel serial order probe recognition paradigm

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Turning the mind’s eye inward: the interplay between selective attention and working memory

Historically, cognitive sciences have considered selective attention and working memory as largely separated cognitive functions. That is, selective attention as a concept is typically reserved for the processes that allow for the prioritization of specific sensory input, while working memory entails more central structures for maintaining (and operating on) temporary mental representations. However, over the last decades various observations have been reported that question such sharp distinction. Most importantly, information stored in working memory has been shown to modulate selective attention processing – and vice versa. At the theoretical level, these observations are paralleled by an increasingly dominant focus on working memory as (involving) the attended part of long-term memory, with some positions considering that working memory is equivalent to selective attention turned to long-term memory representations – or internal selective attention. This questions the existence of working memory as a dedicated cognitive function and raises the need for integrative accounts of working memory and attention. The next step will be to explore the precise implications of attentional accounts of WM for the understanding of specific aspects and characteristics of WM, such as serial order processing, its modality-specificity, its capacity limitations, its relation with executive functions, as well as the nature of attentional mechanisms involved. This research topic in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience aims at bringing together the latest insights and findings about the interplay between working memory and selective attention

Does semantic similarity affect immediate memory for order? Usually not, but sometimes it does

Recall performance in working memory (WM) is strongly affected by the similarity between items. When asked to encode and recall list of items in their serial order, people confuse more often the position of similar compared to dissimilar items. Models of WM explain this deleterious effect of similarity through a problem of discriminability between WM representations. In contrast, when lists of items that are all semantically similar are compared to lists of dissimilar items, semantic similarity does not negatively impact order memory, questioning the idea that semantic information is part of the WM content. This study reports four experiments in which semantic similarity was manipulated using lists composed of multiple semantic categories. These experiments revealed two main patterns. First, semantic similarity can increase, rather than decrease, order memory. Second, semantic knowledge reliably constrains the way items migrate; when migrating, items tend to do so more often toward the position of other similar items, rather than migrating toward other dissimilar items. These results challenge the way current models of WM represent similarity. The plausibility of different theoretical accounts and mechanisms is discussed

Impaired verbal short-term memory for serial order information in dyslexic adults

This study used the distinction of item and order information in verbal short-term memory (STM) to further our understanding of verbal STM impairments in dyslexia. Item STM has been shown to depend on the quality of underlying phonological representations and hence should be impaired in dyslexic participants given their poor phonological processing abilities. On the other hand, order STM represents a specific STM capacity predicting learning capacity for new phonological and orthographic sequences (Majerus et al., 2006; Nithart et al, 2010). If STM impairments contribute to dyslexia, then especially order STM should be impaired, in addition to item STM

Free time, sharper mind: A computational dive into working memory improvement

Extra free time improves working memory (WM) performance. One aspect of this improvement is that it becomes larger across successive serial positions, a phenomenon recently labelled the "fanning-out" effect. Oberauer (2022) tested different models to account for this phenomenon and found that an encoding-resource mechanism perfectly aligned with it. However, we argue that the fanning-out effect might also result from output-related processes. We tested this hypothesis via behavioral experiments and modeling. Participants memorized lists of six items presented at varying speeds. They recalled items in either forward or backward order, with recall conditions being post-cued. We observed that the fanning-out effect occurred as a function of output position. That is, a greater benefit from extra free-time across serial positions depended on the direction in which items were retrieved, not the way they were encoded. Using a comprehensive set of simulations, we show that our empirical data are best explained via (1) a consolidation mechanism and (2) a stabilization mechanism whereby items become more resistant to output interference with extra free time

Exploration de la spécificité ou de la généralité de l'inhibition dans le vieillissement via une tâche de jugement de similarité

La nature unitaire ou non du contrôle inhibiteur en mémoire de travail reste une question ouverte : les déficits du contrôle inhibiteur apparaissant au cours du vieillissement concernent-ils tous les domaines ou sont-ils plus importants dans certains domaines que d'autres ? Cette étude examine la spécificité du contrôle inhibiteur en étudiant le déclin lié à l'âge des capacités inhibitrices dans plusieurs domaines (visuel, phonologique et sémantique) dans une tâche de jugement de similarité. 129 jeunes adultes (20-40 ans) et 130 adultes âgés (60-80 ans) ont dû inhiber des informations phonologiques, sémantiques ou visuelles dans une tâche de jugement de similarité. La tâche consistait à juger lequel de deux éléments tests était le plus similaire à deux éléments cibles. Dans la condition de "facilitation", l'item test correspondant à la bonne réponse était pré-activé via un item d'amorçage présenté au début de l'essai. Dans la condition "inhibition", l'élément d'amorçage préactivait un élément de test qui ne correspondait pas à la bonne réponse. Nous avons observé que les effets d'interférence étaient globalement plus importants chez les adultes âgés que chez les jeunes adultes. Nous avons également observé des preuves bayésiennes décisives pour une interaction entre le groupe d'âge et le domaine du stimulus, avec des effets d'interférence particulièrement élevés dans le groupe des personnes âgées pour les conditions sémantiques et visuelles. Ces résultats suggèrent un trouble de l'inhibition générale du domaine, au moins pour les conditions sémantiques et visuelles, dans le vieillissement sain. Des différences de sensibilité à la tâche peuvent expliquer le moindre trouble de l'inhibition dans le domaine phonologique

Spatial Attention Interacts With Serial-Order Retrieval From Verbal Working Memory

The ability to maintain the serial order of events is recognized as a major function of working memory. Although general models of working memory postulate a close link between working memory and attention, such a link has so far not been proposed specifically for serial-order working memory. The present study provided the first empirical demonstration of a direct link between serial order in verbal working memory and spatial selective attention. We show that the retrieval of later items of a sequence stored in working memory-compared with that of earlier items-produces covert attentional shifts toward the right. This observation suggests the conceptually surprising notion that serial-order working memory, even for nonspatially defined verbal items, draws on spatial attention. © The Author(s) 2013.Peer reviewe