Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 17, 2025
10:38
A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions
Published on: July 16, 2015
13.6K
Removing information from working memory with a delay: Effective but not beneficial.
Hannah Dames1, Chenyu Li2, Gidon T Frischkorn2
1Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Binzmühlestrasse 14/22, 8050, Zurich, Switzerland. hannah.dames@outlook.com.
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
|August 5, 2024
Summary
Delayed removal from working memory (WM) incurs costs but offers no benefits to existing information. Unlike immediate removal, delayed forgetting does not enhance WM capacity for stored content.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Memory Research
Background:
- Working memory (WM) is crucial for cognitive tasks.
- Information removal from WM ideally has costs and benefits.
- Immediate removal shows costs and benefits, but delayed removal is less understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effectiveness and consequences of delayed information removal from working memory.
- To compare delayed removal with immediate removal effects.
- To analyze the impact of removal on existing WM content and subsequent encoding.
Main Methods:
- Two experiments were conducted with a total of 460 participants.
- A modified letter updating task combined with a directed-forgetting paradigm was used.
- The study examined item-location memory and performance on existing WM content.
Main Results:
- Delayed removal led to reduced memory for forgotten item-location relations (removal costs).
- Delayed removal did not enhance performance for existing WM content (no removal benefits).
- Immediate removal, in contrast, demonstrated removal benefits.
Conclusions:
- Selective removal of information from working memory is less effective when delayed.
- Delayed removal incurs memory costs but does not benefit existing WM content.
- Working memory removal proactively aids new information encoding but not stored content.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
01:16Interference and Decay
119
Forgetting is a complex cognitive phenomenon influenced by several factors, among which interference and decay are particularly prominent. These processes explain why individuals often struggle to retrieve specific information from memory, leading to lapses in recall that can be observed in everyday situations.
Interference occurs when competing memories hinder the retrieval of particular information. It can be classified into two types: proactive and retroactive interference. Proactive...
Interference occurs when competing memories hinder the retrieval of particular information. It can be classified into two types: proactive and retroactive interference. Proactive...
119
01:24Working Memory
149
Working memory refers to a combination of components, including short-term memory and attention, that allow an individual to hold information temporarily as we perform cognitive tasks. It is an essential cognitive function that enables the execution of complex tasks such as problem-solving, comprehension, and reasoning. Unlike short-term memory, which simply involves the storage of information for a brief period, working memory involves the active manipulation and processing of this...
149
01:21Forgetting
65
Forgetting is an intrinsic aspect of human memory, characterized by the gradual loss or inaccessibility of information over time. Hermann Ebbinghaus, a pioneering psychologist, extensively studied this phenomenon and formulated the forgetting curve. This curve illustrates that memory loss occurs rapidly immediately after learning and then decelerates over time. Several mechanisms contribute to forgetting, including encoding failure, storage decay, retrieval failure, and interference.
Encoding...
Encoding...
65
01:14Role of Cerebellum and Prefrontal Cortex in Memory
401
The cerebellum, while traditionally associated with motor control, also plays a crucial role in memory, particularly in procedural memory, which involves learning motor tasks that become automatic through repetition. For example, studies have shown that when the cerebellum is damaged, individuals or animals lose the ability to learn conditioned motor responses, such as the conditioned eye-blink response in classical conditioning experiments with rabbits. This study demonstrates the...
401
01:30Information Processing Approach
33
The information-processing theory of cognitive development centers on fundamental mental processes, including attention, memory, and problem-solving skills. Researchers in this field examine how cognitive abilities, such as working memory, evolve and influence children's overall development. Studies indicate that children with stronger working memory tend to excel in reading comprehension, math, and problem-solving compared to peers with less efficient memory skills. Low working memory is...
33
01:26Higher Mental Functions of Brain: Learning and Memory
718
Memory is one of the most vital higher mental functions of the brain. Memory is closely related to learning because it enables us to retain information and experiences from our past to use them in our present life. It also helps us to remember facts, events, and skills, such as riding a bike or swimming. There are two types of memory — declarative memory, which involves memorizing facts or events, and procedural memory, which enables us to remember how to do something like writing or...
718