Working Memory Load and Reminder Effect on Event-Based Prospective Memory of High- and Low-Achieving Students in Math

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Youzhen; Lian, Rong; Yang, Lixian; Liu, Jianrong; Meng, Yingfang

2017-01-01

The effects of working memory (WM) demand and reminders on an event-based prospective memory (PM) task were compared between students with low and high achievement in math. WM load (1- and 2-back tasks) was manipulated as a within-subject factor and reminder (with or without reminder) as a between-subject factor. Results showed that high-achieving…

Working Memory and Behavioural Problems in Relation to Malay Writing of Primary School Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ling, Teo-Sieak; Jiar, Yeo-Kee

2017-01-01

Deficit in working memory is common among young children across multiple abilities. Teachers have pointed to poor memory as one contributing factor to inattentiveness and short attention spans as well as some behavioural problems among students. This study aimed to explore the relationship among working memory, externalizing and internalizing…

Memory plasticity in older adults: Cognitive predictors of training response and maintenance following learning of number-consonant mnemonic.

PubMed

Sandberg, Petra; Rönnlund, Michael; Derwinger-Hallberg, Anna; Stigsdotter Neely, Anna

2016-10-01

The study investigated the relationship between cognitive factors and gains in number recall following training in a number-consonant mnemonic in a sample of 112 older adults (M = 70.9 years). The cognitive factors examined included baseline episodic memory, working memory, processing speed, and verbal knowledge. In addition, predictors of maintenance of gains to a follow-up assessment, eight months later, were examined. Whereas working memory was a prominent predictor of baseline recall, the magnitude of gains in recall from pre- to post-test assessments were predicted by baseline episodic memory, processing speed, and verbal knowledge. Verbal knowledge was the only significant predictor of maintenance. Collectively, the results indicate the need to consider multiple factors to account for individual differences in memory plasticity. The potential contribution of additional factors to individual differences in memory plasticity is discussed.

Interaction between Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Factors: The Influences of Academic Goal Orientation and Working Memory on Mathematical Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Kerry; Ning, Flora; Goh, Hui Chin

2014-01-01

Although the effects of achievement goals and working memory on academic performance are well established, it is not clear whether they jointly affect academic performance. Children from Primary 4 and 6 (N = 608) were administered (a) measures of working memory and updating from the automated working memory battery and a running span task, (b)…

Working Memory Capacity: Attention Control, Secondary Memory, or Both? A Direct Test of the Dual-Component Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Unsworth, Nash; Spillers, Gregory J.

2010-01-01

The current study examined the extent to which attention control abilities, secondary memory abilities, or both accounted for variation in working memory capacity (WMC) and its relation to fluid intelligence. Participants performed various attention control, secondary memory, WMC, and fluid intelligence measures. Confirmatory factor analyses…

Working Memory Capacity, Confidence and Scientific Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Al-Ahmadi, Fatheya; Oraif, Fatima

2009-01-01

Working memory capacity is now well established as a rate determining factor in much learning and assessment, especially in the sciences. Most of the research has focussed on performance in tests and examinations in subject areas. This paper outlines some exploratory work in which other outcomes are related to working memory capacity. Confidence…

Working Memory Maturation: Can We Get at the Essence of Cognitive Growth?

PubMed

Cowan, Nelson

2016-03-01

The theoretical and practical understanding of cognitive development depends on working memory, the limited information temporarily accessible for such daily activities as language processing and problem solving. In this article, I assess many possible reasons that working memory performance improves with development. A first glance at the literature leads to the weird impression that working memory capacity reaches adult levels during infancy but then regresses during childhood. In place of that unlikely explanation, I consider how infant studies may lead to overestimates of capacity if one neglects supports that the tasks provide, compared with adult-level tasks. Further development of working memory during the school years is also considered. Many investigators have come to suspect that working memory capacity may be constant after infancy because of various factors such as developmental increases in knowledge, filtering out of irrelevant distractions, encoding and rehearsal strategies, and pattern formation. With each of these factors controlled, though, working memory still improves during the school years. Suggestions are made for research to bridge the gap between infant and child developmental research, to understand the focus and control of attention in working memory and how these skills develop, and to pinpoint the nature of capacity and its development from infancy forward. © The Author(s) 2016.

Effects of domain knowledge, working memory capacity, and age on cognitive performance: an investigation of the knowledge-is-power hypothesis.

PubMed

Hambrick, David Z; Engle, Randall W

2002-06-01

Domain knowledge facilitates performance in many cognitive tasks. However, very little is known about the interplay between domain knowledge and factors that are believed to reflect general, and relatively stable, characteristics of the individual. The primary goal of this study was to investigate the interplay between domain knowledge and one such factor: working memory capacity. Adults from wide ranges of working memory capacity, age, and knowledge about the game of baseball listened to, and then answered questions about, simulated radio broadcasts of baseball games. There was a strong facilitative effect of preexisting knowledge of baseball on memory performance, particularly for information judged to be directly relevant to the baseball games. However, there was a positive effect of working memory capacity on memory performance as well, and there was no indication that domain knowledge attenuated this effect. That is, working memory capacity contributed to memory performance even at high levels of domain knowledge. Similarly, there was no evidence that domain knowledge attenuated age-related differences (favoring young adults) in memory performance. We discuss implications of the results for understanding proficiency in cognitive domains from an individual-differences perspective. Copyright 2001 Elsevier Science (USA).

Working Memory in Children with Reading Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gathercole, Susan Elizabeth; Alloway, Tracy Packiam; Willis, Catherine; Adams, Anne-Marie

2006-01-01

This study investigated associations between working memory (measured by complex memory tasks) and both reading and mathematics abilities, as well as the possible mediating factors of fluid intelligence, verbal abilities, short-term memory (STM), and phonological awareness, in a sample of 46 6- to 11-year-olds with reading disabilities. As a…

Neuroanatomical and Cognitive Mediators of Age-Related Differences in Episodic Memory

PubMed Central

Head, Denise; Rodrigue, Karen M.; Kennedy, Kristen M.; Raz, Naftali

2009-01-01

Aging is associated with declines in episodic memory. In this study, the authors used a path analysis framework to explore the mediating role of differences in brain structure, executive functions, and processing speed in age-related differences in episodic memory. Measures of regional brain volume (prefrontal gray and white matter, caudate, hippocampus, visual cortex), executive functions (working memory, inhibitory control, task switching, temporal processing), processing speed, and episodic memory were obtained in a sample of young and older adults. As expected, age was linked to reduction in regional brain volumes and cognitive performance. Moreover, neural and cognitive factors completely mediated age differences in episodic memory. Whereas hippocampal shrinkage directly affected episodic memory, prefrontal volumetric reductions influenced episodic memory via limitations in working memory and inhibitory control. Age-related slowing predicted reduced efficiency in temporal processing, working memory, and inhibitory control. Lastly, poorer temporal processing directly affected episodic memory. No direct effects of age on episodic memory remained once these factors were taken into account. These analyses highlight the value of a multivariate approach with the understanding of complex relationships in cognitive and brain aging. PMID:18590361

Can Planning Time Compensate for Individual Differences in Working Memory Capacity?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nielson, Katharine B.

2014-01-01

Language learners with high working memory capacity have an advantage, all other factors being equal, during the second language acquisition (SLA) process; therefore, identifying a pedagogical intervention that can compensate for low working memory capacity would be advantageous to language learners and instructors. Extensive research on the…

The Structure of Working Memory Abilities across the Adult Life Span

PubMed Central

Hale, Sandra; Rose, Nathan S.; Myerson, Joel; Strube, Michael J; Sommers, Mitchell; Tye-Murray, Nancy; Spehar, Brent

2010-01-01

The present study addresses three questions regarding age differences in working memory: (1) whether performance on complex span tasks decreases as a function of age at a faster rate than performance on simple span tasks; (2) whether spatial working memory decreases at a faster rate than verbal working memory; and (3) whether the structure of working memory abilities is different for different age groups. Adults, ages 20–89 (n=388), performed three simple and three complex verbal span tasks and three simple and three complex spatial memory tasks. Performance on the spatial tasks decreased at faster rates as a function of age than performance on the verbal tasks, but within each domain, performance on complex and simple span tasks decreased at the same rates. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that domain-differentiated models yielded better fits than models involving domain-general constructs, providing further evidence of the need to distinguish verbal and spatial working memory abilities. Regardless of which domain-differentiated model was examined, and despite the faster rates of decrease in the spatial domain, age group comparisons revealed that the factor structure of working memory abilities was highly similar in younger and older adults and showed no evidence of age-related dedifferentiation. PMID:21299306

Effect of BDNF Val66Met polymorphism on digital working memory and spatial localization in a healthy Chinese Han population.

PubMed

Gong, Pingyuan; Zheng, Anyun; Chen, Dongmei; Ge, Wanhua; Lv, Changchao; Zhang, Kejin; Gao, Xiaocai; Zhang, Fuchang

2009-07-01

Cognitive abilities are complex human traits influenced by genetic factors. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a unique polypeptide growth factor, has an influence on the differentiation and survival of neurons in the nervous system. A single-nucleotide polymorphism (rs6265) in the human gene, resulting in a valine to methionine substitution in the pro-BDNF protein, was thought to associate with psychiatric disorders and might play roles in the individual difference of cognitive abilities. However, the specific roles of the gene in cognition remain unclear. To investigate the relationships between the substitution and cognitive abilities, a healthy population-based study and the PCR-SSCP method were performed. The results showed the substitution was associated with digital working memory (p = 0.02) and spatial localization (p = 0.03), but not with inhibition, shifting, updating, visuo-spatial working memory, long-term memory, and others (p > 0.05) among the compared genotype groups analyzed by general linear model. On the other hand, the participants with BDNF (GG) had higher average performance in digital working memory and spatial localization than the ones with BDNF (AA). The findings of the present work implied that the variation in BDNF might play positive roles in human digital working memory and spatial localization.

Maternal Child-Centered Attributions and Harsh Discipline: The Moderating Role of Maternal Working Memory Across Socioeconomic Contexts

PubMed Central

Sturge-Apple, Melissa L.; Suor, Jennifer H.; Skibo, Michael A.

2015-01-01

Cognitive models of parenting give emphasis to the central role that parental cognitions may play in parental socialization goals. In particular, dual process models suggest that parental attribution styles affect the way parents interpret caregiving situations and enact behaviors, particularly within the realm of discipline. Although research has documented the negative behavioral repercussions of dysfunctional child-centered responsibility biases, there is heterogeneity in the level of these associations. Research has also demonstrated that parental working memory capacity may serve as an individual difference factor in influencing caregiving behaviors. Thus, our first aim was to document how maternal working memory capacity may moderate the association between mother’s dysfunctional child-oriented attributions and use of harsh discipline. In addition, from an ecological perspective, a second aim was to examine how socioeconomic risk may further potentiate the impact of maternal working memory. To accomplish these aims, a socioeconomically diverse sample of 185 mothers and their three-year old children were recruited to participate in a laboratory-based research assessment. Findings revealed that lower maternal working memory capacity may operate as a risk factor for attributional biases and harsh discipline, while higher working memory may serve as a protective factor in this relationship. Socioeconomic risk further moderated these findings. Results suggest that the moderating role of working memory may be particularly pronounced under conditions of socio-economic risk. The theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed. PMID:25221969

Maternal child-centered attributions and harsh discipline: the moderating role of maternal working memory across socioeconomic contexts.

PubMed

Sturge-Apple, Melissa L; Suor, Jennifer H; Skibo, Michael A

2014-10-01

Cognitive models of parenting give emphasis to the central role that parental cognitions may play in parental socialization goals. In particular, dual process models suggest that parental attribution styles affect the way parents interpret caregiving situations and enact behaviors, particularly within the realm of discipline. Although research has documented the negative behavioral repercussions of dysfunctional child-centered responsibility biases, there is heterogeneity in the level of these associations. Research has also demonstrated that parental working memory capacity may serve as an individual difference factor in influencing caregiving behaviors. Thus, our first aim was to document how maternal working memory capacity may moderate the association between mother's dysfunctional child-oriented attributions and use of harsh discipline. In addition, from an ecological perspective, a second aim was to examine how socioeconomic risk may further potentiate the impact of maternal working memory. To accomplish these aims, a socioeconomically diverse sample of 185 mothers and their 3-year old children were recruited to participate in a laboratory-based research assessment. Findings revealed that lower maternal working memory capacity may operate as a risk factor for attributional biases and harsh discipline, and higher working memory may serve as a protective factor in this relationship. Socioeconomic risk further moderated these findings. Results suggest that the moderating role of working memory may be particularly pronounced under conditions of socioeconomic risk. The theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

Working memory, control of interference and everyday experience of thought interference: when age makes the difference.

PubMed

Borella, Erika; Carretti, Barbara; Cornoldi, Cesare; De Beni, Rossana

2007-06-01

A number of studies suggest that age differences in working memory may be attributed to age-related differences in inhibitory efficacy. Nevertheless, little is known about the impact of intrusive thoughts, which occurs in everyday situations on working memory performance. This study investigates the role of cognitive and everyday inhibition mechanisms in working memory performance. Young, young-old and old-old adults performed a working memory task and the White Bear Suppression Inventory (WBSI). Results showed a decrease in working memory, and in inhibitory efficacy with age. In addition, old-old adults obtained higher scores in the three factors of the WBSI. Working memory performance was related to working memory control of interfering information in all age groups, and also to the tendency to suppress thoughts in old-old adults. The latter result was in the opposite direction with respect to observations collected with younger adults. Taken together, our results suggest the crucial role of intrusive thoughts in the functional capacity of working memory in late adulthood.

Working Memory and Attitudes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jung, Eun Sook; Reid, Norman

2009-01-01

Working memory capacity has been shown to be an important factor in controlling understanding in the sciences. Attitudes related to studies in the sciences are also known to be important in relation to success in learning. It might be argued that if working memory capacity is a rate controlling feature of learning and success in understanding…

Working-memory training improves developmental dyslexia in Chinese children.

PubMed

Luo, Yan; Wang, Jing; Wu, Hanrong; Zhu, Dongmei; Zhang, Yu

2013-02-15

Although plasticity in the neural system underlies working memory, and working memory can be improved by training, there is thus far no evidence that children with developmental dyslexia can benefit from working-memory training. In the present study, thirty dyslexic children aged 8-11 years were recruited from an elementary school in Wuhan, China. They received working-memory training, including training in visuospatial memory, verbal memory, and central executive tasks. The difficulty of the tasks was adjusted based on the performance of each subject, and the training sessions lasted 40 minutes per day, for 5 weeks. The results showed that working-memory training significantly enhanced performance on the nontrained working memory tasks such as the visuospatial, the verbal domains, and central executive tasks in children with developmental dyslexia. More importantly, the visual rhyming task and reading fluency task were also significantly improved by training. Progress on working memory measures was related to changes in reading skills. These experimental findings indicate that working memory is a pivotal factor in reading development among children with developmental dyslexia, and interventions to improve working memory may help dyslexic children to become more proficient in reading.

Working memory capacity and retrieval limitations from long-term memory: an examination of differences in accessibility.

PubMed

Unsworth, Nash; Spillers, Gregory J; Brewer, Gene A

2012-01-01

In two experiments, the locus of individual differences in working memory capacity and long-term memory recall was examined. Participants performed categorical cued and free recall tasks, and individual differences in the dynamics of recall were interpreted in terms of a hierarchical-search framework. The results from this study are in accordance with recent theorizing suggesting a strong relation between working memory capacity and retrieval from long-term memory. Furthermore, the results also indicate that individual differences in categorical recall are partially due to differences in accessibility. In terms of accessibility of target information, two important factors drive the difference between high- and low-working-memory-capacity participants. Low-working-memory-capacity participants fail to utilize appropriate retrieval strategies to access cues, and they also have difficulty resolving cue overload. Thus, when low-working-memory-capacity participants were given specific cues that activated a smaller set of potential targets, their recall performance was the same as that of high-working-memory-capacity participants.

Working memory, age, and hearing loss: susceptibility to hearing aid distortion.

PubMed

Arehart, Kathryn H; Souza, Pamela; Baca, Rosalinda; Kates, James M

2013-01-01

Hearing aids use complex processing intended to improve speech recognition. Although many listeners benefit from such processing, it can also introduce distortion that offsets or cancels intended benefits for some individuals. The purpose of the present study was to determine the effects of cognitive ability (working memory) on individual listeners' responses to distortion caused by frequency compression applied to noisy speech. The present study analyzed a large data set of intelligibility scores for frequency-compressed speech presented in quiet and at a range of signal-to-babble ratios. The intelligibility data set was based on scores from 26 adults with hearing loss with ages ranging from 62 to 92 years. The listeners were grouped based on working memory ability. The amount of signal modification (distortion) caused by frequency compression and noise was measured using a sound quality metric. Analysis of variance and hierarchical linear modeling were used to identify meaningful differences between subject groups as a function of signal distortion caused by frequency compression and noise. Working memory was a significant factor in listeners' intelligibility of sentences presented in babble noise and processed with frequency compression based on sinusoidal modeling. At maximum signal modification (caused by both frequency compression and babble noise), the factor of working memory (when controlling for age and hearing loss) accounted for 29.3% of the variance in intelligibility scores. Combining working memory, age, and hearing loss accounted for a total of 47.5% of the variability in intelligibility scores. Furthermore, as the total amount of signal distortion increased, listeners with higher working memory performed better on the intelligibility task than listeners with lower working memory did. Working memory is a significant factor in listeners' responses to total signal distortion caused by cumulative effects of babble noise and frequency compression implemented with sinusoidal modeling. These results, together with other studies focused on wide-dynamic range compression, suggest that older listeners with hearing loss and poor working memory are more susceptible to distortions caused by at least some types of hearing aid signal-processing algorithms and by noise, and that this increased susceptibility should be considered in the hearing aid fitting process.

Sentence Processing Factors in Adults with Specific Language Impairment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Poll, Gerard H.

2012-01-01

Sentence imitation effectively discriminates between adults with and without specific language impairment (SLI). Little is known, however, about the factors that result in performance differences. This study evaluated the effects of working memory, processing speed, and argument status on sentence imitation. Working memory was measured by both a…

Polish Listening SPAN: A New Tool for Measuring Verbal Working Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zychowicz, Katarzyna; Biedron, Adriana; Pawlak, Miroslaw

2017-01-01

Individual differences in second language acquisition (SLA) encompass differences in working memory capacity, which is believed to be one of the most crucial factors influencing language learning. However, in Poland research on the role of working memory in SLA is scarce due to a lack of proper Polish instruments for measuring this construct. The…

Does Domain Knowledge Moderate Involvement of Working Memory Capacity in Higher-Level Cognition? A Test of Three Models

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hambrick, D.Z.; Oswald, F.L.

2005-01-01

Research suggests that both working memory capacity and domain knowledge contribute to individual differences in higher-level cognition. This study evaluated three hypotheses concerning the interplay between these factors. The compensation hypothesis predicts that domain knowledge attenuates the influence of working memory capacity on higher-level…

What is working memory capacity, and how can we measure it?

PubMed Central

Wilhelm, Oliver; Hildebrandt, Andrea; Oberauer, Klaus

2013-01-01

A latent variable study examined whether different classes of working-memory tasks measure the same general construct of working-memory capacity (WMC). Data from 270 subjects were used to examine the relationship between Binding, Updating, Recall-N-back, and Complex Span tasks, and the relations of WMC with secondary memory measures, indicators of cognitive control from two response-conflict paradigms (Simon task and Eriksen flanker task), and fluid intelligence. Confirmatory factor analyses support the concept of a general WMC factor. Results from structural-equation modeling show negligible relations of WMC with response-conflict resolution, and very strong relations of WMC with secondary memory and fluid intelligence. The findings support the hypothesis that individual differences in WMC reflect the ability to build, maintain and update arbitrary bindings. PMID:23898309

Individual differences in working memory: introduction to the special section.

PubMed

Miyake, A

2001-06-01

This special section includes a set of 5 articles that examine the nature of inter- and intraindividual differences in working memory, using working memory span tasks as the main research tools. These span tasks are different from traditional short-term memory spans (e.g., digit or word span) in that they require participants to maintain some target memory items (e.g., words) while simultaneously performing some other tasks (e.g., reading sentences). In this introduction, a brief discussion of these working memory span tasks and their characteristics is provided first. This is followed by an overview of 2 major theoretical issues that are addressed by the subsequent articles--(a) the factors influencing the inter- and intraindividual differences in working memory performance and (b) the domain generality versus domain specificity of working memory--and also of some important issues that must be kept in mind when readers try to evaluate the claims regarding these 2 theoretical issues.

