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Working Memory Training for Older Participants: A Control Group Training Regimen and Initial Intellectual Functioning Assessment
Published on: September 20, 2020
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How fast can people refresh and rehearse information in working memory?
Klaus Oberauer1, Alessandra S Souza2
1Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Binzmühlestrasse 14/22, 8050, Zurich, Switzerland. k.oberauer@psychologie.uzh.ch.
Memory & Cognition
|June 21, 2020
Summary
People can refresh items in working memory sequentially, but not as fast as proposed by time-based resource-sharing (TBRS) theory. This refreshing process is faster than rehearsal and supports sequential attention in working memory.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Working Memory Research
Background:
- Refreshing is a proposed domain-general process for maintaining information in working memory.
- Time-based resource-sharing (TBRS) theory posits rapid, sequential refreshing of memory contents.
Purpose of the Study:
- To measure the speed of the refreshing process in working memory.
- To investigate whether refreshing occurs in sync with external timing cues.
- To compare the speed of refreshing with articulatory rehearsal.
Main Methods:
- Participants sequentially refreshed items (verbal and visual) in sync with a metronome, adjusting it to their fastest sustainable speed.
- Recognition probes were presented at unpredictable times to assess synchronization.
- A parallel experiment measured overt articulatory rehearsal synchronization.
Main Results:
- Refreshing speed averaged approximately 0.2 seconds per item, faster than articulatory rehearsal.
- Refreshing speed was independent of word length, unlike rehearsal.
- Participants did not show improved recognition for recently refreshed items, indicating poor synchronization.
- Overt rehearsal also showed poor synchronization, suggesting refreshing was similarly out of sync.
Conclusions:
- Sequential attention to items in working memory is possible and can be monitored.
- The refreshing process is likely faster than rehearsal but slower than predicted by TBRS theory.
- Current evidence does not support rapid, precisely timed refreshing as described by TBRS theory.
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