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Updated: Oct 21, 2025
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A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions
Published on: July 16, 2015
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Storage and processing in working memory: A single, domain-general resource explains multitasking
Evie Vergauwe1, Claudia C von Bastian2, Ralitsa Kostova3
1Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences.
Journal of Experimental Psychology. General
|September 2, 2021
Summary
Multitasking in working memory relies on a single, domain-general cognitive resource, not multiple specialized ones. This finding resolves a long-standing debate in cognitive psychology regarding task interference.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- A central debate in cognitive psychology concerns whether working memory multitasking utilizes domain-specific or domain-general resources.
- Existing theories offer conflicting predictions regarding cognitive costs during concurrent verbal and visuospatial tasks.
- Previous research has yielded ambiguous results due to methodological limitations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To resolve the domain-specific versus domain-general debate in working memory multitasking.
- To investigate the cognitive architecture supporting concurrent verbal and visuospatial information maintenance.
- To provide unambiguous evidence using a novel analytical approach.
Main Methods:
- Employed Bayesian state-trace analysis, a sophisticated statistical technique.
- Utilized an experimental design that fully crossed processing and storage tasks.
- Varied the domain of representation (verbal vs. visuospatial) in the tasks.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated that a single, domain-general factor explains performance in multitasking scenarios.
- Showed that this domain-general factor accounts for maintaining both verbal and visuospatial information.
- Provided unambiguous evidence supporting a unified cognitive resource model.
Conclusions:
- Working memory multitasking is governed by a single, domain-general cognitive resource.
- This finding challenges theories positing multiple, specialized working memory systems.
- The results offer a parsimonious explanation for cognitive costs in dual-tasking.
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