Working Memory and Impulsivity Predict Marijuana-Related Problems Among Frequent Users

PubMed Central

Day, Anne M.; Metrik, Jane; Spillane, Nichea S.; Kahler, Christopher W.

2012-01-01

Background Although marijuana is the most commonly used illicit substance in the US, only a small portion of users go on to develop dependence, suggesting that there are substantial individual differences in vulnerability to marijuana-related problems among users. Deficits in working memory and high trait impulsivity are two factors that may place marijuana users at increased risk for experiencing related problems. Methods Using baseline data from an experimental study that recruited 104 frequent marijuana users (M=71.86% of prior 60 days, SD=22%), we examined the associations of working memory and trait impulsivity with marijuana-related problems. Results Lower working memory, as measured by Trail Making Test B, but not short-term memory capacity, predicted more marijuana-related problems. Higher trait impulsivity scores were independently associated with greater number of problems. Conclusions Results suggest that marijuana users with reduced executive cognitive ability are more susceptible to developing problems related to their use. Trait impulsivity and executive working memory appear to be independent risk factors for experiencing marijuana-related problems. PMID:23312340

The Structure of Working Memory in Young Children and Its Relation to Intelligence

PubMed Central

Gray, Shelley; Green, Samuel; Alt, Mary; Hogan, Tiffany P.; Kuo, Trudy; Brinkley, Shara; Cowan, Nelson

2016-01-01

This study investigated the structure of working memory in young school-age children by testing the fit of three competing theoretical models using a wide variety of tasks. The best fitting models were then used to assess the relationship between working memory and nonverbal measures of fluid reasoning (Gf) and visual processing (Gv) intelligence. One hundred sixty-eight English-speaking 7–9 year olds with typical development, from three states, participated. Results showed that Cowan’s three-factor embedded processes model fit the data slightly better than Baddeley and Hitch’s (1974) three-factor model (specified according to Baddeley, 1986) and decisively better than Baddeley’s (2000) four-factor model that included an episodic buffer. The focus of attention factor in Cowan’s model was a significant predictor of Gf and Gv. The results suggest that the focus of attention, rather than storage, drives the relationship between working memory, Gf, and Gv in young school-age children. Our results do not rule out the Baddeley and Hitch model, but they place constraints on both it and Cowan’s model. A common attentional component is needed for feature binding, running digit span, and visual short-term memory tasks; phonological storage is separate, as is a component of central executive processing involved in task manipulation. The results contribute to a zeitgeist in which working memory models are coming together on common ground (cf. Cowan, Saults, & Blume, 2014; Hu, Allen, Baddeley, & Hitch, 2016). PMID:27990060

Processing speed and working memory span: their differential role in superficial and deep memory processes in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Brébion, Gildas; Bressan, Rodrigo A; Pilowsky, Lyn S; David, Anthony S

2011-05-01

Previous work has suggested that decrement in both processing speed and working memory span plays a role in the memory impairment observed in patients with schizophrenia. We undertook a study to examine simultaneously the effect of these two factors. A sample of 49 patients with schizophrenia and 43 healthy controls underwent a battery of verbal and visual memory tasks. Superficial and deep encoding memory measures were tallied. We conducted regression analyses on the various memory measures, using processing speed and working memory span as independent variables. In the patient group, processing speed was a significant predictor of superficial and deep memory measures in verbal and visual memory. Working memory span was an additional significant predictor of the deep memory measures only. Regression analyses involving all participants revealed that the effect of diagnosis on all the deep encoding memory measures was reduced to non-significance when processing speed was entered in the regression. Decreased processing speed is involved in verbal and visual memory deficit in patients, whether the task require superficial or deep encoding. Working memory is involved only insofar as the task requires a certain amount of effort.

The protective effects of brief mindfulness meditation training.

PubMed

Banks, Jonathan B; Welhaf, Matthew S; Srour, Alexandra

2015-05-01

Mindfulness meditation has gained a great deal of attention in recent years due to the variety of physical and psychological benefits, including improved working memory, decreased mind wandering and reduced impact of stress on working memory. The current study examined a 1-week at home mindfulness meditation intervention compared to an active control intervention. Results suggest that mindfulness meditation does not increase working memory or decrease mind wandering but does prevent stress related working memory impairments. Mindfulness meditation appears to alter the factors that impair working memory such that the negative impact of mind wandering on working memory was only evident at higher levels of negative affect. The use of cognitive mechanism words in narratives of stressful events did not differ by condition but predicted poorer working memory in the control condition. The results support the use of an at home mindfulness meditation intervention for reducing stress-related impairments. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Compression in Working Memory and Its Relationship With Fluid Intelligence.

PubMed

Chekaf, Mustapha; Gauvrit, Nicolas; Guida, Alessandro; Mathy, Fabien

2018-06-01

Working memory has been shown to be strongly related to fluid intelligence; however, our goal is to shed further light on the process of information compression in working memory as a determining factor of fluid intelligence. Our main hypothesis was that compression in working memory is an excellent indicator for studying the relationship between working-memory capacity and fluid intelligence because both depend on the optimization of storage capacity. Compressibility of memoranda was estimated using an algorithmic complexity metric. The results showed that compressibility can be used to predict working-memory performance and that fluid intelligence is well predicted by the ability to compress information. We conclude that the ability to compress information in working memory is the reason why both manipulation and retention of information are linked to intelligence. This result offers a new concept of intelligence based on the idea that compression and intelligence are equivalent problems. Copyright © 2018 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Executive functioning and reading achievement in school: a study of Brazilian children assessed by their teachers as "poor readers".

PubMed

Engel de Abreu, Pascale M J; Abreu, Neander; Nikaedo, Carolina C; Puglisi, Marina L; Tourinho, Carlos J; Miranda, Mônica C; Befi-Lopes, Debora M; Bueno, Orlando F A; Martin, Romain

2014-01-01

This study examined executive functioning and reading achievement in 106 6- to 8-year-old Brazilian children from a range of social backgrounds of whom approximately half lived below the poverty line. A particular focus was to explore the executive function profile of children whose classroom reading performance was judged below standard by their teachers and who were matched to controls on chronological age, sex, school type (private or public), domicile (Salvador/BA or São Paulo/SP) and socioeconomic status. Children completed a battery of 12 executive function tasks that were conceptual tapping cognitive flexibility, working memory, inhibition and selective attention. Each executive function domain was assessed by several tasks. Principal component analysis extracted four factors that were labeled "Working Memory/Cognitive Flexibility," "Interference Suppression," "Selective Attention," and "Response Inhibition." Individual differences in executive functioning components made differential contributions to early reading achievement. The Working Memory/Cognitive Flexibility factor emerged as the best predictor of reading. Group comparisons on computed factor scores showed that struggling readers displayed limitations in Working Memory/Cognitive Flexibility, but not in other executive function components, compared to more skilled readers. These results validate the account that working memory capacity provides a crucial building block for the development of early literacy skills and extends it to a population of early readers of Portuguese from Brazil. The study suggests that deficits in working memory/cognitive flexibility might represent one contributing factor to reading difficulties in early readers. This might have important implications for how educators might intervene with children at risk of academic under achievement.

Working memory, math performance, and math anxiety.

PubMed

Ashcraft, Mark H; Krause, Jeremy A

2007-04-01

The cognitive literature now shows how critically math performance depends on working memory, for any form of arithmetic and math that involves processes beyond simple memory retrieval. The psychometric literature is also very clear on the global consequences of mathematics anxiety. People who are highly math anxious avoid math: They avoid elective coursework in math, both in high school and college, they avoid college majors that emphasize math, and they avoid career paths that involve math. We go beyond these psychometric relationships to examine the cognitive consequences of math anxiety. We show how performance on a standardized math achievement test varies as a function of math anxiety, and that math anxiety compromises the functioning of working memory. High math anxiety works much like a dual task setting: Preoccupation with one's math fears and anxieties functions like a resource-demanding secondary task. We comment on developmental and educational factors related to math and working memory, and on factors that may contribute to the development of math anxiety.

Variations in working memory capacity predict individual differences in general learning abilities among genetically diverse mice.

PubMed

Kolata, Stefan; Light, Kenneth; Townsend, David A; Hale, Gregory; Grossman, Henya C; Matzel, Louis D

2005-11-01

Up to 50% of an individuals' performance across a wide variety of distinct cognitive tests can be accounted for by a single factor (i.e., "general intelligence"). Despite its ubiquity, the processes or mechanisms regulating this factor are a matter of considerable debate. Although it has been hypothesized that working memory may impact cognitive performance across various domains, tests have been inconclusive due to the difficulty in isolating working memory from its overlapping operations, such as verbal ability. We address this problem using genetically diverse mice, which exhibit a trait analogous to general intelligence. The general cognitive abilities of CD-1 mice were found to covary with individuals' working memory capacity, but not with variations in long-term retention. These results provide evidence that independent of verbal abilities, variations in working memory are associated with general cognitive abilities, and further, suggest a conservation across species of mechanisms and/or processes that regulate cognitive abilities.

Working memory and language: skill-specific or domain-general relations to mathematics?

PubMed

Purpura, David J; Ganley, Colleen M

2014-06-01

Children's early mathematics skills develop in a cumulative fashion; foundational skills form a basis for the acquisition of later skills. However, non-mathematical factors such as working memory and language skills have also been linked to mathematical development at a broad level. Unfortunately, little research has been conducted to evaluate the specific relations of these two non-mathematical factors to individual aspects of early mathematics. Thus, the focus of this study was to determine whether working memory and language were related to only individual aspects of early mathematics or related to many components of early mathematics skills. A total of 199 4- to 6-year-old preschool and kindergarten children were assessed on a battery of early mathematics tasks as well as measures of working memory and language. Results indicated that working memory has a specific relation to only a few-but critically important-early mathematics skills and language has a broad relation to nearly all early mathematics skills. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Profile of Memory Function in Children With Autism

PubMed Central

Williams, Diane L.; Goldstein, Gerald; Minshew, Nancy J.

2007-01-01

A clinical memory test was administered to 38 high-functioning children with autism and 38 individually matched normal controls, 8–16 years of age. The resulting profile of memory abilities in the children with autism was characterized by relatively poor memory for complex visual and verbal information and spatial working memory with relatively intact associative learning ability, verbal working memory, and recognition memory. A stepwise discriminant function analysis of the subtests found that the Finger Windows subtest, a measure of spatial working memory, discriminated most accurately between the autism and normal control groups. A principal components analysis indicated that the factor structure of the subtests differed substantially between the children with autism and controls, suggesting differing organizations of memory ability. PMID:16460219

The Development of Early Numeracy Ability in Kindergartners with Limited Working Memory Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Toll, Sylke W. M.; Van Luit, Johannes E. H.

2013-01-01

Research has proven limited working memory skills to be a high risk factor for educational underachievement in mathematics across the primary school years. Less is known, however, about the performance of children with limited working memory skills in early numeracy tasks. The main purpose of the two studies reported in this article is to explore…

Sex Differences in Mental Rotation and Spatial Visualization Ability: Can They Be Accounted for by Differences in Working Memory Capacity?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaufman, Scott Barry

2007-01-01

Sex differences in spatial ability are well documented, but poorly understood. In order to see whether working memory is an important factor in these differences, 50 males and 50 females performed tests of three-dimensional mental rotation and spatial visualization, along with tests of spatial and verbal working memory. Substantial differences…

Visual Working Memory and Number Sense: Testing the Double Deficit Hypothesis in Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Toll, Sylke W. M.; Kroesbergen, Evelyn H.; Van Luit, Johannes E. H.

2016-01-01

Background: Evidence exists that there are two main underlying cognitive factors in mathematical difficulties: working memory and number sense. It is suggested that real math difficulties appear when both working memory and number sense are weak, here referred to as the double deficit (DD) hypothesis. Aims: The aim of this study was to test the DD…

An exploratory study of phonological awareness and working memory differences and literacy performance of people that use AAC.

PubMed

Gómez Taibo, María Luisa; Vieiro Iglesias, Pilar; González Raposo, María del Salvador; Sotillo Méndez, María

2010-11-01

Twelve cerebral palsied adolescents and young adults with complex communicative needs who used augmentative and alternative communication were studied. They were classified according to their working memory capacity (high vs. low) into two groups of 6 participants. They were also divided into two groups of 6 participants according to their high vs. low phonological skills. These groups were compared on their performance in reading tests -orthographic knowledge, a word test and a pseudoword reading test- and in the spelling of words, pseudowords and pictures' names. Statistical differences were found between high vs. low phonological skills groups, and between high and low working memory groups. High working memory capacity group scored significantly higher than low working memory group in the orthographic and word reading tests. The high phonological skills group outperformed the low phonological skills group in the word reading test and in the spelling of pseudowords and pictures' names. From a descriptive point of view, phonological skills and working memory, factors known to be highly predictive of literacy skills in people without disabilities, also hold as factors for the participants that used AAC in our study. Implications of the results are discussed.

Working Memory Tasks Differ in Factor Structure across Age Cohorts: Implications for Dedifferentiation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Wendy; Logie, Robert H.; Brockmole, James R.

2010-01-01

Researchers interested in working memory have debated whether it should be considered a single latent cognitive ability or a set of essentially independent latent abilities distinguished by domain-specific memory and/or processing resources. Simultaneously, researchers interested in cognitive aging have established that there are substantial…

WAIS-IV subtest covariance structure: conceptual and statistical considerations.

PubMed

Ward, L Charles; Bergman, Maria A; Hebert, Katina R

2012-06-01

D. Wechsler (2008b) reported confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) with standardization data (ages 16-69 years) for 10 core and 5 supplemental subtests from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV). Analyses of the 15 subtests supported 4 hypothesized oblique factors (Verbal Comprehension, Working Memory, Perceptual Reasoning, and Processing Speed) but also revealed unexplained covariance between Block Design and Visual Puzzles (Perceptual Reasoning subtests). That covariance was not included in the final models. Instead, a path was added from Working Memory to Figure Weights (Perceptual Reasoning subtest) to improve fit and achieve a desired factor pattern. The present research with the same data (N = 1,800) showed that the path from Working Memory to Figure Weights increases the association between Working Memory and Matrix Reasoning. Specifying both paths improves model fit and largely eliminates unexplained covariance between Block Design and Visual Puzzles but with the undesirable consequence that Figure Weights and Matrix Reasoning are equally determined by Perceptual Reasoning and Working Memory. An alternative 4-factor model was proposed that explained theory-implied covariance between Block Design and Visual Puzzles and between Arithmetic and Figure Weights while maintaining compatibility with WAIS-IV Index structure. The proposed model compared favorably with a 5-factor model based on Cattell-Horn-Carroll theory. The present findings emphasize that covariance model comparisons should involve considerations of conceptual coherence and theoretical adherence in addition to statistical fit. (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved

Working memory and the design of health materials: a cognitive factors perspective.

PubMed

Wilson, Elizabeth A H; Wolf, Michael S

2009-03-01

Working memory and other supportive cognitive processes involved in learning are reviewed in the context of developing patient education materials. We specifically focus on the impact of certain design factors such as text format and syntax, the inclusion of images, and the choice of modality on individuals' ability to understand and remember health information. A selective review of relevant cognitive and learning theories is discussed with regard to their potential impact on the optimal design of health materials. Working memory is measured as an individual's capacity to hold and manipulate information in active consciousness. It is limited by necessity, and well-designed health materials can effectively minimize extraneous cognitive demands placed on individuals, making working memory resources more available to better process content-related information. Further research is needed to evaluate specific design principles and identify ideal uses of print versus video-based forms of communication for conveying information. The process of developing health materials should account for the cognitive demands that extrinsic factors such as modality place on patients.

The scope and control of attention as separate aspects of working memory.

PubMed

Shipstead, Zach; Redick, Thomas S; Hicks, Kenny L; Engle, Randall W

2012-01-01

The present study examines two varieties of working memory (WM) capacity task: visual arrays (i.e., a measure of the amount of information that can be maintained in working memory) and complex span (i.e., a task that taps WM-related attentional control). Using previously collected data sets we employ confirmatory factor analysis to demonstrate that visual arrays and complex span tasks load on separate, but correlated, factors. A subsequent series of structural equation models and regression analyses demonstrate that these factors contribute both common and unique variance to the prediction of general fluid intelligence (Gf). However, while visual arrays does contribute uniquely to higher cognition, its overall correlation to Gf is largely mediated by variance associated with the complex span factor. Thus we argue that visual arrays performance is not strictly driven by a limited-capacity storage system (e.g., the focus of attention; Cowan, 2001), but may also rely on control processes such as selective attention and controlled memory search.

Working Memory in Students with Mathematical Difficulties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nur, I. R. D.; Herman, T.; Ningsih, S.

2018-04-01

Learning process is the activities that has important role because this process is one of the all factors that establish students success in learning. oftentimes we find so many students get the difficulties when they study mathematics. This condition is not only because of the outside factor but also it comes from the inside. The purpose of this research is to analyze and give the representation how students working memory happened in physical education students for basic statistics subjects which have mathematical difficulties. The subjects are 4 students which have a mathematical difficulties. The research method is case study and when the describe about students working memory are explanated deeply with naturalistic observation. Based on this research, it was founded that 4 students have a working memory deficit in three components. The components are phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, dan episodic buffer.

Dual-tasking and gait in people with Mild Cognitive Impairment. The effect of working memory

PubMed Central

Montero-Odasso, Manuel; Bergman, Howard; Phillips, Natalie A; Wong, Chek H; Sourial, Nadia; Chertkow, Howard

2009-01-01

Background Cognition and mobility in older adults are closely associated and they decline together with aging. Studies evaluating associations between cognitive factors and gait performance in people with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) are scarce. In this study, our aim was to determine whether specific cognitive factors have a more identifiable effect on gait velocity during dual-tasking in people with MCI. Methods Fifty-five participants, mean age 77.7 (SD = 5.9), 45% women, with MCI were evaluated for global cognition, working memory, executive function, and attention. Gait Velocity (GV) was measured under a single-task condition (single GV) and under two dual-task conditions: 1) while counting backwards (counting GV), 2) while naming animals (verbal GV). Multivariable linear regression analysis was used to examine associations with an alpha-level of 0.05. Results Participants experienced a reduction in GV while engaging in dual-task challenges (p < 0.005). Low executive function and working memory performances were associated with slow single GV (p = 0.038), slow counting GV (p = 0.017), and slow verbal GV (p = 0.031). After adjustments, working memory was the only cognitive factor which remained significantly associated with a slow GV. Conclusion In older adults with MCI, low working memory performance was associated with slow GV. Dual-task conditions showed the strongest associations with gait slowing. Our findings suggest that cortical control of gait is associated with decline in working memory in people with MCI. PMID:19723315

The role of working memory in decoding emotions.

PubMed

Phillips, Louise H; Channon, Shelley; Tunstall, Mary; Hedenstrom, Anna; Lyons, Kathryn

2008-04-01

Decoding facial expressions of emotion is an important aspect of social communication that is often impaired following psychiatric or neurological illness. However, little is known of the cognitive components involved in perceiving emotional expressions. Three dual task studies explored the role of verbal working memory in decoding emotions. Concurrent working memory load substantially interfered with choosing which emotional label described a facial expression (Experiment 1). A key factor in the magnitude of interference was the number of emotion labels from which to choose (Experiment 2). In contrast the ability to decide that two faces represented the same emotion in a discrimination task was relatively unaffected by concurrent working memory load (Experiment 3). Different methods of assessing emotion perception make substantially different demands on working memory. Implications for clinical disorders which affect both working memory and emotion perception are considered. (Copyright) 2008 APA.

Using EEG to Discriminate Cognitive Workload and Performance Based on Neural Activation and Connectivity

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-05-31

auditory working memory task to vary cognitive workload by altering the number of digits held in memory during the simultaneous retention of a sentence...in memory . Cognitive efficacy is assessed based on accuracy in recalling digits from memory . A Gaussian classifier is used to discriminate cognitive...effectiveness of cognition under the existing load. One major factor that impacts cognitive load is the amount of working memory required in a task

Working Memory and Intelligence in Children: What Develops?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swanson, H. Lee

2008-01-01

This study explored the contribution of the phonological and executive working memory (WM) systems to 205 (102 girls, 103 boys, 6 to 9 years old) elementary school children's fluid and crystallized intelligence. The results show that (a) a 3-factor structure (phonological short-term memory [STM], visual-spatial WM, and verbal WM) was comparable…

Do Children with Phonological Delay Have Phonological Short-Term and Phonological Working Memory Deficits?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Waring, Rebecca; Eadie, Patricia; Liow, Susan Rickard; Dodd, Barbara

2017-01-01

While little is known about why children make speech errors, it has been hypothesized that cognitive-linguistic factors may underlie phonological speech sound disorders. This study compared the phonological short-term and phonological working memory abilities (using immediate memory tasks) and receptive vocabulary size of 14 monolingual preschool…

Dual N-Back Working Memory Training in Healthy Adults: A Randomized Comparison to Processing Speed Training

PubMed Central

Lawlor-Savage, Linette; Goghari, Vina M.

