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Related Experiment Videos

Working memory span and the role of proactive interference.

C Lustig1, C P May, L Hasher

  • 1Department of Psychology, Duke University, USA. cal9@acpub.duke.edu

Journal of Experimental Psychology. General
|June 21, 2001
PubMed
Summary
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Working memory span tasks are affected by interference. Reducing interference improves span scores and alters the relationship between span and other cognitive measures, suggesting interference impacts performance.

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Human Development

Background:

  • Working memory span tasks are widely used to assess cognitive capacity.
  • Previous research suggests interference may influence working memory performance.
  • Understanding factors affecting span is crucial for cognitive assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role of interference in working memory span tasks.
  • To determine if interference contributes to the correlation between span and other cognitive measures.
  • To examine age-related differences in overcoming interference.

Main Methods:

  • Participants (younger and older adults) completed a working memory span task in standard or interference-reduced formats.
  • Cognitive capacity demands remained constant across task formats.

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  • Performance was also assessed via prose recall after the span task.

    • Main Results:

    • Reducing interference in the span task significantly increased span scores.
    • Interference-reducing manipulations altered the relationship between span performance and prose recall.
    • Age differences in span may be attributable to interference-processing abilities, not capacity.

    Conclusions:

    • Working memory span is demonstrably influenced by interference.
    • Age-related differences in span may stem from varying abilities to manage interference.
    • Interference plays a critical role in the association between span tasks and other cognitive functions.