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Goal-directed access to mental objects in working memory: the role of task-specific feature retrieval
Sabine Schwager1, Herbert Hagendorf
1Institute of Psychology, Department of General Psychology, Humboldt University of Berlin, Rudower Chaussee 18, Berlin, Germany. sabine.schwager@hu-berlin.de
Memory & Cognition
|November 26, 2009
Summary
Accessing information in verbal working memory is task-specific. Mental objects are selected based on current goals, influencing how features are retrieved for specific tasks.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Current models suggest mental objects are selected for general use in working memory.
- This study challenges that by proposing task-specific access guided by intentions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate task-specific access to mental objects in verbal working memory.
- To determine if task goals influence the retrieval of object features.
Main Methods:
- Participants performed two comparison tasks (semantic and recognition) on digits held in working memory.
- Task-specific features were manipulated to measure access times.
Main Results:
- Accessing new mental objects (object switching) was slower for the semantic task than the recognition task.
- This difference was not due to general selection difficulty, task complexity, or rehearsal.
Conclusions:
- Mental objects are selected for specific tasks, accessing relevant features.
- Verbal information is maintained phonologically via rehearsal unless specific features are needed.
- Feature retrieval is necessary when tasks require more than phonological information, alongside object selection.
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