2016-01-01

Enhancing cognitive ability is an attractive concept, particularly for middle-aged adults interested in maintaining cognitive functioning and preventing age-related declines. Computerized working memory training has been investigated as a safe method of cognitive enhancement in younger and older adults, although few studies have considered the potential impact of working memory training on middle-aged adults. This study investigated dual n-back working memory training in healthy adults aged 30–60. Fifty-seven adults completed measures of working memory, processing speed, and fluid intelligence before and after a 5-week web-based dual n-back or active control (processing speed) training program. Results: Repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance failed to identify improvements across the three cognitive composites, working memory, processing speed, and fluid intelligence, after training. Follow-up Bayesian analyses supported null findings for training effects for each individual composite. Findings suggest that dual n-back working memory training may not benefit working memory or fluid intelligence in healthy adults. Further investigation is necessary to clarify if other forms of working memory training may be beneficial, and what factors impact training-related benefits, should they occur, in this population. PMID:27043141

Mind wandering and reading comprehension: examining the roles of working memory capacity, interest, motivation, and topic experience.

PubMed

Unsworth, Nash; McMillan, Brittany D

2013-05-01

Individual differences in mind wandering and reading comprehension were examined in the current study. In particular, individual differences in mind wandering, working memory capacity, interest in the current topic, motivation to do well on the task, and topic experience and their relations with reading comprehension were examined in the current study. Using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling it was found that variation in mind wandering while reading was influenced by working memory capacity, topic interest, and motivation. Furthermore, these same factors, along with topic experience, influenced individual differences in reading comprehension. Importantly, several factors had direct effects on reading comprehension (and mind wandering), while the relation between reading comprehension (and mind wandering) and other factors occurred via indirect effects. These results suggest that both domain-general and domain-specific factors contribute to mind wandering while reading and to reading comprehension.

Executive functioning and reading achievement in school: a study of Brazilian children assessed by their teachers as “poor readers”

PubMed Central

Engel de Abreu, Pascale M. J.; Abreu, Neander; Nikaedo, Carolina C.; Puglisi, Marina L.; Tourinho, Carlos J.; Miranda, Mônica C.; Befi-Lopes, Debora M.; Bueno, Orlando F. A.; Martin, Romain

2014-01-01

This study examined executive functioning and reading achievement in 106 6- to 8-year-old Brazilian children from a range of social backgrounds of whom approximately half lived below the poverty line. A particular focus was to explore the executive function profile of children whose classroom reading performance was judged below standard by their teachers and who were matched to controls on chronological age, sex, school type (private or public), domicile (Salvador/BA or São Paulo/SP) and socioeconomic status. Children completed a battery of 12 executive function tasks that were conceptual tapping cognitive flexibility, working memory, inhibition and selective attention. Each executive function domain was assessed by several tasks. Principal component analysis extracted four factors that were labeled “Working Memory/Cognitive Flexibility,” “Interference Suppression,” “Selective Attention,” and “Response Inhibition.” Individual differences in executive functioning components made differential contributions to early reading achievement. The Working Memory/Cognitive Flexibility factor emerged as the best predictor of reading. Group comparisons on computed factor scores showed that struggling readers displayed limitations in Working Memory/Cognitive Flexibility, but not in other executive function components, compared to more skilled readers. These results validate the account that working memory capacity provides a crucial building block for the development of early literacy skills and extends it to a population of early readers of Portuguese from Brazil. The study suggests that deficits in working memory/cognitive flexibility might represent one contributing factor to reading difficulties in early readers. This might have important implications for how educators might intervene with children at risk of academic under achievement. PMID:24959155

Working Memory in Children With Learning Disabilities in Reading Versus Spelling: Searching for Overlapping and Specific Cognitive Factors.

PubMed

Brandenburg, Janin; Klesczewski, Julia; Fischbach, Anne; Schuchardt, Kirsten; Büttner, Gerhard; Hasselhorn, Marcus

2015-01-01

In transparent orthographies like German, isolated learning disabilities in either reading or spelling are common and occur as often as a combined reading and spelling disability. However, most issues surrounding the cognitive causes of these isolated or combined literacy difficulties are yet unresolved. Recently, working memory dysfunctions have been demonstrated to be promising in explaining the emergence of literacy difficulties. Thus, we applied a 2 (reading disability: yes vs. no) × 2 (spelling disability: yes vs. no) factorial design to examine distinct and overlapping working memory profiles associated with learning disabilities in reading versus spelling. Working memory was assessed in 204 third graders, and multivariate analyses of variance were conducted for each working memory component. Children with spelling disability suffered from more pronounced phonological loop impairments than those with reading disability. In contrast, domain-general central-executive dysfunctions were solely associated with reading disability, but not with spelling disability. Concerning the visuospatial sketchpad, no impairments were found. In sum, children with reading disability and those with spelling disability seem to be characterized by different working memory profiles. Thus, it is important to take both reading and spelling into account when investigating cognitive factors of literacy difficulties in transparent orthographies. © Hammill Institute on Disabilities 2014.

Working memory and fluid intelligence: capacity, attention control, and secondary memory retrieval.

PubMed

Unsworth, Nash; Fukuda, Keisuke; Awh, Edward; Vogel, Edward K

2014-06-01

Several theories have been put forth to explain the relation between working memory (WM) and gF. Unfortunately, no single factor has been shown to fully account for the relation between these two important constructs. In the current study we tested whether multiple factors (capacity, attention control, and secondary memory) would collectively account for the relation. A large number of participants performed multiple measures of each construct and latent variable analyses were used to examine the data. The results demonstrated that capacity, attention control, and secondary memory were uniquely related to WM storage, WM processing, and gF. Importantly, the three factors completely accounted for the relation between WM (both processing and storage) and gF. Thus, although storage and processing make independent contributions to gF, both of these contributions are accounted for by variation in capacity, attention control and secondary memory. These results are consistent with the multifaceted view of WM, suggesting that individual differences in capacity, attention control, and secondary memory jointly account for individual differences in WM and its relation with gF. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Working Memory and Fluid Intelligence: Capacity, Attention Control, and Secondary Memory Retrieval

PubMed Central

Unsworth, Nash; Fukuda, Keisuke; Awh, Edward; Vogel, Edward K.

2015-01-01

Several theories have been put forth to explain the relation between working memory (WM) and gF. Unfortunately, no single factor has been shown to fully account for the relation between these two important constructs. In the current study we tested whether multiple factors (capacity, attention control, and secondary memory) would collectively account for the relation. A large number of participants performed multiple measures of each construct and latent variable analyses were used to examine the data. The results demonstrated that capacity, attention control, and secondary memory were uniquely related to WM storage, WM processing, and gF. Importantly, the three factors completely accounted for the relation between WM (both processing and storage) and gF. Thus, although storage and processing make independent contributions to gF, both of these contributions are accounted for by variation in capacity, attention control and secondary memory. These results are consistent with the multifaceted view of WM, suggesting that individual differences in capacity, attention control, and secondary memory jointly account for individual differences in WM and its relation with gF. PMID:24531497

Individual Differences in Working Memory, Nonverbal IQ, and Mathematics Achievement and Brain Mechanisms Associated with Symbolic and Nonsymbolic Number Processing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gullick, Margaret M.; Sprute, Lisa A.; Temple, Elise

2011-01-01

Individual differences in mathematics performance may stem from domain-general factors like working memory and intelligence. Parietal and frontal brain areas have been implicated in number processing, but the influence of such cognitive factors on brain activity during mathematics processing is not known. The relationship between brain mechanisms…

Is Working Memory Fractionated onto Different Components of Intelligence? A Reply to Mackintosh and Bennett (2003)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Colom, Roberto; Shih, Pei Chun

2004-01-01

A study was conducted in which 226 participants performed 12 tests, 6 thought to reflect verbal, quantitative, and spatial working memory (WM), and 6 of crystallized (Gc), fluid (Gf), and spatial (Gv) cognitive abilities. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) were computed to test the unitary nature of the WM system. Six primary latent factors were…

Profiles of Verbal Working Memory Growth Predict Speech and Language Development in Children with Cochlear Implants

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kronenberger, William G.; Pisoni, David B.; Harris, Michael S.; Hoen, Helena M.; Xu, Huiping; Miyamoto, Richard T.

2013-01-01

Purpose: Verbal short-term memory (STM) and working memory (WM) skills predict speech and language outcomes in children with cochlear implants (CIs) even after conventional demographic, device, and medical factors are taken into account. However, prior research has focused on single end point outcomes as opposed to the longitudinal process of…

Modulation of working memory updating: Does long-term memory lexical association matter?

PubMed

Artuso, Caterina; Palladino, Paola

2016-02-01

The aim of the present study was to investigate how working memory updating for verbal material is modulated by enduring properties of long-term memory. Two coexisting perspectives that account for the relation between long-term representation and short-term performance were addressed. First, evidence suggests that performance is more closely linked to lexical properties, that is, co-occurrences within the language. Conversely, other evidence suggests that performance is linked more to long-term representations which do not entail lexical/linguistic representations. Our aim was to investigate how these two kinds of long-term memory associations (i.e., lexical or nonlexical) modulate ongoing working memory activity. Therefore, we manipulated (between participants) the strength of the association in letters based on either frequency of co-occurrences (lexical) or contiguity along the sequence of the alphabet (nonlexical). Results showed a cost in working memory updating for strongly lexically associated stimuli only. Our findings advance knowledge of how lexical long-term memory associations between consonants affect working memory updating and, in turn, contribute to the study of factors which impact the updating process across memory systems.

Association between exposure to work stressors and cognitive performance.

PubMed

Vuori, Marko; Akila, Ritva; Kalakoski, Virpi; Pentti, Jaana; Kivimäki, Mika; Vahtera, Jussi; Härmä, Mikko; Puttonen, Sampsa

2014-04-01

To examine the association between work stress and cognitive performance. Cognitive performance of a total of 99 women (mean age = 47.3 years) working in hospital wards at either the top or bottom quartiles of job strain was assessed using validated tests that measured learning, short-term memory, and speed of memory retrieval. The high job strain group (n = 43) had lower performance than the low job strain group (n = 56) in learning (P = 0.025), short-term memory (P = 0.027), and speed of memory retrieval (P = 0.003). After controlling for education level, only the difference in speed of memory retrieval remained statistically significant (P = 0.010). The association found between job strain and speed of memory retrieval might be one important factor explaining the effect of stress on work performance.

Working memory and intraindividual variability as neurocognitive indicators in ADHD: examining competing model predictions.

PubMed

Kofler, Michael J; Alderson, R Matt; Raiker, Joseph S; Bolden, Jennifer; Sarver, Dustin E; Rapport, Mark D

2014-05-01

The current study examined competing predictions of the default mode, cognitive neuroenergetic, and functional working memory models of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) regarding the relation between neurocognitive impairments in working memory and intraindividual variability. Twenty-two children with ADHD and 15 typically developing children were assessed on multiple tasks measuring intraindividual reaction time (RT) variability (ex-Gaussian: tau, sigma) and central executive (CE) working memory. Latent factor scores based on multiple, counterbalanced tasks were created for each construct of interest (CE, tau, sigma) to reflect reliable variance associated with each construct and remove task-specific, test-retest, and random error. Bias-corrected, bootstrapped mediation analyses revealed that CE working memory accounted for 88% to 100% of ADHD-related RT variability across models, and between-group differences in RT variability were no longer detectable after accounting for the mediating role of CE working memory. In contrast, RT variability accounted for 10% to 29% of between-group differences in CE working memory, and large magnitude CE working memory deficits remained after accounting for this partial mediation. Statistical comparison of effect size estimates across models suggests directionality of effects, such that the mediation effects of CE working memory on RT variability were significantly greater than the mediation effects of RT variability on CE working memory. The current findings question the role of RT variability as a primary neurocognitive indicator in ADHD and suggest that ADHD-related RT variability may be secondary to underlying deficits in CE working memory.

Characterization of a normal control group: are they healthy?

PubMed

Aine, C J; Sanfratello, L; Adair, J C; Knoefel, J E; Qualls, C; Lundy, S L; Caprihan, A; Stone, D; Stephen, J M

2014-01-01

We examined the health of a control group (18-81years) in our aging study, which is similar to control groups used in other neuroimaging studies. The current study was motivated by our previous results showing that one third of the elder control group had moderate to severe white matter hyperintensities and/or cortical volume loss which correlated with poor performance on memory tasks. Therefore, we predicted that cardiovascular risk factors (e.g., hypertension, high cholesterol) within the control group would account for significant variance on working memory task performance. Fifty-five participants completed 4 verbal and spatial working memory tasks, neuropsychological exams, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and blood tests to assess vascular risk. In addition to using a repeated measures ANOVA design, a cluster analysis was applied to the vascular risk measures as a data reduction step to characterize relationships between conjoint risk factors. The cluster groupings were used to predict working memory performance. The results show that higher levels of systolic blood pressure were associated with: 1) poor spatial working memory accuracy; and 2) lower fractional anisotropy (FA) values in multiple brain regions. In contrast, higher levels of total cholesterol corresponded with increased accuracy in verbal working memory. An association between lower FA values and higher cholesterol levels were identified in different brain regions from those associated with systolic blood pressure. The conjoint risk analysis revealed that Risk Cluster Group 3 (the group with the greatest number of risk factors) displayed: 1) the poorest performance on the spatial working memory tasks; 2) the longest reaction times across both spatial and verbal memory tasks; and 3) the lowest FA values across widespread brain regions. Our results confirm that a considerable range of vascular risk factors are present in a typical control group, even in younger individuals, which have robust effects on brain anatomy and function. These results present a new challenge to neuroimaging studies both for defining a cohort from which to characterize 'normative' brain circuitry and for establishing a control group to compare with other clinical populations. © 2013.

Predictors of memory performance among Taiwanese postmenopausal women with heart failure.

PubMed

Chou, Cheng-Chen; Pressler, Susan J; Giordani, Bruno

2014-09-01

There are no studies describing the nature of memory deficits among women with heart failure (HF). The aims of this study were to examine memory performance among Taiwanese women with HF compared with age- and education-matched healthy women, and to evaluate factors that explain memory performance in women with HF. Seventy-six women with HF and 64 healthy women were recruited in Taiwan. Women completed working, verbal, and visual memory tests; HF severity was collected from the medical records. Women with HF performed significantly worse than healthy women on tests of working memory and verbal memory. Among women with HF, older age explained poorer working memory, and older age, higher HF severity, more comorbidities, and systolic HF explained poorer verbal memory. Menopausal symptoms were not associated with memory performance. Results of the study validate findings of memory loss in HF patients from the United States and Europe in a culturally different sample of women. Working memory and verbal memory were worse in Taiwanese women with HF compared with healthy participants. Studies are needed to determine mechanisms of memory deficits in these women and develop interventions to improve memory. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Breaking cycles of risk: The mitigating role of maternal working memory in associations among socioeconomic status, early caregiving, and children's working memory.

PubMed

Suor, Jennifer H; Sturge-Apple, Melissa L; Skibo, Michael A

2017-10-01

Previous research has documented socioeconomic-related disparities in children's working memory; however, the putative proximal caregiving mechanisms that underlie these effects are less known. The present study sought to examine whether the effects of early family socioeconomic status on children's working memory were mediated through experiences of caregiving, specifically maternal harsh discipline and responsiveness. Utilizing a psychobiological framework of parenting, the present study also tested whether maternal working memory moderated the initial paths between the family socioeconomic context and maternal harsh discipline and responsiveness in the mediation model. The sample included 185 socioeconomically diverse mother-child dyads assessed when children were 3.5 and 5 years old. Results demonstrated that maternal harsh discipline was a unique mediator of the relation between early experiences of family socioeconomic adversity and lower working memory outcomes in children. Individual differences in maternal working memory emerged as a potent individual difference factor that specifically moderated the mediating influence of harsh discipline within low socioeconomic contexts. The findings have implications for early risk processes underlying deficits in child working memory outcomes and potential targets for parent-child interventions.

Working memory load predicts visual search efficiency: Evidence from a novel pupillary response paradigm.

PubMed

Attar, Nada; Schneps, Matthew H; Pomplun, Marc

2016-10-01

An observer's pupil dilates and constricts in response to variables such as ambient and focal luminance, cognitive effort, the emotional stimulus content, and working memory load. The pupil's memory load response is of particular interest, as it might be used for estimating observers' memory load while they are performing a complex task, without adding an interruptive and confounding memory test to the protocol. One important task in which working memory's involvement is still being debated is visual search, and indeed a previous experiment by Porter, Troscianko, and Gilchrist (Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 60, 211-229, 2007) analyzed observers' pupil sizes during search to study this issue. These authors found that pupil size increased over the course of the search, and they attributed this finding to accumulating working memory load. However, since the pupil response is slow and does not depend on memory load alone, this conclusion is rather speculative. In the present study, we estimated working memory load in visual search during the presentation of intermittent fixation screens, thought to induce a low, stable level of arousal and cognitive effort. Using standard visual search and control tasks, we showed that this paradigm reduces the influence of non-memory-related factors on pupil size. Furthermore, we found an early increase in working memory load to be associated with more efficient search, indicating a significant role of working memory in the search process.

Looking inward and back: Real-time monitoring of visual working memories.

PubMed

Suchow, Jordan W; Fougnie, Daryl; Alvarez, George A

2017-04-01

Confidence in our memories is influenced by many factors, including beliefs about the perceptibility or memorability of certain kinds of objects and events, as well as knowledge about our skill sets, habits, and experiences. Notoriously, our knowledge and beliefs about memory can lead us astray, causing us to be overly confident in eyewitness testimony or to overestimate the frequency of recent experiences. Here, using visual working memory as a case study, we stripped away all these potentially misleading cues, requiring observers to make confidence judgments by directly assessing the quality of their memory representations. We show that individuals can monitor the status of information in working memory as it degrades over time. Our findings suggest that people have access to information reflecting the existence and quality of their working memories, and furthermore, that they can use this information to guide their behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Cognition in school-aged children with "active" epilepsy: A population-based study.

PubMed

Reilly, Colin; Atkinson, Patricia; Das, Krishna B; Chin, Richard F M; Aylett, Sarah E; Burch, Victoria; Gillberg, Christopher; Scott, Rod C; Neville, Brian G R

2015-01-01

There is a lack of population-based data on specific cognitive profiles in childhood epilepsy. This study sought to determine the frequency of impairments in global cognition and aspects of working memory and processing speed in a population-based sample of children with "active" epilepsy (on antiepileptic Drugs (AEDs), and/or had a seizure in the last year). Factors significantly associated with global and specific difficulties in cognition were also identified. A total of 85 (74% of eligible population) school-aged children (5-15 years) with "active" epilepsy underwent comprehensive psychological assessment including assessment of global cognition, working memory, and processing speed. Scores on cognitive subtests were compared via paired-samples t tests. The factors associated with cognitive difficulties were analyzed via linear regression. A total of 24% of children were functioning below IQ 50, and 40% had IQ scores below 70. Scores on the Processing Speed Index were significantly lower than scores on the Verbal or Performance indexes on Wechsler instruments. The Coding subtest was a significant weakness compared with the other Wechsler subtests. A total of 58% of children displayed "memory underachievement" (memory score 1 SD below assessed IQ) on at least one of the four administered working memory subtests. Factors significantly associated with globally impaired cognition included being on polytherapy (β = -13.0; 95% CI [-19.3, -6.6], p = .000) and having attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; β = -11.1, 95% CI [-3.0, -19.3], p = .008). Being on polytherapy was also associated with lower scores on the working memory and processing speed composite scores. Having developmental coordination disorder (DCD) was associated with a lower score on the processing speed composite. There is a high rate of global and specific cognitive difficulties in childhood epilepsy. Difficulties are most pronounced in aspects of working memory and processing speed. Predictors of cognitive impairment in childhood epilepsy include epilepsy-related and behavioral factors, which may differ depending on the domain of cognition assessed.

A Dominance Analysis Approach to Determining Predictor Importance in Third, Seventh, and Tenth Grade Reading Comprehension Skills

PubMed Central

Tighe, Elizabeth; Schatschneider, Christopher

2015-01-01

The purpose of the present study was to investigate and rank order by importance the contributions of various cognitive predictors to reading comprehension in third, seventh, and tenth graders. An exploratory factor analysis revealed that for third grade, the best fit was a four-factor solution including Fluency, Verbal Reasoning, Nonverbal Reasoning, and Working Memory factors. For seventh and tenth grade, three-factor solutions with Fluency, Reasoning, and Working Memory factors were the best fit. The three and four-factor models were used in separate dominance analyses for each grade to rank order the factors by predictive importance to reading comprehension. Results indicated that Fluency and Verbal Reasoning were the most important predictors of third grade reading comprehension. For seventh grade, Fluency and Reasoning were the most important predictors. By tenth grade, Reasoning was the most important predictor of reading comprehension. Working Memory was the least predictive of reading comprehension across all grade levels. These results suggest that inferential reasoning skills become an important contributor to reading comprehension at increasing grade levels. PMID:26346315

The Influence of Background Music on Learning in the Light of Different Theoretical Perspectives and the Role of Working Memory Capacity.

PubMed

Lehmann, Janina A M; Seufert, Tina

2017-01-01

This study investigates how background music influences learning with respect to three different theoretical approaches. Both the Mozart effect as well as the arousal-mood-hypothesis indicate that background music can potentially benefit learning outcomes. While the Mozart effect assumes a direct influence of background music on cognitive abilities, the arousal-mood-hypothesis assumes a mediation effect over arousal and mood. However, the seductive detail effect indicates that seductive details such as background music worsen learning. Moreover, as working memory capacity has a crucial influence on learning with seductive details, we also included the learner's working memory capacity as a factor in our study. We tested 81 college students using a between-subject design with half of the sample listening to two pop songs while learning a visual text and the other half learning in silence. We included working memory capacity in the design as a continuous organism variable. Arousal and mood scores before and after learning were collected as potential mediating variables. To measure learning outcomes we tested recall and comprehension. We did not find a mediation effect between background music and arousal or mood on learning outcomes. In addition, for recall performance there were no main effects of background music or working memory capacity, nor an interaction effect of these factors. However, when considering comprehension we did find an interaction between background music and working memory capacity: the higher the learners' working memory capacity, the better they learned with background music. This is in line with the seductive detail assumption.

The Influence of Background Music on Learning in the Light of Different Theoretical Perspectives and the Role of Working Memory Capacity

PubMed Central

Lehmann, Janina A. M.; Seufert, Tina

2017-01-01

This study investigates how background music influences learning with respect to three different theoretical approaches. Both the Mozart effect as well as the arousal-mood-hypothesis indicate that background music can potentially benefit learning outcomes. While the Mozart effect assumes a direct influence of background music on cognitive abilities, the arousal-mood-hypothesis assumes a mediation effect over arousal and mood. However, the seductive detail effect indicates that seductive details such as background music worsen learning. Moreover, as working memory capacity has a crucial influence on learning with seductive details, we also included the learner’s working memory capacity as a factor in our study. We tested 81 college students using a between-subject design with half of the sample listening to two pop songs while learning a visual text and the other half learning in silence. We included working memory capacity in the design as a continuous organism variable. Arousal and mood scores before and after learning were collected as potential mediating variables. To measure learning outcomes we tested recall and comprehension. We did not find a mediation effect between background music and arousal or mood on learning outcomes. In addition, for recall performance there were no main effects of background music or working memory capacity, nor an interaction effect of these factors. However, when considering comprehension we did find an interaction between background music and working memory capacity: the higher the learners’ working memory capacity, the better they learned with background music. This is in line with the seductive detail assumption. PMID:29163283

Factors Associated with Cognition in Adults: The Seattle Longitudinal Study

PubMed Central

Yu, Fang; Ryan, Lindsay H.; Schaie, K. Warner; Willis, Sherry L.; Kolanowski, Ann

2010-01-01

A better understanding of factors that affect cognition could lead to improved health and greater independence for older adults. We examined the association of four modifiable factors (leisure-time physical activity, leisure-time cognitive activity, self-directed work, and hypertension) with changes in two aspects of fluid intelligence (verbal memory and inductive reasoning). Data for 626 adults collected over 14 years (three time points) were analyzed by multi-level modeling. A component of self-directed work, higher work control, was associated with better verbal memory (p < .05) and inductive reasoning (p < .01). There were no significant interactions among these factors. The findings suggest that a strong sense of control at work may be protective for fluid intelligence in adults. PMID:19606423

Improving everyday memory performance after acquired brain injury: An RCT on recollection and working memory training.

PubMed

Richter, Kim Merle; Mödden, Claudia; Eling, Paul; Hildebrandt, Helmut

2018-04-26

To show the effectiveness of a combined recognition and working memory training on everyday memory performance in patients suffering from organic memory disorders. In this double-blind, randomized controlled Study 36 patients with organic memory impairments, mainly attributable to stroke, were assigned to either the experimental or the active control group. In the experimental group a working memory training was combined with a recollection training based on the repetition-lag procedure. Patients in the active control group received the memory therapy usually provided in the rehabilitation center. Both groups received nine hours of therapy. Prior (T0) and subsequent (T1) to the therapy, patients were evaluated on an everyday memory test (EMT) as well as on a neuropsychological test battery. Based on factor analysis of the neuropsychological test scores at T0 we calculated composite scores for working memory, verbal learning and word fluency. After treatment, the intervention group showed a significantly greater improvement for WM performance compared with the active control group. More importantly, performance on the EMT also improved significantly in patients receiving the recollection and working memory training compared with patients with standard memory training. Our results show that combining working memory and recollection training significantly improves performance on everyday memory tasks, demonstrating far transfer effects. The present study argues in favor of a process-based approach for treating memory impairments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

The Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Val66Met Polymorphism Moderates an Effect of Physical Activity on Working Memory Performance

PubMed Central

Erickson, Kirk I.; Banducci, Sarah E.; Weinstein, Andrea M.; MacDonald, Angus W.; Ferrell, Robert E.; Halder, Indrani; Flory, Janine D.; Manuck, Stephen B.

2014-01-01

Physical activity enhances cognitive performance, yet individual variability in its effectiveness limits its widespread therapeutic application. Genetic differences might be one source of this variation. For example, carriers of the methionine-specifying (Met) allele of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) Val66Met polymorphism have reduced secretion of BDNF and poorer memory, yet physical activity increases BDNF levels. To determine whether the BDNF polymorphism moderated an association of physical activity with cognitive functioning among 1,032 midlife volunteers (mean age = 44.59 years), we evaluated participants’ performance on a battery of tests assessing memory, learning, and executive processes, and evaluated their physical activity with the Paffenbarger Physical Activity Questionnaire. BDNF genotype interacted robustly with physical activity to affect working memory, but not other areas of cognitive functioning. In particular, greater levels of physical activity offset a deleterious effect of the Met allele on working memory performance. These findings suggest that physical activity can modulate domain-specific genetic (BDNF) effects on cognition. PMID:23907543

Age-related decline in verbal learning is moderated by demographic factors, working memory capacity, and presence of amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

PubMed

Constantinidou, Fofi; Zaganas, Ioannis; Papastefanakis, Emmanouil; Kasselimis, Dimitrios; Nidos, Andreas; Simos, Panagiotis G

2014-09-01

Age-related memory changes are highly varied and heterogeneous. The study examined the rate of decline in verbal episodic memory as a function of education level, auditory attention span and verbal working memory capacity, and diagnosis of amnestic mild cognitive impairment (a-MCI). Data were available on a community sample of 653 adults aged 17-86 years and 70 patients with a-MCI recruited from eight broad geographic areas in Greece and Cyprus. Measures of auditory attention span and working memory capacity (digits forward and backward) and verbal episodic memory (Auditory Verbal Learning Test [AVLT]) were used. Moderated mediation regressions on data from the community sample did not reveal significant effects of education level on the rate of age-related decline in AVLT indices. The presence of a-MCI was a significant moderator of the direct effect of Age on both immediate and delayed episodic memory indices. The rate of age-related decline in verbal episodic memory is normally mediated by working memory capacity. Moreover, in persons who display poor episodic memory capacity (a-MCI group), age-related memory decline is expected to advance more rapidly for those who also display relatively poor verbal working memory capacity.

Do the contents of working memory capture attention? Yes, but cognitive control matters.

PubMed

Han, Suk Won; Kim, Min-Shik

2009-10-01

There has been a controversy on whether working memory can guide attentional selection. Some researchers have reported that the contents of working memory guide attention automatically in visual search (D. Soto, D. Heinke, G. W. Humphreys, & M. J. Blanco, 2005). On the other hand, G.F. Woodman and S. J. Luck (2007) reported that they could not find any evidence of attentional capture by working memory. In the present study, we tried to find an integrative explanation for the different sets of results. We report evidence for attentional capture by working memory, but this effect was eliminated when search was perceptually demanding or the onset of the search was delayed long enough for cognitive control of search to be implemented under particular conditions. We suggest that perceptual difficulty and the time course of cognitive control as important factors that determine when information in working memory influences attention. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved.

BDNF and TNF-α polymorphisms in memory.

PubMed

Yogeetha, B S; Haupt, L M; McKenzie, K; Sutherland, H G; Okolicsyani, R K; Lea, R A; Maher, B H; Chan, R C K; Shum, D H K; Griffiths, L R

2013-09-01

Here, we investigate the genetic basis of human memory in healthy individuals and the potential role of two polymorphisms, previously implicated in memory function. We have explored aspects of retrospective and prospective memory including semantic, short term, working and long-term memory in conjunction with brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α). The memory scores for healthy individuals in the population were obtained for each memory type and the population was genotyped via restriction fragment length polymorphism for the BDNF rs6265 (Val66Met) SNP and via pyrosequencing for the TNF-α rs113325588 SNP. Using univariate ANOVA, a significant association of the BDNF polymorphism with visual and spatial memory retention and a significant association of the TNF-α polymorphism was observed with spatial memory retention. In addition, a significant interactive effect between BDNF and TNF-α polymorphisms was observed in spatial memory retention. In practice visual memory involves spatial information and the two memory systems work together, however our data demonstrate that individuals with the Val/Val BDNF genotype have poorer visual memory but higher spatial memory retention, indicating a level of interaction between TNF-α and BDNF in spatial memory retention. This is the first study to use genetic analysis to determine the interaction between BDNF and TNF-α in relation to memory in normal adults and provides important information regarding the effect of genetic determinants and gene interactions on human memory.

HPA Axis Function Alters Development of Working Memory in Boys with FXS

PubMed Central

Scherr, Jessica F.; Hahn, Laura J.; Hooper, Stephen R.; Hatton, Deborah; Roberts, Jane E.

2016-01-01

The present study examines verbal working memory over time in boys with fragile X syndrome (FXS) compared to nonverbal mental-age (NVMA) matched, typically developing (TD) boys. Concomitantly, the relationship between cortisol—a physiological marker for stress—and verbal working memory performance over time is examined to understand the role of physiological mechanisms in cognitive development in FXS. Participants were assessed between one and three times over a 2-year time frame using two verbal working memory tests that differ in complexity: memory for words and auditory working memory with salivary cortisol collected at the beginning and end of each assessment. Multilevel modeling results indicate specific deficits over time on the memory for words task in boys with FXS compared to TD controls that is exacerbated by elevated baseline cortisol. Similar increasing rates of growth over time were observed for boys with FXS and TD controls on the more complex auditory working memory task, but only boys with FXS displayed an association of increased baseline cortisol and lower performance. This study highlights the benefit of investigations of how dynamic biological and cognitive factors interact and influence cognitive development over time. PMID:26760450

Effects of gender and executive function on visuospatial working memory in adult obsessive-compulsive disorder.

PubMed

Martoni, Riccardo Maria; Salgari, Giulia; Galimberti, Elisa; Cavallini, Maria Cristina; O'Neill, Joseph

2015-12-01

Visuospatial working memory (VSWM) is the ability of the brain to transiently store and manipulate visual information. VSWM deficiencies have been reported in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), but not consistently, perhaps due to variability in task design and clinical patient factors. To explore this variability, this study assessed effects of the design factors task difficulty and executive organizational strategy and of the clinical factors gender, OCD symptom dimension, and duration of illness on VSWM in OCD. The CANTAB spatial working memory, spatial recognition memory, delayed matching to sample, and stop signal tasks were administered to 42 adult OCD patients and 42 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Aims were to detect a possible VSWM deficit in the OCD sample, to evaluate influences of the above task and patient factors, to determine the specificity of the deficit to the visuospatial subdomain, and to examine effects of sustained attention as potential neurocognitive confound. We confirmed previous findings of a VSWM deficit in OCD that was more severe for greater memory load (task difficulty) and that was affected by task strategy (executive function). We failed to demonstrate significant deficits in neighboring or confounding neurocognitive subdomains (visual object recognition or visual object short-term memory, sustained attention). Notably, the VSWM deficit was only significant for female patients, adding to evidence for sexual dimorphism in OCD. Again as in prior work, more severe OCD symptoms in the symmetry dimension (but no other dimension) significantly negatively impacted VSWM. Duration of illness had no significant effect on VSWM. VSWM deficits in OCD appear more severe with higher task load and may be mediated through poor task strategy. Such deficits may present mainly in female patients and in (male and female) patients with symmetry symptoms.

Working memory capacity and addiction treatment outcomes in adolescents.

PubMed

Houck, Jon M; Feldstein Ewing, Sarah W

2018-01-01

Brief addiction treatments including motivational interviewing (MI) have shown promise with adolescents, but the factors that influence treatment efficacy in this population remain unknown. One candidate is working memory, the ability to hold a fact or thought in mind. This is relevant, as in therapy, a client must maintain and manipulate ideas while working with a clinician. Working memory depends upon brain structures and functions that change markedly during neurodevelopment and that can be negatively impacted by substance use. In a secondary analysis of data from a clinical trial for adolescent substance use comparing alcohol/marijuana education and MI, we evaluated the relationship between working memory and three-month treatment-outcomes with the hypothesis that the relationship between intervention conditions and outcome would be moderated by working memory. With a diverse sample of adolescents currently using alcohol and/or marijuana (N = 153, 64.7% male, 70.6% Hispanic), we examined the relationship between baseline measures of working memory and alcohol and cannabis-related problem scores measured at the three-month follow-up. The results showed that lower working memory scores were associated with poorer treatment response only for alcohol use, and only within the education group. No relationship was found between working memory and treatment outcomes in the MI group. The results suggest that issues with working memory capacity may interfere with adolescents' ability to process and implement didactic alcohol and marijuana content in standard education interventions. These results also suggest that MI can be implemented equally effectively across the range of working memory functioning in youth.

Long-term effect of early-life stress from earthquake exposure on working memory in adulthood.

PubMed

Li, Na; Wang, Yumei; Zhao, Xiaochuan; Gao, Yuanyuan; Song, Mei; Yu, Lulu; Wang, Lan; Li, Ning; Chen, Qianqian; Li, Yunpeng; Cai, Jiajia; Wang, Xueyi

2015-01-01

The present study aimed to investigate the long-term effect of 1976 Tangshan earthquake exposure in early life on performance of working memory in adulthood. A total of 907 study subjects born and raised in Tangshan were enrolled in this study. They were divided into three groups according to the dates of birth: infant exposure (3-12 months, n=274), prenatal exposure (n=269), and no exposure (born at least 1 year after the earthquake, n=364). The prenatal group was further divided into first, second, and third trimester subgroups based on the timing of exposure during pregnancy. Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised and Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised (BVMT-R) were used to measure the performance of working memory. Unconditional logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the influential factors for impaired working memory. The Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised scores did not show significant difference across the three groups. Compared with no exposure group, the BVMT-R scores were slightly lower in the prenatal exposure group and markedly decreased in the infant exposure group. When the BVMT-R scores were analyzed in three subgroups, the results showed that the subjects whose mothers were exposed to earthquake in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy had significantly lower BVMT-R scores compared with those in the first trimester. Education level and early-life earthquake exposure were identified as independent risk factors for reduced performance of visuospatial memory indicated by lower BVMT-R scores. Infant exposure to earthquake-related stress impairs visuospatial memory in adulthood. Fetuses in the middle and late stages of development are more vulnerable to stress-induced damage that consequently results in impaired visuospatial memory. Education and early-life trauma can also influence the performance of working memory in adulthood.

How do verbal short-term memory and working memory relate to the acquisition of vocabulary and grammar? A comparison between first and second language learners.

PubMed

Verhagen, Josje; Leseman, Paul

2016-01-01

Previous studies show that verbal short-term memory (VSTM) is related to vocabulary learning, whereas verbal working memory (VWM) is related to grammar learning in children learning a second language (L2) in the classroom. In this study, we investigated whether the same relationships apply to children learning an L2 in a naturalistic setting and to monolingual children. We also investigated whether relationships with verbal memory differ depending on the type of grammar skill investigated (i.e., morphology vs. syntax). Participants were 63 Turkish children who learned Dutch as an L2 and 45 Dutch monolingual children (mean age = 5 years). Children completed a series of VSTM and VWM tasks, a Dutch vocabulary task, and a Dutch grammar task. A confirmatory factor analysis showed that VSTM and VWM represented two separate latent factors in both groups. Structural equation modeling showed that VSTM, treated as a latent factor, significantly predicted vocabulary and grammar. VWM, treated as a latent factor, predicted only grammar. Both memory factors were significantly related to the acquisition of morphology and syntax. There were no differences between the two groups. These results show that (a) VSTM and VWM are differentially associated with language learning and (b) the same memory mechanisms are employed for learning vocabulary and grammar in L1 children and in L2 children who learn their L2 naturalistically. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effects of children's working memory capacity and processing speed on their sentence imitation performance.

PubMed

Poll, Gerard H; Miller, Carol A; Mainela-Arnold, Elina; Adams, Katharine Donnelly; Misra, Maya; Park, Ji Sook

2013-01-01

More limited working memory capacity and slower processing for language and cognitive tasks are characteristics of many children with language difficulties. Individual differences in processing speed have not consistently been found to predict language ability or severity of language impairment. There are conflicting views on whether working memory and processing speed are integrated or separable abilities. To evaluate four models for the relations of individual differences in children's processing speed and working memory capacity in sentence imitation. The models considered whether working memory and processing speed are integrated or separable, as well as the effect of the number of operations required per sentence. The role of working memory as a mediator of the effect of processing speed on sentence imitation was also evaluated. Forty-six children with varied language and reading abilities imitated sentences. Working memory was measured with the Competing Language Processing Task (CLPT), and processing speed was measured with a composite of truth-value judgment and rapid automatized naming tasks. Mixed-effects ordinal regression models evaluated the CLPT and processing speed as predictors of sentence imitation item scores. A single mediator model evaluated working memory as a mediator of the effect of processing speed on sentence imitation total scores. Working memory was a reliable predictor of sentence imitation accuracy, but processing speed predicted sentence imitation only as a component of a processing speed by number of operations interaction. Processing speed predicted working memory capacity, and there was evidence that working memory acted as a mediator of the effect of processing speed on sentence imitation accuracy. The findings support a refined view of working memory and processing speed as separable factors in children's sentence imitation performance. Processing speed does not independently explain sentence imitation accuracy for all sentence types, but contributes when the task requires more mental operations. Processing speed also has an indirect effect on sentence imitation by contributing to working memory capacity. © 2013 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

Creativity and working memory capacity in sports: working memory capacity is not a limiting factor in creative decision making amongst skilled performers.

PubMed

Furley, Philip; Memmert, Daniel

2015-01-01

The goal of the study was to investigate the relationship between domain-general working memory capacity and domain-specific creativity amongst experienced soccer players. We administered the automated operation span task in combination with a domain-specific soccer creativity task to a group of 61 experienced soccer players to address the question whether an athlete's domain-specific creativity is restricted by their domain-general cognitive abilities (i.e., working memory capacity). Given that previous studies have either found a positive correlation, a negative correlation, or no correlation between working memory capacity and creativity, we analyzed the data in an exploratory manner by following recent recommendations to report effect-size estimations and their precision in form of 95% confidence intervals. The pattern of results provided evidence that domain-general working memory capacity is not associated with creativity in a soccer-specific creativity task. This pattern of results suggests that future research and theorizing on the role of working memory in everyday creative performance needs to distinguish between different types of creative performance while also taking the role of domain-specific experience into account.

The effects of working memory resource depletion and training on sensorimotor adaptation

PubMed Central

Anguera, Joaquin A.; Bernard, Jessica A.; Jaeggi, Susanne M.; Buschkuehl, Martin; Benson, Bryan L.; Jennett, Sarah; Humfleet, Jennifer; Reuter-Lorenz, Patricia; Jonides, John; Seidler, Rachael D.

2011-01-01

We have recently demonstrated that visuospatial working memory performance predicts the rate of motor skill learning, particularly during the early phase of visuomotor adaptation. Here, we follow up these correlational findings with direct manipulations of working memory resources to determine the impact on visuomotor adaptation, a form of motor learning. We conducted two separate experiments. In the first one, we used a resource depletion strategy to investigate whether the rate of early visuomotor adaptation would be negatively affected by fatigue of spatial working memory resources. In the second study, we employed a dual n-back task training paradigm that has been shown to result in transfer effects [1] over five weeks to determine whether training-related improvements would boost the rate of early visuomotor adaptation. The depletion of spatial working memory resources negatively affected the rate of early visuomotor adaptation. However, enhancing working memory capacity via training did not lead to improved rates of visuomotor adaptation, suggesting that working memory capacity may not be the factor limiting maximal rate of visuomotor adaptation in young adults. These findings are discussed from a resource limitation / capacity framework with respect to current views of motor learning. PMID:22155489

Creativity and working memory capacity in sports: working memory capacity is not a limiting factor in creative decision making amongst skilled performers

PubMed Central

Furley, Philip; Memmert, Daniel

2015-01-01

The goal of the study was to investigate the relationship between domain-general working memory capacity and domain-specific creativity amongst experienced soccer players. We administered the automated operation span task in combination with a domain-specific soccer creativity task to a group of 61 experienced soccer players to address the question whether an athlete’s domain-specific creativity is restricted by their domain-general cognitive abilities (i.e., working memory capacity). Given that previous studies have either found a positive correlation, a negative correlation, or no correlation between working memory capacity and creativity, we analyzed the data in an exploratory manner by following recent recommendations to report effect-size estimations and their precision in form of 95% confidence intervals. The pattern of results provided evidence that domain-general working memory capacity is not associated with creativity in a soccer-specific creativity task. This pattern of results suggests that future research and theorizing on the role of working memory in everyday creative performance needs to distinguish between different types of creative performance while also taking the role of domain-specific experience into account. PMID:25713552

Insight, social knowledge and working memory in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Upthegrove, Rachel; Oyebode, Femi; George, Mohan; Haque, M Sayeed

2002-01-01

There is evidence that insight and social judgements are impaired in schizophrenia. The influence of these factors on the decision to treat compulsorily in schizophrenia is poorly understood. To investigate the contribution of insight, social knowledge, and working memory to the determination to treat coercively in schizophrenia. Insight rating scale, social knowledge questionnaire and working memory tests were administered to detained patients with schizophrenia. Results were compared with those of a control group of voluntary in-patients with schizophrenia. Detained patients scored worse on insight and social knowledge, yet there was no significant correlation between these scores. There was no significant difference in severity of psychopathology between the experimental and control groups. Results for working memory were inconclusive. Insight and social knowledge are significantly, but independently, associated with the determination to treat coercively in schizophrenia. This suggests that insight and social knowledge are distinct skills. The contribution of working memory remains unclear. Copyright 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel

Working memory overload: fronto-limbic interactions and effects on subsequent working memory function.

PubMed

Yun, Richard J; Krystal, John H; Mathalon, Daniel H

2010-03-01

The human working memory system provides an experimentally useful model for examination of neural overload effects on subsequent functioning of the overloaded system. This study employed functional magnetic resonance imaging in conjunction with a parametric working memory task to characterize the behavioral and neural effects of cognitive overload on subsequent cognitive performance, with particular attention to cognitive-limbic interactions. Overloading the working memory system was associated with varying degrees of subsequent decline in performance accuracy and reduced activation of brain regions central to both task performance and suppression of negative affect. The degree of performance decline was independently predicted by three separate factors operating during the overload condition: the degree of task failure, the degree of amygdala activation, and the degree of inverse coupling between the amygdala and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. These findings suggest that vulnerability to overload effects in cognitive functioning may be mediated by reduced amygdala suppression and subsequent amygdala-prefrontal interaction.

The Role of Working Memory in Metaphor Production and Comprehension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chiappe, Dan L.; Chiappe, Penny

2007-01-01

The following tested Kintsch's [Kintsch, W. (2000). "Metaphor comprehension: a computational theory." "Psychonomic Bulletin & Review," 7, 257-266 and Kintsch, W. (2001). "Predication." "Cognitive Science," 25, 173-202] Predication Model, which predicts that working memory capacity is an important factor in metaphor processing. In support of his…

Evaluating the developmental trajectory of the episodic buffer component of working memory and its relation to word recognition in children.

PubMed

Wang, Shinmin; Allen, Richard J; Lee, Jun Ren; Hsieh, Chia-En

2015-05-01

The creation of temporary bound representation of information from different sources is one of the key abilities attributed to the episodic buffer component of working memory. Whereas the role of working memory in word learning has received substantial attention, very little is known about the link between the development of word recognition skills and the ability to bind information in the episodic buffer of working memory and how it may develop with age. This study examined the performance of Grade 2 children (8 years old), Grade 3 children (9 years old), and young adults on a task designed to measure their ability to bind visual and auditory-verbal information in working memory. Children's performance on this task significantly correlated with their word recognition skills even when chronological age, memory for individual elements, and other possible reading-related factors were taken into account. In addition, clear developmental trajectories were observed, with improvements in the ability to hold temporary bound information in working memory between Grades 2 and 3, and between the child and adult groups, that were independent from memory for the individual elements. These findings suggest that the capacity to temporarily bind novel auditory-verbal information to visual form in working memory is linked to the development of word recognition in children and improves with age. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Syntactic Structural Assignment in Brazilian Portuguese-Speaking Children With Specific Language Impairment

PubMed Central

Fortunato-Tavares, Talita; de Andrade, Claudia R. F.; Befi-Lopes, Debora M.; Hestvik, Arild; Epstein, Baila; Tornyova, Lidiya; Schwartz, Richard G.

2013-01-01

Purpose In this study, the authors examined the comprehension of sentences with predicates and reflexives that are linked to a nonadjacent noun as a test of the hierarchical ordering deficit (HOD) hypothesis. That hypothesis and more modern versions posit that children with specific language impairment (SLI) have difficulty in establishing nonadjacent (hierarchical) relations among elements of a sentence. The authors also tested whether additional working memory demands in constructions containing reflexives affected the extent to which children with SLI incorrectly structure sentences as indicated by their picture-pointing comprehension responses. Method Sixteen Brazilian Portuguese-speaking children (8;4–l 0;6 [years;months]) with SLI and 16 children with typical language development (TLD) matched for age (±3 months), gender, and socioeconomic status participated in 2 experiments (predicate and reflexive interpretation). In the reflexive experiment, the authors also manipulated working memory demands. Each experiment involved a 4-choice picture selection sentence comprehension task. Results Children with SLI were significantly less accurate on all conditions. Both groups made more hierarchical syntactic construction errors in the long working memory condition than in the short working memory condition. Conclusion The HOD hypothesis was not confirmed. For both groups, syntactic factors (structural assignment) were more vulnerable than lexical factors (prepositions) to working memory effects in sentence miscomprehension. PMID:22232402

Verbal fluency in male and female schizophrenia patients: Different patterns of association with processing speed, working memory span, and clinical symptoms.

PubMed

Brébion, Gildas; Stephan-Otto, Christian; Ochoa, Susana; Nieto, Lourdes; Contel, Montserrat; Usall, Judith

2018-01-01

Decreased processing speed in schizophrenia patients has been identified as a major impairment factor in various neuropsychological domains. Working memory span has been found to be involved in several deep or effortful cognitive processes. We investigated the impact that these 2 cognitive functions may have on phonological and semantic fluency in schizophrenia patients and healthy participants. Fifty-five patients with schizophrenia and 60 healthy participants were administered a neuropsychological battery including phonological and semantic fluency, working memory, and cognitive and motor speed. Regression analyses revealed that motor speed was related to phonological fluency in female patients, whereas cognitive speed was related to semantic fluency in male patients. In addition, working memory span was related to verbal fluency in women from both the patient and the healthy control groups. Decreased processing speed, but not decreased working memory span, accounted for the verbal fluency deficit in patients. Verbal fluency was inversely related to attention deficit in female patients and to negative symptoms in male patients. Decreased processing speed may be the main factor in verbal fluency impairment of patients. Further, the cognitive and clinical predictors of verbal fluency efficiency are different in men and women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Cognitive and Emotional Factors in Children with Mathematical Learning Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Passolunghi, Maria Chiara

2011-01-01

Emotional and cognitive factors were examined in 18 children with mathematical learning disabilities (MLD), compared with 18 normally achieving children, matched for chronological age, school level, gender and verbal IQ. Working memory, short-term memory, inhibitory processes, speed of processing and level of anxiety in mathematics were assessed…

Does the home environment and the sex of the child modify the adverse effects of prenatal exposure to chlorpyrifos on child working memory?

PubMed Central

Horton, Megan K.; Kahn, Linda G.; Perera, Frederica; Barr, Dana Boyd; Rauh, Virginia

2013-01-01

Prenatal exposure to chlorpyrifos (CPF), an organophosphorus insecticide, has long been associated with delayed neurocognitive development and most recently with decrements in working memory at age 7. In the current paper, we expanded the previous work on CPF to investigate how additional biological and social environmental factors might create or explain differential neurodevelopmental susceptibility, focusing on main and moderating effects of the quality of the home environment (HOME) and child sex. We evaluate how the quality of the home environment (specifically, parental nurturance and environmental stimulation) and child sex interact with the adverse effects of prenatal CPF exposure on working memory at child age 7 years. We did not observe a remediating effect of a high quality home environment (either parental nurturance or environmental stimulation) on the adverse effects of prenatal CPF exposure on working memory. However, we detected a borderline significant interaction between prenatal exposure to CPF and child sex (B (95% CI) for interaction term = −1.714 (−3.753 to 0.326)) suggesting males experience a greater decrement in working memory than females following prenatal CPF exposure. In addition, we detected a borderline interaction between parental nurturance and child sex (B (95% CI) for interaction term = 1.490 (−0.518 to 3.499)) suggesting that, in terms of working memory, males benefit more from a nurturing environment than females. To our knowledge, this is the first investigation into factors that may inform an intervention strategy to reduce or reverse the cognitive deficits resulting from prenatal CPF exposure. PMID:22824009

Structure and validity of sluggish cognitive tempo using an expanded item pool in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

PubMed

McBurnett, Keith; Villodas, Miguel; Burns, G Leonard; Hinshaw, Stephen P; Beaulieu, Allyson; Pfiffner, Linda J

2014-01-01

We evaluated the latent structure and validity of an expanded pool of Sluggish Cognitive Tempo (SCT) items. An experimental rating scale with 44 candidate SCT items was administered to parents and teachers of 165 children in grades 2-5 (ages 7-11) recruited for a randomized clinical trial of a psychosocial intervention for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Predominantly Inattentive Type. Exploratory factor analyses (EFA) were used to extract items with high loadings (>0.59) on primary factors of SCT and low cross-loadings (0.30 or lower) on other SCT factors and on the Inattention factor of ADHD. Items were required to meet these criteria for both informants. This procedure reduced the pool to 15 items. Generally, items representing slowness and low initiative failed these criteria. SCT factors (termed Daydreaming, Working Memory Problems, and Sleepy/Tired) showed good convergent and discriminant validity in EFA and in a confirmatory model with ADHD factors. Simultaneous regressions of impairment and comorbidity on SCT and ADHD factors found that Daydreams was associated with global impairment, and Sleepy/Tired was associated with organizational problems and depression ratings, across both informants. For teachers, Daydreams also predicted ODD (inversely); Sleepy/Tired also predicted poor academic behavior, low social skills, and problem social behavior; and Working Memory Problems predicted organizational problems and anxiety. When depression, rather than ADHD, was included among the predictors, the only SCT-related associations rendered insignificant were the teacher-reported associations of Daydreams with ODD; Working Memory Problems with anxiety, and Sleepy/Tired with poor social skills. SCT appears to be meaningfully associated with impairment, even when controlling for depression. Common behaviors resembling Working Memory problems may represent a previously undescribed factor of SCT.

Executive and Perceptual Distraction in Visual Working Memory

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

The contents of visual working memory are likely to reflect the influence of both executive control resources and information present in the environment. We investigated whether executive attention is critical in the ability to exclude unwanted stimuli by introducing concurrent potentially distracting irrelevant items to a visual working memory paradigm, and manipulating executive load using simple or more demanding secondary verbal tasks. Across 7 experiments varying in presentation format, timing, stimulus set, and distractor number, we observed clear disruptive effects of executive load and visual distraction, but relatively minimal evidence supporting an interactive relationship between these factors. These findings are in line with recent evidence using delay-based interference, and suggest that different forms of attentional selection operate relatively independently in visual working memory. PMID:28414499

The relationship between sustained inattentional blindness and working memory capacity.

PubMed

Beanland, Vanessa; Chan, Esther Hiu Chung

2016-04-01

Inattentional blindness, whereby observers fail to detect unexpected stimuli, has been robustly demonstrated in a range of situations. Originally research focused primarily on how stimulus characteristics and task demands affect inattentional blindness, but increasingly studies are exploring the influence of observer characteristics on the detection of unexpected stimuli. It has been proposed that individual differences in working memory capacity predict inattentional blindness, on the assumption that higher working memory capacity confers greater attentional capacity for processing unexpected stimuli. Unfortunately, empirical investigations of the association between inattentional blindness and working memory capacity have produced conflicting findings. To help clarify this relationship, we examined the relationship between inattentional blindness and working memory capacity in two samples (Ns = 195, 147) of young adults. We used three common variants of sustained inattentional blindness tasks, systematically manipulating the salience of the unexpected stimulus and primary task practice. Working memory capacity, measured by automated operation span (both Experiments 1 & 2) and N-back (Experiment 1 only) tasks, did not predict detection of the unexpected stimulus in any of the inattentional blindness tasks tested. Together with previous research, this undermines claims that there is a robust relationship between inattentional blindness and working memory capacity. Rather, it appears that any relationship between inattentional blindness and working memory is either too small to have practical significance or is moderated by other factors and consequently varies with attributes such as the sample characteristics within a given study.

Real-time fMRI training-induced changes in regional connectivity mediating verbal working memory behavioral performance.

PubMed

Shen, J; Zhang, G; Yao, L; Zhao, X

2015-03-19

Working memory refers to the ability to temporarily store and manipulate information that is necessary for complex cognition activities. Previous studies have demonstrated that working memory capacity can be improved by behavioral training, and brain activities in the frontal and parietal cortices and the connections between these regions are also altered by training. Our recent neurofeedback training has proven that the regulation of the left dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) activity using real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rtfMRI) can improve working memory performance. However, how working memory training promotes interaction between brain regions and whether this promotion correlates with performance improvement remain unclear. In this study, we employed structural equation modeling (SEM) to calculate the interactions between the regions within the working memory network during neurofeedback training. The results revealed that the direct effect of the frontoparietal connection in the left hemisphere was enhanced by the rtfMRI training. Specifically, the increase in the path from the left DLPFC to the left inferior parietal lobule (IPL) was positively correlated with improved performance in verbal working memory. These findings demonstrate the important role of the frontoparietal connection in working memory training and suggest that increases in frontoparietal connectivity might be a key factor associated with behavioral improvement. Copyright © 2015 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Attitudes and learning difficulties in middle school science in South Korea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jung, Eun Sook

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between cognitive and attitudinal aspects of learning science, concentrating mainly on the influence of cognitive understanding and learning difficulty on attitudes to science. This theme is selected, in particular, because it is reported that Korean students at secondary level do not enjoy studying science and have not enough confidence, although their achievements are high. Johnstone's information processing model (1993) is used to account for cognitive aspects of science education. Learning processes are understood in terms of student's own knowledge construction through the operation of perception filters, processing in working memory space and storing in long term memory. In particular, the overload of student's working memory space is considered as the main factor causing learning difficulty and, in consequence, learning failure. The research took place in one middle school located in Seoul, the capital city in South Korea. 364 students aged 13 and 350 aged 15 participated. In order to try to find relationships between cognitive and affective factors of science learning, individual student's working memory space was measured and a questionnaire designed to gather information about students' attitudes was prepared and given to all students. To determine the working memory space capacity of the students, the Figural Intersection Test (F.I.T), designed by Pascual-Leone, was used. Two kinds of analysis, comparison and correlation, were performed with data from the Figural Intersection Test and the questionnaire applied to students. For the comparison of attitudes between age 13 and 15, the distributions of frequencies of responses were analyzed for each particular statement in a question. The Chi-square (?[2]) test was applied to judge the statistically significant differences in responses of the two groups. The levels of significance used were 0.05, 0.01 and 0.001. In order to see whether there is difference of opinions related to various aspects of learning science between age 13 and 15, and between high and middle and low working memory capacity groups, students responses were compared by just looking at the distribution of percentages without doing more statistics. Correlation coefficients were calculated to see if student's working memory capacity is linked with attitudes. As a result of data analyses from the working memory test and the questionnaire, it is seen that working memory space is related to some student attitudes towards science and their way of studying. Compared to students with high working memory capacity, students who have low working memory capacity are likely to lose their interest in science, feel science is difficult, and have low confidence about studying science. In addition, they tend to depend on memorization when they study science, consider science as a future career less, and are less motivated to study science by attitudinal factors such as "I really enjoy studying science", "Science is useful in my life". This exploratory study has suggested some important issues which need addressed in developing positive attitudes as well as encouraging meaningful learning.

Age-Related Differences in Recognition Memory for Items and Associations: Contribution of Individual Differences in Working Memory and Metamemory

PubMed Central

Bender, Andrew R.; Raz, Naftali

2012-01-01

Ability to form new associations between unrelated items is particularly sensitive to aging, but the reasons for such differential vulnerability are unclear. In this study, we examined the role of objective and subjective factors (working memory and beliefs about memory strategies) on differential relations of age with recognition of items and associations. Healthy adults (N = 100, age 21 to 79) studied word pairs, completed item and association recognition tests, and rated the effectiveness of shallow (e.g., repetition) and deep (e.g., imagery or sentence generation) encoding strategies. Advanced age was associated with reduced working memory (WM) capacity and poorer associative recognition. In addition, reduced WM capacity, beliefs in the utility of ineffective encoding strategies, and lack of endorsement of effective ones were independently associated with impaired associative memory. Thus, maladaptive beliefs about memory in conjunction with reduced cognitive resources account in part for differences in associative memory commonly attributed to aging. PMID:22251381

Attention and memory evaluation across the life span: heterogeneous effects of age and education.

PubMed

Gómez-Pérez, Esther; Ostrosky-Solís, Feggy

2006-05-01

The developmental sequences of attention and memory were studied by utilizing normative data derived from the neuropsychological battery named NEUROPSI ATTENTION AND MEMORY. A sample of 521 Spanish-speaking individuals, aged 6 to 85 years, participated in this study. In the adult sample, educational level ranged from 0 to 22 years of education. Data from subtests measuring orientation, attention and concentration, executive functions, working memory, immediate and delayed verbal memory, and immediate and delayed visual memory were included. The factor structure of the analyzed battery is presented. The effects of age and education on this structure were analyzed. Results suggested that although attention and memory are related, their developmental sequences are separated from one another. During childhood, the development of selective and sustained attention, attentional-working memory, and executive functions showed a fast improvement in performance. Development of verbal memory and place and person orientation showed a slower increment in scores. In the adult sample it was found that factors related to memory are sensitive to age, whereas those related to attention and executive functions are sensitive to education. The consideration of both the developmental sequence, as well as differential effects of education, can improve the sensitivity and specificity of neuropsychological measures, allowing early diagnosis of cognitive dysfunction and implementation of adequate rehabilitation programs.

Limited Near and Far Transfer Effects of Jungle Memory Working Memory Training on Learning Mathematics in Children with Attentional and Mathematical Difficulties.

PubMed

Nelwan, Michel; Kroesbergen, Evelyn H

2016-01-01

The goal of this randomized controlled trial was to investigate whether Jungle Memory working memory training (JM) affects performance on working memory tasks, performance in mathematics and gains made on a mathematics training (MT) in school aged children between 9-12 years old ( N = 64) with both difficulties in mathematics, as well as attention and working memory. Children were randomly assigned to three groups and were trained in two periods: (1) JM first, followed by MT, (2) MT first, followed by JM, and (3) a control group that received MT only. Bayesian analyses showed possible short term effects of JM on near transfer measures of verbal working memory, but none on visual working memory. Furthermore, support was found for the hypothesis that children that received JM first, performed better after MT than children who did not follow JM first or did not train with JM at all. However, these effects could be explained at least partly by frequency of training effects, possibly due to motivational issues, and training-specific factors. Furthermore, it remains unclear whether the effects found on improving mathematics were actually mediated by gains in working memory. It is argued that JM might not train the components of working memory involved in mathematics sufficiently. Another possible explanation can be found in the training's lack of adaptivity, therefore failing to provide the children with tailored instruction and feedback. Finally, it was hypothesized that, since effect sizes are generally small, training effects are bound to a critical period in development.

Limited Near and Far Transfer Effects of Jungle Memory Working Memory Training on Learning Mathematics in Children with Attentional and Mathematical Difficulties

PubMed Central

Nelwan, Michel; Kroesbergen, Evelyn H.

2016-01-01

The goal of this randomized controlled trial was to investigate whether Jungle Memory working memory training (JM) affects performance on working memory tasks, performance in mathematics and gains made on a mathematics training (MT) in school aged children between 9–12 years old (N = 64) with both difficulties in mathematics, as well as attention and working memory. Children were randomly assigned to three groups and were trained in two periods: (1) JM first, followed by MT, (2) MT first, followed by JM, and (3) a control group that received MT only. Bayesian analyses showed possible short term effects of JM on near transfer measures of verbal working memory, but none on visual working memory. Furthermore, support was found for the hypothesis that children that received JM first, performed better after MT than children who did not follow JM first or did not train with JM at all. However, these effects could be explained at least partly by frequency of training effects, possibly due to motivational issues, and training-specific factors. Furthermore, it remains unclear whether the effects found on improving mathematics were actually mediated by gains in working memory. It is argued that JM might not train the components of working memory involved in mathematics sufficiently. Another possible explanation can be found in the training’s lack of adaptivity, therefore failing to provide the children with tailored instruction and feedback. Finally, it was hypothesized that, since effect sizes are generally small, training effects are bound to a critical period in development. PMID:27708595

Cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) benefits more to patients with schizophrenia with low initial memory performances.

PubMed

Pillet, Benoit; Morvan, Yannick; Todd, Aurelia; Franck, Nicolas; Duboc, Chloé; Grosz, Aimé; Launay, Corinne; Demily, Caroline; Gaillard, Raphaël; Krebs, Marie-Odile; Amado, Isabelle

2015-01-01

Cognitive deficits in schizophrenia mainly affect memory, attention and executive functions. Cognitive remediation is a technique derived from neuropsychology, which aims to improve or compensate for these deficits. Working memory, verbal learning, and executive functions are crucial factors for functional outcome. Our purpose was to assess the impact of the cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) program on cognitive difficulties in patients with schizophrenia, especially on working memory, verbal memory, and cognitive flexibility. We collected data from clinical and neuropsychological assessments in 24 patients suffering from schizophrenia (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental Disorders-Fourth Edition, DSM-IV) who followed a 3-month (CRT) program. Verbal and visuo-spatial working memory, verbal memory, and cognitive flexibility were assessed before and after CRT. The Wilcoxon test showed significant improvements on the backward digit span, on the visual working memory span, on verbal memory and on flexibility. Cognitive improvement was substantial when baseline performance was low, independently from clinical benefit. CRT is effective on crucial cognitive domains and provides a huge benefit for patients having low baseline performance. Such cognitive amelioration appears highly promising for improving the outcome in cognitively impaired patients.

The Development of Verbal and Visual Working Memory Processes: A Latent Variable Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koppenol-Gonzalez, Gabriela V.; Bouwmeester, Samantha; Vermunt, Jeroen K.

2012-01-01

Working memory (WM) processing in children has been studied with different approaches, focusing on either the organizational structure of WM processing during development (factor analytic) or the influence of different task conditions on WM processing (experimental). The current study combined both approaches, aiming to distinguish verbal and…

Working Memory and Language: Skill-Specific or Domain-General Relations to Mathematics?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Purpura, David J.; Ganley, Colleen M.

2014-01-01

Children's early mathematics skills develop in a cumulative fashion; foundational skills form a basis for the acquisition of later skills. However, non-mathematical factors such as working memory and language skills have also been linked to mathematical development at a broad level. Unfortunately, little research has been conducted to evaluate the…

Motor Control and Nonword Repetition in Specific Working Memory Impairment and SLI

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Archibald, Lisa M. D.; Joanisse, Marc F.; Munson, Benjamin

2013-01-01

Purpose: Debate around the underlying cognitive factors leading to poor performance in the repetition of nonwords by children with developmental impairments in language has centered around phonological short-term memory, lexical knowledge, and other factors. This study examines the impact of motor control demands on nonword repetition in groups of…

Low working memory capacity is only spuriously related to poor reading comprehension.

PubMed

Van Dyke, Julie A; Johns, Clinton L; Kukona, Anuenue

2014-06-01

Accounts of comprehension failure, whether in the case of readers with poor skill or when syntactic complexity is high, have overwhelmingly implicated working memory capacity as the key causal factor. However, extant research suggests that this position is not well supported by evidence on the span of active memory during online sentence processing, nor is it well motivated by models that make explicit claims about the memory mechanisms that support language processing. The current study suggests that sensitivity to interference from similar items in memory may provide a better explanation of comprehension failure. Through administration of a comprehensive skill battery, we found that the previously observed association of working memory with comprehension is likely due to the collinearity of working memory with many other reading-related skills, especially IQ. In analyses which removed variance shared with IQ, we found that receptive vocabulary knowledge was the only significant predictor of comprehension performance in our task out of a battery of 24 skill measures. In addition, receptive vocabulary and non-verbal memory for serial order-but not simple verbal memory or working memory-were the only predictors of reading times in the region where interference had its primary affect. We interpret these results in light of a model that emphasizes retrieval interference and the quality of lexical representations as key determinants of successful comprehension. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Factor structure of the Norwegian version of the WAIS-III in a clinical sample: the arithmetic problem.

PubMed

Egeland, Jens; Bosnes, Ole; Johansen, Hans

2009-09-01

Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA) of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III (WAIS-III) lend partial support to the four-factor model proposed in the test manual. However, the Arithmetic subtest has been especially difficult to allocate to one factor. Using the new Norwegian WAIS-III version, we tested factor models differing in the number of factors and in the placement of the Arithmetic subtest in a mixed clinical sample (n = 272). Only the four-factor solutions had adequate goodness-of-fit values. Allowing Arithmetic to load on both the Verbal Comprehension and Working Memory factors provided a more parsimonious solution compared to considering the subtest only as a measure of Working Memory. Effects of education were particularly high for both the Verbal Comprehension tests and Arithmetic.

Does the home environment and the sex of the child modify the adverse effects of prenatal exposure to chlorpyrifos on child working memory?

PubMed

Horton, Megan K; Kahn, Linda G; Perera, Frederica; Barr, Dana Boyd; Rauh, Virginia

2012-01-01

Prenatal exposure to chlorpyrifos (CPF), an organophosphorus insecticide, has long been associated with delayed neurocognitive development and most recently with decrements in working memory at age 7. In the current paper, we expanded the previous work on CPF to investigate how additional biological and social environmental factors might create or explain differential neurodevelopmental susceptibility, focusing on main and moderating effects of the quality of the home environment (HOME) and child sex. We evaluate how the quality of the home environment (specifically, parental nurturance and environmental stimulation) and child sex interact with the adverse effects of prenatal CPF exposure on working memory at child age 7years. We did not observe a remediating effect of a high quality home environment (either parental nurturance or environmental stimulation) on the adverse effects of prenatal CPF exposure on working memory. However, we detected a borderline significant interaction between prenatal exposure to CPF and child sex (B (95% CI) for interaction term=-1.714 (-3.753 to 0.326)) suggesting males experience a greater decrement in working memory than females following prenatal CPF exposure. In addition, we detected a borderline interaction between parental nurturance and child sex (B (95% CI) for interaction term=1.490 (-0.518 to 3.499)) suggesting that, in terms of working memory, males benefit more from a nurturing environment than females. To our knowledge, this is the first investigation into factors that may inform an intervention strategy to reduce or reverse the cognitive deficits resulting from prenatal CPF exposure. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effects of emotional stimuli on working memory processes in male criminal offenders with borderline and antisocial personality disorder.

PubMed

Prehn, Kristin; Schulze, Lars; Rossmann, Sabine; Berger, Christoph; Vohs, Knut; Fleischer, Monika; Hauenstein, Karlheinz; Keiper, Peter; Domes, Gregor; Herpertz, Sabine C

2013-02-01

OBJECTIVE. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the influence of concurrently presented emotional stimuli on cognitive task processing in violent criminal offenders primarily characterized by affective instability. METHODS. Fifteen male criminal offenders with antisocial and borderline personality disorder (ASPD and BPD) and 17 healthy controls underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while performing a working memory task with low and high working memory load. In a second experimental run, to investigate the interaction of emotion and cognition, we presented emotionally neutral, low, or high salient social scenes in the background of the task. RESULTS. During the memory task without pictures, both groups did not differ in general task performance and neural representation of working memory processes. During the memory task with emotional background pictures, however, ASPD-BPD subjects compared to healthy controls showed delayed responses and enhanced activation of the left amygdala in the presence of emotionally high salient pictures independent of working memory load. CONCLUSIONS. These results illustrate an interaction of emotion and cognition in affective instable individuals with enhanced reactivity to emotionally salient stimuli which might be an important factor regarding the understanding of aggressive and violent behaviour in these individuals.

Intrahemispheric theta rhythm desynchronization impairs working memory.

PubMed

Alekseichuk, Ivan; Pabel, Stefanie Corinna; Antal, Andrea; Paulus, Walter

2017-01-01

There is a growing interest in large-scale connectivity as one of the crucial factors in working memory. Correlative evidence has revealed the anatomical and electrophysiological players in the working memory network, but understanding of the effective role of their connectivity remains elusive. In this double-blind, placebo-controlled study we aimed to identify the causal role of theta phase connectivity in visual-spatial working memory. The frontoparietal network was over- or de-synchronized in the anterior-posterior direction by multi-electrode, 6 Hz transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS). A decrease in memory performance and increase in reaction time was caused by frontoparietal intrahemispheric desynchronization. According to the diffusion drift model, this originated in a lower signal-to-noise ratio, known as the drift rate index, in the memory system. The EEG analysis revealed a corresponding decrease in phase connectivity between prefrontal and parietal areas after tACS-driven desynchronization. The over-synchronization did not result in any changes in either the behavioral or electrophysiological levels in healthy participants. Taken together, we demonstrate the feasibility of manipulating multi-site large-scale networks in humans, and the disruptive effect of frontoparietal desynchronization on theta phase connectivity and visual-spatial working memory.

Rapid Forgetting Results From Competition Over Time Between Items in Visual Working Memory

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Working memory is now established as a fundamental cognitive process across a range of species. Loss of information held in working memory has the potential to disrupt many aspects of cognitive function. However, despite its significance, the mechanisms underlying rapid forgetting remain unclear, with intense recent debate as to whether it is interference between stored items that leads to loss of information or simply temporal decay. Here we show that both factors are essential and interact in a highly specific manner. Although a single item can be maintained in memory with high fidelity, multiple items compete in working memory, progressively degrading each other’s representations as time passes. Specifically, interaction between items is associated with both worsening precision and increased reporting errors of object features over time. Importantly, during the period of maintenance, although items are no longer visible, maintenance resources can be selectively redeployed to protect the probability to recall the correct feature and the precision with which cued items can be recalled, as if it was the only item in memory. These findings reveal that the biased competition concept could be applied not only to perceptual processes but also to active maintenance of working memory representations over time. PMID:27668485

Parietal-Occipital Interactions Underlying Control- and Representation-Related Processes in Working Memory for Nonspatial Visual Features.

PubMed

Gosseries, Olivia; Yu, Qing; LaRocque, Joshua J; Starrett, Michael J; Rose, Nathan S; Cowan, Nelson; Postle, Bradley R

2018-05-02

Although the manipulation of load is popular in visual working memory research, many studies confound general attentional demands with context binding by drawing memoranda from the same stimulus category. In this fMRI study of human observers (both sexes), we created high- versus low-binding conditions, while holding load constant, by comparing trials requiring memory for the direction of motion of one random dot kinematogram (RDK; 1M trials) versus for three RDKs (3M), or versus one RDK and two color patches (1M2C). Memory precision was highest for 1M trials and comparable for 3M and 1M2C trials. And although delay-period activity in occipital cortex did not differ between the three conditions, returning to baseline for all three, multivariate pattern analysis decoding of a remembered RDK from occipital cortex was also highest for 1M trials and comparable for 3M and 1M2C trials. Delay-period activity in intraparietal sulcus (IPS), although elevated for all three conditions, displayed more sensitivity to demands on context binding than to load per se. The 1M-to-3M increase in IPS signal predicted the 1M-to-3M declines in both behavioral and neural estimates of working memory precision. These effects strengthened along a caudal-to-rostral gradient, from IPS0 to IPS5. Context binding-independent load sensitivity was observed when analyses were lateralized and extended into PFC, with trend-level effects evident in left IPS and strong effects in left lateral PFC. These findings illustrate how visual working memory capacity limitations arise from multiple factors that each recruit dissociable brain systems. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Visual working memory capacity predicts performance on a wide array of cognitive and real-world outcomes. At least two theoretically distinct factors are proposed to influence visual working memory capacity limitations: an amodal attentional resource that must be shared across remembered items; and the demands on context binding. We unconfounded these two factors by varying load with items drawn from the same stimulus category ("high demands on context binding") versus items drawn from different stimulus categories ("low demands on context binding"). The results provide evidence for the dissociability, and the neural bases, of these two theorized factors, and they specify that the functions of intraparietal sulcus may relate more strongly to the control of representations than to the general allocation of attention. Copyright © 2018 the authors 0270-6474/18/384357-10$15.00/0.

A functional promoter variant of the human formimidoyltransferase cyclodeaminase (FTCD) gene is associated with working memory performance in young but not older adults.

PubMed

Greenwood, Pamela M; Schmidt, Kevin; Lin, Ming-Kuan; Lipsky, Robert; Parasuraman, Raja; Jankord, Ryan

2018-06-21

The central role of working memory in IQ and the high heritability of working memory performance motivated interest in identifying the specific genes underlying this heritability. The FTCD (formimidoyltransferase cyclodeaminase) gene was identified as a candidate gene for allelic association with working memory in part from genetic mapping studies of mouse Morris water maze performance. The present study tested variants of this gene for effects on a delayed match-to-sample task of a large sample of younger and older participants. The rs914246 variant, but not the rs914245 variant, of the FTCD gene modulated accuracy in the task for younger, but not older, people under high working memory load. The interaction of haplotype × distance × load had a partial eta squared effect size of 0.015. Analysis of simple main effects had partial eta squared effect sizes ranging from 0.012 to 0.040. A reporter gene assay revealed that the C allele of the rs914246 genotype is functional and a main factor regulating FTCD gene expression. This study extends previous work on the genetics of working memory by revealing that a gene in the glutamatergic pathway modulates working memory in young people but not in older people. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Cognitive Risk Factors for Specific Learning Disorder: Processing Speed, Temporal Processing, and Working Memory.

PubMed

Moll, Kristina; Göbel, Silke M; Gooch, Debbie; Landerl, Karin; Snowling, Margaret J

2016-01-01

High comorbidity rates between reading disorder (RD) and mathematics disorder (MD) indicate that, although the cognitive core deficits underlying these disorders are distinct, additional domain-general risk factors might be shared between the disorders. Three domain-general cognitive abilities were investigated in children with RD and MD: processing speed, temporal processing, and working memory. Since attention problems frequently co-occur with learning disorders, the study examined whether these three factors, which are known to be associated with attention problems, account for the comorbidity between these disorders. The sample comprised 99 primary school children in four groups: children with RD, children with MD, children with both disorders (RD+MD), and typically developing children (TD controls). Measures of processing speed, temporal processing, and memory were analyzed in a series of ANCOVAs including attention ratings as covariate. All three risk factors were associated with poor attention. After controlling for attention, associations with RD and MD differed: Although deficits in verbal memory were associated with both RD and MD, reduced processing speed was related to RD, but not MD; and the association with RD was restricted to processing speed for familiar nameable symbols. In contrast, impairments in temporal processing and visuospatial memory were associated with MD, but not RD. © Hammill Institute on Disabilities 2014.

Memory as the "whole brain work": a large-scale model based on "oscillations in super-synergy".

PubMed

Başar, Erol

2005-01-01

According to recent trends, memory depends on several brain structures working in concert across many levels of neural organization; "memory is a constant work-in progress." The proposition of a brain theory based on super-synergy in neural populations is most pertinent for the understanding of this constant work in progress. This report introduces a new model on memory basing on the processes of EEG oscillations and Brain Dynamics. This model is shaped by the following conceptual and experimental steps: 1. The machineries of super-synergy in the whole brain are responsible for formation of sensory-cognitive percepts. 2. The expression "dynamic memory" is used for memory processes that evoke relevant changes in alpha, gamma, theta and delta activities. The concerted action of distributed multiple oscillatory processes provides a major key for understanding of distributed memory. It comprehends also the phyletic memory and reflexes. 3. The evolving memory, which incorporates reciprocal actions or reverberations in the APLR alliance and during working memory processes, is especially emphasized. 4. A new model related to "hierarchy of memories as a continuum" is introduced. 5. The notions of "longer activated memory" and "persistent memory" are proposed instead of long-term memory. 6. The new analysis to recognize faces emphasizes the importance of EEG oscillations in neurophysiology and Gestalt analysis. 7. The proposed basic framework called "Memory in the Whole Brain Work" emphasizes that memory and all brain functions are inseparable and are acting as a "whole" in the whole brain. 8. The role of genetic factors is fundamental in living system settings and oscillations and accordingly in memory, according to recent publications. 9. A link from the "whole brain" to "whole body," and incorporation of vegetative and neurological system, is proposed, EEG oscillations and ultraslow oscillations being a control parameter.

Anxiety and Depression in Academic Performance: An Exploration of the Mediating Factors of Worry and Working Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Owens, Matthew; Stevenson, Jim; Hadwin, Julie A.; Norgate, Roger

2012-01-01

Anxiety and depression are linked to lower academic performance. It is proposed that academic performance is reduced in young people with high levels of anxiety or depression as a function of increased test-specific worry that impinges on working memory central executive processes. Participants were typically developing children (12 to…

Knowledge Cannot Explain the Developmental Growth of Working Memory Capacity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cowan, Nelson; Ricker, Timothy J.; Clark, Katherine M.; Hinrichs, Garrett A.; Glass, Bret A.

2015-01-01

According to some views of cognitive growth, the development of working memory capacity can account for increases in the complexity of cognition. It has been difficult to ascertain, though, that there actually is developmental growth in capacity that cannot be attributed to other developing factors. Here we assess the role of item familiarity. We…

Working Memory in Children with Learning Disabilities in Reading versus Spelling: Searching for Overlapping and Specific Cognitive Factors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brandenburg, Janin; Klesczewski, Julia; Fischbach, Anne; Schuchardt, Kirsten; Büttner, Gerhard; Hasselhorn, Marcus

2015-01-01

In transparent orthographies like German, isolated learning disabilities in either reading or spelling are common and occur as often as a combined reading and spelling disability. However, most issues surrounding the cognitive causes of these isolated or combined literacy difficulties are yet unresolved. Recently, working memory dysfunctions have…

Working Memory and Intelligence Are Highly Related Constructs, but Why?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Colom, Roberto; Abad, Francisco J.; Quiroga, M. Angeles; Shih, Pei Chun; Flores-Mendoza, Carmen

2008-01-01

Working memory and the general factor of intelligence (g) are highly related constructs. However, we still don't know why. Some models support the central role of simple short-term storage, whereas others appeal to executive functions like the control of attention. Nevertheless, the available empirical evidence does not suffice to get an answer,…

The Coherence Formation Model of Illustrated Text Comprehension: A Path Model of Attention to Multimedia Text

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fitzhugh, Shannon Leigh

2012-01-01

The study reported here tests a model that includes several factors thought to contribute to the comprehension of static multimedia learning materials (i.e. background knowledge, working memory, attention to components as measured with eye movement measures). The model examines the effects of working memory capacity, domain specific (biology) and…

What Makes a Skilled Writer? Working Memory and Audience Awareness during Text Composition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alamargot, Denis; Caporossi, Gilles; Chesnet, David; Ros, Christine

2011-01-01

This study investigated the role of working memory capacity as a factor for individual differences in the ability to compose a text with communicative efficiency based on audience awareness. We analyzed its differential effects on the dynamics of the writing processes, as well as on the content of the finished product. Twenty-five graduate…

Interference Control, Working Memory Capacity, and Cognitive Abilities: A Latent Variable Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Unsworth, Nash

2010-01-01

The present study examined whether various indices of interference control were related to one another and to other cognitive abilities. It was found that the interference control measures were weakly correlated and could form a single factor that was related to overall memory performance on the tasks as well as to measures of working memory…

Factor Structure and Heritability of Endophenotypes in Schizophrenia: Findings from the Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia (COGS-1)

PubMed Central

Seidman, Larry J.; Hellemann, Gerhard; Nuechterlein, Keith H.; Greenwood, Tiffany A.; Braff, David L.; Cadenhead, Kristin S.; Calkins, Monica E.; Freedman, Robert; Gur, Raquel E.; Gur, Ruben C.; Lazzeroni, Laura C.; Light, Gregory A.; Olincy, Ann; Radant, Allen D.; Siever, Larry J.; Silverman, Jeremy M.; Sprock, Joyce; Stone, William S.; Sugar, Catherine; Swerdlow, Neal R.; Tsuang, Debby W.; Tsuang, Ming T.; Turetsky, Bruce I.; Green, Michael F.

2018-01-01

Background Although many endophenotypes for schizophrenia have been studied individually, few studies have examined the extent to which common neurocognitive and neurophysiological measures reflect shared versus unique endophenotypic factors. It may be possible to distill individual endophenotypes into composite measures that reflect dissociable, genetically informative elements. Methods The first phase of the Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia (COGS-1) is a multisite family study that collected neurocognitive and neurophysiological data between 2003–2008. For these analyses, participants included schizophrenia probands (n=83), their nonpsychotic siblings (n=151), and community comparison subjects (n=209) with complete data on a battery of 12 neurocognitive tests (assessing domains of working memory, declarative memory, vigilance, spatial ability, abstract reasoning, facial emotion processing, and motor speed) and 3 neurophysiological tasks reflecting inhibitory processing (P50 gating, prepulse inhibition and antisaccade tasks). Factor analyses were conducted on the measures for each subject group and across the entire sample. Heritability analyses of factors were performed using SOLAR. Results Analyses yielded 5 distinct factors: 1) Episodic Memory, 2) Working Memory, 3) Perceptual Vigilance, 4) Visual Abstraction, and 5) Inhibitory Processing. Neurophysiological measures had low associations with these factors. The factor structure of endophenotypes was largely comparable across probands, siblings and controls. Significant heritability estimates for the factors ranged from 22% (Episodic Memory) to 39% (Visual Abstraction). Conclusions Neurocognitive measures reflect a meaningful amount of shared variance whereas the neurophysiological measures reflect largely unique contributions as endophenotypes for schizophrenia. Composite endophenotype measures may inform our neurobiological and genetic understanding of schizophrenia. PMID:25682549

Factor structure and heritability of endophenotypes in schizophrenia: findings from the Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia (COGS-1).

PubMed

Seidman, Larry J; Hellemann, Gerhard; Nuechterlein, Keith H; Greenwood, Tiffany A; Braff, David L; Cadenhead, Kristin S; Calkins, Monica E; Freedman, Robert; Gur, Raquel E; Gur, Ruben C; Lazzeroni, Laura C; Light, Gregory A; Olincy, Ann; Radant, Allen D; Siever, Larry J; Silverman, Jeremy M; Sprock, Joyce; Stone, William S; Sugar, Catherine; Swerdlow, Neal R; Tsuang, Debby W; Tsuang, Ming T; Turetsky, Bruce I; Green, Michael F

2015-04-01

Although many endophenotypes for schizophrenia have been studied individually, few studies have examined the extent to which common neurocognitive and neurophysiological measures reflect shared versus unique endophenotypic factors. It may be possible to distill individual endophenotypes into composite measures that reflect dissociable, genetically informative elements. The first phase of the Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia (COGS-1) is a multisite family study that collected neurocognitive and neurophysiological data between 2003 and 2008. For these analyses, participants included schizophrenia probands (n=83), their nonpsychotic siblings (n=151), and community comparison subjects (n=209) with complete data on a battery of 12 neurocognitive tests (assessing domains of working memory, declarative memory, vigilance, spatial ability, abstract reasoning, facial emotion processing, and motor speed) and 3 neurophysiological tasks reflecting inhibitory processing (P50 gating, prepulse inhibition and antisaccade tasks). Factor analyses were conducted on the measures for each subject group and across the entire sample. Heritability analyses of factors were performed using SOLAR. Analyses yielded 5 distinct factors: 1) Episodic Memory, 2) Working Memory, 3) Perceptual Vigilance, 4) Visual Abstraction, and 5) Inhibitory Processing. Neurophysiological measures had low associations with these factors. The factor structure of endophenotypes was largely comparable across probands, siblings and controls. Significant heritability estimates for the factors ranged from 22% (Episodic Memory) to 39% (Visual Abstraction). Neurocognitive measures reflect a meaningful amount of shared variance whereas the neurophysiological measures reflect largely unique contributions as endophenotypes for schizophrenia. Composite endophenotype measures may inform our neurobiological and genetic understanding of schizophrenia. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Influence of Attention Set, Working Memory Capacity, and Expectations on Inattentional Blindness.

PubMed

Kreitz, Carina; Furley, Philip; Memmert, Daniel; Simons, Daniel J

2016-04-01

The probability of inattentional blindness, the failure to notice an unexpected object when attention is engaged on some primary task, is influenced by contextual factors like task demands, features of the unexpected object, and the observer's attention set. However, predicting who will notice an unexpected object and who will remain inattentionally blind has proven difficult, and the evidence that individual differences in cognition affect noticing remains ambiguous. We hypothesized that greater working memory capacity might modulate the effect of attention sets on noticing because working memory is associated with the ability to focus attention selectively. People with greater working memory capacity might be better able to attend selectively to target items, thereby increasing the chances of noticing unexpected objects that were similar to the attended items while decreasing the odds of noticing unexpected objects that differed from the attended items. Our study (N = 120 participants) replicated evidence that task-induced attention sets modulate noticing but found no link between noticing and working memory capacity. Our results are largely consistent with the idea that individual differences in working memory capacity do not predict noticing of unexpected objects in an inattentional blindness task. © The Author(s) 2015.

Associations between working memory, health literacy, and recall of the signs of stroke among older adults.

PubMed

Ganzer, Christine A; Insel, Kathleen C; Ritter, Leslie S

2012-10-01

Stroke remains a major cause of mortality and disability among older adults. Although early treatment after stroke is known to reduce both mortality and disability, the first step in seeking early treatment is dependent on the rapid recognition of the signs of stroke. Recall of the signs of stroke may be dependent on factors that exist before the stroke itself. Although it is known that both working memory and health literacy decline with advancing age, these factors have not been thoroughly examined with respect to recall of the signs of stroke. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to investigate associations between working memory, health literacy, and recall of the signs of stroke among older adults. Community dwelling older adults (≥65 years of age) were recruited from two senior centers. Fifty-six participants meeting inclusion criteria provided demographic and health information and were asked to read a public service brochure listing the five warning signs of stroke. Working memory was then assessed using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale 3rd Edition Working Memory Index. Health literacy was assessed by the Short Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults. Participants' recall of the five warning signs of stroke was evaluated. The mean age was 80.4 years. The mean number of the signs of stroke recalled was 2.9 ± 1.33. Working memory and health literacy were positively correlated with recall of the signs of stroke (r = .38, p < 0.01; r = .44, p < 0.01). In a simultaneous regression, only health literacy remained a significant predictor of recall. There was no statistically significant interaction between working memory and health literacy. Findings from this study indicate that working memory and health literacy were associated with successful recall of the warning signs of stroke in older adults. Further studies are needed to determine if programs that include cognitive and literacy assessments could identify older adults who need additional support to learn and recall the signs of stroke.

Gravitational wave memory in an expanding universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tolish, Alexander; Wald, Robert

2016-03-01

We investigate the gravitational wave memory effect in an expanding FLRW spacetime. We find that if the gravitational field is decomposed into gauge-invariant scalar, vector, and tensor modes after the fashion of Bardeen, only the tensor mode gives rise to memory, and this memory can be calculated using the retarded Green's function associated with the tensor wave equation. If locally similar radiation source events occur on flat and FLRW backgrounds, we find that the resulting memories will differ only by a redshift factor, and we explore whether or not this factor depends on the expansion history of the FLRW universe. We compare our results to related work by Bieri, Garfinkle, and Yau.

Low working memory capacity is only spuriously related to poor reading comprehension

PubMed Central

Van Dyke, Julie A.; Johns, Clinton L.; Kukona, Anuenue

2014-01-01

Accounts of comprehension failure, whether in the case of readers with poor skill or when syntactic complexity is high, have overwhelmingly implicated working memory capacity as the key causal factor. However, extant research suggests that this position is not well supported by evidence on the span of active memory during online sentence processing, nor is it well motivated by models that make explicit claims about the memory mechanisms that support language processing. The current study suggests that sensitivity to interference from similar items in memory may provide a better explanation of comprehension failure. Through administration of a comprehensive skill battery, we found that the previously observed association of working memory with comprehension is likely due to the collinearity of working memory with many other reading-related skills, especially IQ. In analyses which removed variance shared with IQ, we found that receptive vocabulary knowledge was the only significant predictor of comprehension performance in our task out of a battery of 24 skill measures. In addition, receptive vocabulary and non-verbal memory for serial order—but not simple verbal memory or working memory—were the only predictors of reading times in the region where interference had its primary affect. We interpret these results in light of a model that emphasizes retrieval interference and the quality of lexical representations as key determinants of successful comprehension. PMID:24657820

Why Is Working Memory Performance Unstable? A Review of 21 Factors

PubMed Central

Blasiman, Rachael N.; Was, Christopher A.

2018-01-01

In this paper, we systematically reviewed twenty-one factors that have been shown to either vary with or influence performance on working memory (WM) tasks. Specifically, we review previous work on the influence of intelligence, gender, age, personality, mental illnesses/medical conditions, dieting, craving, stress/anxiety, emotion/motivation, stereotype threat, temperature, mindfulness training, practice, bilingualism, musical training, altitude/hypoxia, sleep, exercise, diet, psychoactive substances, and brain stimulation on WM performance. In addition to a review of the literature, we suggest several frameworks for classifying these factors, identify shared mechanisms between several variables, and suggest areas requiring further investigation. This review critically examines the breadth of research investigating WM while synthesizing the results across related subfields in psychology. PMID:29899806

Impaired Contingent Attentional Capture Predicts Reduced Working Memory Capacity in Schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Mayer, Jutta S.; Fukuda, Keisuke; Vogel, Edward K.; Park, Sohee

2012-01-01

Although impairments in working memory (WM) are well documented in schizophrenia, the specific factors that cause these deficits are poorly understood. In this study, we hypothesized that a heightened susceptibility to attentional capture at an early stage of visual processing would result in working memory encoding problems. 30 patients with schizophrenia and 28 demographically matched healthy participants were presented with a search array and asked to report the orientation of the target stimulus. In some of the trials, a flanker stimulus preceded the search array that either matched the color of the target (relevant-flanker capture) or appeared in a different color (irrelevant-flanker capture). Working memory capacity was determined in each individual using the visual change detection paradigm. Patients needed considerably more time to find the target in the no-flanker condition. After adjusting the individual exposure time, both groups showed equivalent capture costs in the irrelevant-flanker condition. However, in the relevant-flanker condition, capture costs were increased in patients compared to controls when the stimulus onset asynchrony between the flanker and the search array was high. Moreover, the increase in relevant capture costs correlated negatively with working memory capacity. This study demonstrates preserved stimulus-driven attentional capture but impaired contingent attentional capture associated with low working memory capacity in schizophrenia. These findings suggest a selective impairment of top-down attentional control in schizophrenia, which may impair working memory encoding. PMID:23152783

Impaired contingent attentional capture predicts reduced working memory capacity in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Mayer, Jutta S; Fukuda, Keisuke; Vogel, Edward K; Park, Sohee

2012-01-01

Although impairments in working memory (WM) are well documented in schizophrenia, the specific factors that cause these deficits are poorly understood. In this study, we hypothesized that a heightened susceptibility to attentional capture at an early stage of visual processing would result in working memory encoding problems. 30 patients with schizophrenia and 28 demographically matched healthy participants were presented with a search array and asked to report the orientation of the target stimulus. In some of the trials, a flanker stimulus preceded the search array that either matched the color of the target (relevant-flanker capture) or appeared in a different color (irrelevant-flanker capture). Working memory capacity was determined in each individual using the visual change detection paradigm. Patients needed considerably more time to find the target in the no-flanker condition. After adjusting the individual exposure time, both groups showed equivalent capture costs in the irrelevant-flanker condition. However, in the relevant-flanker condition, capture costs were increased in patients compared to controls when the stimulus onset asynchrony between the flanker and the search array was high. Moreover, the increase in relevant capture costs correlated negatively with working memory capacity. This study demonstrates preserved stimulus-driven attentional capture but impaired contingent attentional capture associated with low working memory capacity in schizophrenia. These findings suggest a selective impairment of top-down attentional control in schizophrenia, which may impair working memory encoding.

Predicting change in symptoms of depression during the transition to university: the roles of BDNF and working memory capacity.

PubMed

LeMoult, Joelle; Carver, Charles S; Johnson, Sheri L; Joormann, Jutta

2015-03-01

Studies on depression risk emphasize the importance of both cognitive and genetic vulnerability factors. The present study has provided the first examination of whether working memory capacity, the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism, and their interaction predict changes in symptoms of depression during the transition to university. Early in the semester, students completed a self-report measure of depressive symptoms and a modified version of the reading span task to assess working memory capacity in the presence of both neutral and negative distractors. Whole blood was genotyped for the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism. Students returned at the end of the semester to complete additional self-report questionnaires. Neither working memory capacity nor the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism predicted change in depressive symptoms either independently or in interaction with self-reported semester difficulty. The BDNF Val66Met polymorphism, however, moderated the association between working memory capacity and symptom change. Among met carriers, lower working memory capacity in the presence of negative-but not neutral-distractors was associated with increased symptoms of depression over the semester. For the val/val group, working memory capacity did not predict symptom change. These findings contribute directly to biological and cognitive models of depression and highlight the importance of examining Gene × Cognition interactions when investigating risk for depression.

Knowledge Cannot Explain the Developmental Growth of Working Memory Capacity

PubMed Central

Cowan, Nelson; Ricker, Timothy J.; Clark, Katherine M.; Hinrichs, Garrett A.; Glass, Bret A.

2014-01-01

According to some views of cognitive growth, the development of working memory capacity can account for increases in the complexity of cognition. It has been difficult to ascertain, though, that there actually is developmental growth in capacity that cannot be attributed to other developing factors. Here we assess the role of item familiarity. We document developmental increases in working memory for visual arrays of English letters versus unfamiliar characters. Although letter knowledge played a special role in development between the ages of 6 to 8 years, children with adequate letter knowledge showed practically the same developmental growth in normalized functions for letters and unfamiliar characters. The results contribute to a growing body of evidence that the developmental improvement in working memory does not wholly stem from supporting processes such as encoding, mnemonic strategies, and knowledge. PMID:24942111

Investigating the Improvement of Decoding Abilities and Working Memory in Children with Incremental or Entity Personal Conceptions of Intelligence: Two Case Reports

PubMed Central

Alesi, Marianna; Rappo, Gaetano; Pepi, Annamaria

2016-01-01

One of the most significant current discussions has led to the hypothesis that domain-specific training programs alone are not enough to improve reading achievement or working memory abilities. Incremental or Entity personal conceptions of intelligence may be assumed to be an important prognostic factor to overcome domain-specific deficits. Specifically, incremental students tend to be more oriented toward change and autonomy and are able to adopt more efficacious strategies. This study aims at examining the effect of personal conceptions of intelligence to strengthen the efficacy of a multidimensional intervention program in order to improve decoding abilities and working memory. Participants included two children (M age = 10 years) with developmental dyslexia and different conceptions of intelligence. The children were tested on a whole battery of reading and spelling tests commonly used in the assessment of reading disabilities in Italy. Afterwards, they were given a multimedia test to measure motivational factors such as conceptions of intelligence and achievement goals. The children took part in the T.I.R.D. Multimedia Training for the Rehabilitation of Dyslexia (Rappo and Pepi, 2010) reinforced by specific units to improve verbal working memory for 3 months. This training consisted of specific tasks to rehabilitate both visual and phonological strategies (sound blending, word segmentation, alliteration test and rhyme test, letter recognition, digraph recognition, trigraph recognition, and word recognition as samples of visual tasks) and verbal working memory (rapid words and non-words recognition). Posttest evaluations showed that the child holding the incremental theory of intelligence improved more than the child holding a static representation. On the whole this study highlights the importance of treatment programs in which both specificity of deficits and motivational factors are both taken into account. There is a need to plan multifaceted intervention programs based on a transverse approach, considering both cognitive and motivational factors. PMID:26779069

Some Factors Underlying Mathematical Performance: The Role of Visuospatial Working Memory and Non-Verbal Intelligence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kyttala, Minna; Lehto, Juhani E.

2008-01-01

Passive and active visuospatial working memory (VSWM) were investigated in relation to maths performance. The mental rotation task was employed as a measure of active VSWM whereas passive VSWM was investigated using a modified Corsi Blocks task and a matrix pattern task. The Raven Progressive Matrices Test measured fluid intelligence. A total of…

Processing Speed, Inhibitory Control, and Working Memory: Three Important Factors to Account for Age-Related Cognitive Decline

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pereiro Rozas, Arturo X.; Juncos-Rabadan, Onesimo; Gonzalez, Maria Soledad Rodriguez

2008-01-01

Processing speed, inhibitory control and working memory have been identified as the main possible culprits of age-related cognitive decline. This article describes a study of their interrelationships and dependence on age, including exploration of whether any of them mediates between age and the others. We carried out a LISREL analysis of the…

Looking Inward and Back: Real-Time Monitoring of Visual Working Memories

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Suchow, Jordan W.; Fougnie, Daryl; Alvarez, George A.

2017-01-01

Confidence in our memories is influenced by many factors, including beliefs about the perceptibility or memorability of certain kinds of objects and events, as well as knowledge about our skill sets, habits, and experiences. Notoriously, our knowledge and beliefs about memory can lead us astray, causing us to be overly confident in eyewitness…

Decreased processing speed might account for working memory span deficit in schizophrenia, and might mediate the associations between working memory span and clinical symptoms.

PubMed

Brébion, G; Stephan-Otto, C; Huerta-Ramos, E; Usall, J; Perez Del Olmo, M; Contel, M; Haro, J M; Ochoa, S

2014-10-01

Verbal working memory span is decreased in patients with schizophrenia, and this might contribute to impairment in higher cognitive functions as well as to the formation of certain clinical symptoms. Processing speed has been identified as a crucial factor in cognitive efficiency in this population. We tested the hypothesis that decreased processing speed underlies the verbal working memory deficit in patients and mediates the associations between working memory span and clinical symptoms. Forty-nine schizophrenia inpatients recruited from units for chronic and acute patients, and forty-five healthy participants, were involved in the study. Verbal working memory span was assessed by means of the letter-number span. The Digit Copy test was used to assess motor speed, and the Digit Symbol Substitution Test to assess cognitive speed. The working memory span was significantly impaired in patients (F(1,90)=4.6, P<0.05). However, the group difference was eliminated when either the motor or the cognitive speed measure was controlled (F(1,89)=0.03, P=0.86, and F(1,89)=0.03, P=0.88). In the patient group, working memory span was significantly correlated with negative symptoms (r=-0.52, P<0.0001) and thought disorganisation (r=-0.34, P<0.025) scores. Regression analyses showed that the association with negative symptoms was no longer significant when the motor speed measure was controlled (β=-0.12, P=0.20), while the association with thought disorganisation was no longer significant when the cognitive speed measure was controlled (β=-0.10, P=0.26). Decrement in motor and cognitive speed plays a significant role in both the verbal working memory impairment observed in patients and the associations between verbal working memory impairment and clinical symptoms. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

The Effect of Insulin and Insulin-Like Growth Factors on Hippocampus- and Amygdala-Dependent Long-Term Memory Formation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stern, Sarah A.; Chen, Dillon Y.; Alberini, Cristina M.

2014-01-01

Recent work has reported that the insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2) promotes memory enhancement. Furthermore, impaired insulin or IGF1 functions have been suggested to play a role in the pathogenesis of neurodegeneration and cognitive impairments, hence implicating the insulin/IGF system as an important target for cognitive enhancement and/or…

Differences in brain morphology and working memory capacity across childhood.

PubMed

Bathelt, Joe; Gathercole, Susan E; Johnson, Amy; Astle, Duncan E

2018-05-01

Working memory (WM) skills are closely associated with learning progress in key areas such as reading and mathematics across childhood. As yet, however, little is known about how the brain systems underpinning WM develop over this critical developmental period. The current study investigated whether and how structural brain correlates of components of the working memory system change over development. Verbal and visuospatial short-term and working memory were assessed in 153 children between 5.58 and 15.92 years, and latent components of the working memory system were derived. Fractional anisotropy and cortical thickness maps were derived from T1-weighted and diffusion-weighted MRI and processed using eigenanatomy decomposition. There was a greater involvement of the corpus callosum and posterior temporal white matter in younger children for performance associated with the executive part of the working memory system. For older children, this was more closely linked with the thickness of the occipitotemporal cortex. These findings suggest that increasing specialization leads to shifts in the contribution of neural substrates over childhood, moving from an early dependence on a distributed system supported by long-range connections to later reliance on specialized local circuitry. Our findings demonstrate that despite the component factor structure being stable across childhood, the underlying brain systems supporting working memory change. Taking the age of the child into account, and not just their overall score, is likely to be critical for understanding the nature of the limitations on their working memory capacity. © 2017 The Authors. Developmental Science Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Visual working memory and number sense: Testing the double deficit hypothesis in mathematics.

PubMed

Toll, Sylke W M; Kroesbergen, Evelyn H; Van Luit, Johannes E H

2016-09-01

Evidence exists that there are two main underlying cognitive factors in mathematical difficulties: working memory and number sense. It is suggested that real math difficulties appear when both working memory and number sense are weak, here referred to as the double deficit (DD) hypothesis. The aim of this study was to test the DD hypothesis within a longitudinal time span of 2 years. A total of 670 children participated. The mean age was 4.96 years at the start of the study and 7.02 years at the end of the study. At the end of the first year of kindergarten, both visual-spatial working memory and number sense were measured by two different tasks. At the end of first grade, mathematical performance was measured with two tasks, one for math facts and one for math problems. Multiple regressions revealed that both visual working memory and symbolic number sense are predictors of mathematical performance in first grade. Symbolic number sense appears to be the strongest predictor for both math areas (math facts and math problems). Non-symbolic number sense only predicts performance in math problems. Multivariate analyses of variance showed that a combination of visual working memory and number sense deficits (NSDs) leads to the lowest performance on mathematics. Our DD hypothesis was confirmed. Both visual working memory and symbolic number sense in kindergarten are related to mathematical performance 2 years later, and a combination of visual working memory and NSDs leads to low performance in mathematical performance. © 2016 The British Psychological Society.

Rapid forgetting results from competition over time between items in visual working memory.

PubMed

Pertzov, Yoni; Manohar, Sanjay; Husain, Masud

2017-04-01

Working memory is now established as a fundamental cognitive process across a range of species. Loss of information held in working memory has the potential to disrupt many aspects of cognitive function. However, despite its significance, the mechanisms underlying rapid forgetting remain unclear, with intense recent debate as to whether it is interference between stored items that leads to loss of information or simply temporal decay. Here we show that both factors are essential and interact in a highly specific manner. Although a single item can be maintained in memory with high fidelity, multiple items compete in working memory, progressively degrading each other's representations as time passes. Specifically, interaction between items is associated with both worsening precision and increased reporting errors of object features over time. Importantly, during the period of maintenance, although items are no longer visible, maintenance resources can be selectively redeployed to protect the probability to recall the correct feature and the precision with which cued items can be recalled, as if it was the only item in memory. These findings reveal that the biased competition concept could be applied not only to perceptual processes but also to active maintenance of working memory representations over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Investigating Executive Working Memory and Phonological Short-Term Memory in Relation to Fluency and Self-Repair Behavior in L2 Speech.

PubMed

Georgiadou, Effrosyni; Roehr-Brackin, Karen

2017-08-01

This paper reports the findings of a study investigating the relationship of executive working memory (WM) and phonological short-term memory (PSTM) to fluency and self-repair behavior during an unrehearsed oral task performed by second language (L2) speakers of English at two levels of proficiency, elementary and lower intermediate. Correlational analyses revealed a negative relationship between executive WM and number of pauses in the lower intermediate L2 speakers. However, no reliable association was found in our sample between executive WM or PSTM and self-repair behavior in terms of either frequency or type of self-repair. Taken together, our findings suggest that while executive WM may enhance performance at the conceptualization and formulation stages of the speech production process, self-repair behavior in L2 speakers may depend on factors other than working memory.

Working memory, inhibition, and fluid intelligence as predictors of performance on Tower of Hanoi and London tasks.

PubMed

Zook, Nancy A; Davalos, Deana B; Delosh, Edward L; Davis, Hasker P

2004-12-01

The contributions of working memory, inhibition, and fluid intelligence to performance on the Tower of Hanoi (TOH) and Tower of London (TOL) were examined in 85 undergraduate participants. All three factors accounted for significant variance on the TOH, but only fluid intelligence accounted for significant variance on the TOL. When the contribution of fluid intelligence was accounted for, working memory and inhibition continued to account for significant variance on the TOH. These findings support argument that fluid intelligence contributes to executive functioning, but also show that the executive processes elicited by tasks vary according to task structure.

A Life Course Model of Cognitive Activities, Socioeconomic Status, Education, Reading Ability, and Cognition

PubMed Central

Jefferson, Angela L.; Gibbons, Laura E.; Rentz, Dorene M.; Carvalho, Janessa O.; Manly, Jennifer; Bennett, David A.; Jones, Richard N.

2011-01-01

OBJECTIVES To cross-sectionally quantify the contribution of proxy measures of cognitive reserve reflective of the lifespan, such as education, socioeconomic status (SES), reading ability, and cognitive activities, in explaining late-life cognition. DESIGN Prospective observational cohort study of aging. SETTING Retirement communities across the Chicago metropolitan area. PARTICIPANTS Nine hundred fifty-one older adults free of clinical dementia in the Rush Memory and Aging Project (aged 79 ± 8, 74% female). MEASUREMENTS Baseline data on multiple life course factors included early-, mid-, and late-life participation in cognitive activities; early-life and adult SES; education; and reading ability (National Adult Reading Test; NART). Path analysis quantified direct and indirect standardized effects of life course factors on global cognition and five cognitive domains (episodic memory, semantic memory, working memory, visuospatial ability, perceptual speed). RESULTS Adjusting for age, sex, and race, education had the strongest association with global cognition, episodic memory, semantic memory, and visuospatial ability, whereas NART (followed by education) had the strongest association with working memory. Late-life cognitive activities had the strongest association with perceptual speed, followed by education. CONCLUSIONS These cross-sectional findings suggest that education and reading ability are the most-robust proxy measures of cognitive reserve in relation to late-life cognition. Additional research leveraging path analysis is warranted to better understand how these life course factors, reflecting the latent construct of cognitive reserve, affect abnormal cognitive aging. PMID:21797830

A life course model of cognitive activities, socioeconomic status, education, reading ability, and cognition.

PubMed

Jefferson, Angela L; Gibbons, Laura E; Rentz, Dorene M; Carvalho, Janessa O; Manly, Jennifer; Bennett, David A; Jones, Richard N

2011-08-01

To cross-sectionally quantify the contribution of proxy measures of cognitive reserve reflective of the lifespan, such as education, socioeconomic status (SES), reading ability, and cognitive activities, in explaining late-life cognition. Prospective observational cohort study of aging. Retirement communities across the Chicago metropolitan area. Nine hundred fifty-one older adults free of clinical dementia in the Rush Memory and Aging Project (aged 79 ± 8, 74% female). Baseline data on multiple life course factors included early-, mid-, and late-life participation in cognitive activities; early-life and adult SES; education; and reading ability (National Adult Reading Test; NART). Path analysis quantified direct and indirect standardized effects of life course factors on global cognition and five cognitive domains (episodic memory, semantic memory, working memory, visuospatial ability, perceptual speed). Adjusting for age, sex, and race, education had the strongest association with global cognition, episodic memory, semantic memory, and visuospatial ability, whereas NART (followed by education) had the strongest association with working memory. Late-life cognitive activities had the strongest association with perceptual speed, followed by education. These cross-sectional findings suggest that education and reading ability are the most-robust proxy measures of cognitive reserve in relation to late-life cognition. Additional research leveraging path analysis is warranted to better understand how these life course factors, reflecting the latent construct of cognitive reserve, affect abnormal cognitive aging. © 2011, Copyright the Authors. Journal compilation © 2011, The American Geriatrics Society.

Keeping the Spirits Up: The Effect of Teachers' and Parents' Emotional Support on Children's Working Memory Performance.

PubMed

Vandenbroucke, Loren; Spilt, Jantine; Verschueren, Karine; Baeyens, Dieter

2017-01-01

Working memory, used to temporarily store and mentally manipulate information, is important for children's learning. It is therefore valuable to understand which (contextual) factors promote or hinder working memory performance. Recent research shows positive associations between positive parent-child and teacher-student interactions and working memory performance and development. However, no study has yet experimentally investigated how parents and teachers affect working memory performance. Based on attachment theory, the current study investigated the role of parent and teacher emotional support in promoting working memory performance by buffering the negative effect of social stress. Questionnaires and an experimental session were completed by 170 children from grade 1 to 2 ( M age = 7 years 6 months, SD = 7 months). Questionnaires were used to assess children's perceptions of the teacher-student and parent-child relationship. During an experimental session, working memory was measured with the Corsi task backward (Milner, 1971) in a pre- and post-test design. In-between the tests stress was induced in the children using the Cyberball paradigm (Williams et al., 2000). Emotional support was manipulated (between-subjects) through an audio message (either a weather report, a supportive message of a stranger, a supportive message of a parent, or a supportive message of a teacher). Results of repeated measures ANOVA showed no clear effect of the stress induction. Nevertheless, an effect of parent and teacher support was found and depended on the quality of the parent-child relationship. When children had a positive relationship with their parent, support of parents and teachers had little effect on working memory performance. When children had a negative relationship with their parent, a supportive message of that parent decreased working memory performance, while a supportive message from the teacher increased performance. In sum, the current study suggests that parents and teachers can support working memory performance by being supportive for the child. Teacher support is most effective when the child has a negative relationship with the parent. These insights can give direction to specific measures aimed at preventing and resolving working memory problems and related issues.

Keeping the Spirits Up: The Effect of Teachers’ and Parents’ Emotional Support on Children’s Working Memory Performance

PubMed Central

Vandenbroucke, Loren; Spilt, Jantine; Verschueren, Karine; Baeyens, Dieter

2017-01-01

Working memory, used to temporarily store and mentally manipulate information, is important for children’s learning. It is therefore valuable to understand which (contextual) factors promote or hinder working memory performance. Recent research shows positive associations between positive parent–child and teacher–student interactions and working memory performance and development. However, no study has yet experimentally investigated how parents and teachers affect working memory performance. Based on attachment theory, the current study investigated the role of parent and teacher emotional support in promoting working memory performance by buffering the negative effect of social stress. Questionnaires and an experimental session were completed by 170 children from grade 1 to 2 (Mage = 7 years 6 months, SD = 7 months). Questionnaires were used to assess children’s perceptions of the teacher–student and parent–child relationship. During an experimental session, working memory was measured with the Corsi task backward (Milner, 1971) in a pre- and post-test design. In-between the tests stress was induced in the children using the Cyberball paradigm (Williams et al., 2000). Emotional support was manipulated (between-subjects) through an audio message (either a weather report, a supportive message of a stranger, a supportive message of a parent, or a supportive message of a teacher). Results of repeated measures ANOVA showed no clear effect of the stress induction. Nevertheless, an effect of parent and teacher support was found and depended on the quality of the parent–child relationship. When children had a positive relationship with their parent, support of parents and teachers had little effect on working memory performance. When children had a negative relationship with their parent, a supportive message of that parent decreased working memory performance, while a supportive message from the teacher increased performance. In sum, the current study suggests that parents and teachers can support working memory performance by being supportive for the child. Teacher support is most effective when the child has a negative relationship with the parent. These insights can give direction to specific measures aimed at preventing and resolving working memory problems and related issues. PMID:28421026

Neuroanatomic overlap between intelligence and cognitive factors: morphometry methods provide support for the key role of the frontal lobes.

PubMed

Colom, Roberto; Burgaleta, Miguel; Román, Francisco J; Karama, Sherif; Alvarez-Linera, Juan; Abad, Francisco J; Martínez, Kenia; Quiroga, Ma Ángeles; Haier, Richard J

2013-05-15

Evidence from neuroimaging studies suggests that intelligence differences may be supported by a parieto-frontal network. Research shows that this network is also relevant for cognitive functions such as working memory and attention. However, previous studies have not explicitly analyzed the commonality of brain areas between a broad array of intelligence factors and cognitive functions tested in the same sample. Here fluid, crystallized, and spatial intelligence, along with working memory, executive updating, attention, and processing speed were each measured by three diverse tests or tasks. These twenty-one measures were completed by a group of one hundred and four healthy young adults. Three cortical measures (cortical gray matter volume, cortical surface area, and cortical thickness) were regressed against psychological latent scores obtained from a confirmatory factor analysis for removing test and task specific variance. For cortical gray matter volume and cortical surface area, the main overlapping clusters were observed in the middle frontal gyrus and involved fluid intelligence and working memory. Crystallized intelligence showed an overlapping cluster with fluid intelligence and working memory in the middle frontal gyrus. The inferior frontal gyrus showed overlap for crystallized intelligence, spatial intelligence, attention, and processing speed. The fusiform gyrus in temporal cortex showed overlap for spatial intelligence and attention. Parietal and occipital areas did not show any overlap across intelligence and cognitive factors. Taken together, these findings underscore that structural features of gray matter in the frontal lobes support those aspects of intelligence related to basic cognitive processes. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Is less really more: Does a prefrontal efficiency genotype actually confer better performance when working memory becomes difficult?

PubMed

Ihne, Jessica L; Gallagher, Natalie M; Sullivan, Marie; Callicott, Joseph H; Green, Adam E

2016-01-01

Perhaps the most widely studied effect to emerge from the combination of neuroimaging and human genetics is the association of the COMT-Val(108/158)Met polymorphism with prefrontal activity during working memory. COMT-Val is a putative risk factor in schizophrenia, which is characterized by disordered prefrontal function. Work in healthy populations has sought to characterize mechanisms by which the valine (Val) allele may lead to disadvantaged prefrontal cognition. Lower activity in methionine (Met) carriers has been interpreted as advantageous neural efficiency. Notably, however, studies reporting COMT effects on neural efficiency have generally not reported working memory performance effects. Those studies have employed relatively low/easy working memory loads. Higher loads are known to elicit individual differences in working memory performance that are not visible at lower loads. If COMT-Met confers greater neural efficiency when working memory is easy, a reasonable prediction is that Met carriers will be better able to cope with increasing demand for neural resources when working memory becomes difficult. To our knowledge, this prediction has thus far gone untested. Here, we tested performance on three working memory tasks. Performance on each task was measured at multiple levels of load/difficulty, including loads more demanding than those used in prior studies. We found no genotype-by-load interactions or main effects of COMT genotype on accuracy or reaction time. Indeed, even testing for performance differences at each load of each task failed to find a single significant effect of COMT genotype. Thus, even if COMT genotype has the effects on prefrontal efficiency that prior work has suggested, such effects may not directly impact high-load working memory ability. The present findings accord with previous evidence that behavioral effects of COMT are small or nonexistent and, more broadly, with a growing consensus that substantial effects on phenotype will not emerge from candidate gene studies. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The development of a short domain-general measure of working memory capacity.

PubMed

Oswald, Frederick L; McAbee, Samuel T; Redick, Thomas S; Hambrick, David Z

2015-12-01

Working memory capacity is one of the most frequently measured individual difference constructs in cognitive psychology and related fields. However, implementation of complex span and other working memory measures is generally time-consuming for administrators and examinees alike. Because researchers often must manage the tension between limited testing time and measuring numerous constructs reliably, a short and effective measure of working memory capacity would often be a major practical benefit in future research efforts. The current study developed a shortened computerized domain-general measure of working memory capacity by representatively sampling items from three existing complex working memory span tasks: operation span, reading span, and symmetry span. Using a large archival data set (Study 1, N = 4,845), we developed and applied a principled strategy for developing the reduced measure, based on testing a series of confirmatory factor analysis models. Adequate fit indices from these models lent support to this strategy. The resulting shortened measure was then administered to a second independent sample (Study 2, N = 172), demonstrating that the new measure saves roughly 15 min (30%) of testing time on average, and even up to 25 min depending on the test-taker. On the basis of these initial promising findings, several directions for future research are discussed.

Working Memory Units Are All in Your Head: Factors That Influence Whether Features or Objects Are the Favored Units

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vergauwe, Evie; Cowan, Nelson

2015-01-01

We compared two contrasting hypotheses of how multifeatured objects are stored in visual working memory (vWM); as integrated objects or as independent features. A new procedure was devised to examine vWM representations of several concurrently held objects and their features and our main measure was reaction time (RT), allowing an examination of…

Neural Substrates for Verbal Working Memory in Deaf Signers: fMRI Study and Lesion Case Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buchsbaum, Bradley; Pickell, Bert; Love, Tracy; Hatrak, Marla; Bellugi, Ursula; Hickok, Gregory

2005-01-01

The nature of the representations maintained in verbal working memory is a topic of debate. Some authors argue for a modality-dependent code, tied to particular sensory or motor systems. Others argue for a modality-neutral code. Sign language affords a unique perspective because it factors out the effects of modality. In an fMRI experiment, deaf…

Assessing neurocognitive function in psychiatric disorders: A roadmap for enhancing consensus

PubMed Central

Ahmari, Susanne E.; Eich, Teal; Cebenoyan, Deniz; Smith, Edward E.; Simpson, H. Blair

2014-01-01

It has been challenging to identify core neurocognitive deficits that are consistent across multiple studies in patients with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). In turn, this leads to difficulty in translating findings from human studies into animal models to dissect pathophysiology. In this article, we use primary data from a working memory task in OCD patients to illustrate this issue. Working memory deficiencies have been proposed as an explanatory model for the evolution of checking compulsions in a subset of OCD patients. However, findings have been mixed due to variability in task design, examination of spatial vs. verbal working memory, and heterogeneity in patient populations. Two major questions therefore remain: first, do OCD patients have disturbances in working memory? Second, if there are working memory deficits in OCD, do they cause checking compulsions?. In order to investigate these questions, we tested 19 unmedicated OCD patients and 23 matched healthy controls using a verbal working memory task that has increased difficulty/task-load compared to classic digit-span tasks. OCD patients did not significantly differ in their performance on this task compared to healthy controls, regardless of the outcome measure used (i.e. reaction time or accuracy). Exploratory analyses suggest that a subset of patients with predominant doubt/checking symptoms may have decreased memory confidence despite normal performance on trials with the highest working memory load. These results suggest that other etiologic factors for checking compulsions should be considered. In addition, they serve as a touchstone for discussion, and therefore help us to generate a roadmap for increasing consensus in the assessment of neurocognitive function in psychiatric disorders. PMID:24994503

A pilot study on factors involved with work participation in the early stages of multiple sclerosis.

PubMed

Van der Hiele, Karin; Middelkoop, Huub A M; Ruimschotel, Rob; Kamminga, Noëlle G A; Visser, Leo H

2014-01-01

Up to 30% of recently diagnosed MS patients lose their jobs in the first four years after diagnosis. Taking into account the personal and socio-economic importance of sustaining employment, it is of the utmost importance to examine factors involved with work participation. To investigate differences in self-reported functioning in recently diagnosed MS patients with and without a paid job. Self-reports of physical and cognitive functioning, depression, anxiety and fatigue were gathered from 44 relapsing-remitting MS patients diagnosed within 3 years. Patients with a paid job (57%) reported better physical functioning (p<0.001), better memory functioning (p = 0.01) and a lower physical impact of fatigue (p = 0.018) than patients without a paid job. Physical functioning was the main predictor of employment status in a logistic regression model. In those with a paid job better memory functioning (r = 0.54, p = 0.005) and a lower social impact of fatigue (r =  -0.46, p = 0.029) correlated with an increased number of working hours. Better physical functioning is the primary factor involved with increased work participation in early MS. Better self-reported memory functioning and less social fatigue were associated with increased working hours. These findings highlight the importance of battling these symptoms in the early stages of MS.

Delayed Recall and Working Memory MMSE Domains Predict Delirium following Cardiac Surgery.

PubMed

Price, Catherine C; Garvan, Cynthia; Hizel, Loren P; Lopez, Marcos G; Billings, Frederic T

2017-01-01

Reduced preoperative cognition is a risk factor for postoperative delirium. The significance for type of preoperative cognitive deficit, however, has yet to be explored and could provide important insights into mechanisms and prediction of delirium. Our goal was to determine if certain cognitive domains from the general cognitive screener, the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE), predict delirium after cardiac surgery. Patients completed a preoperative MMSE prior to undergoing elective cardiac surgery. Following surgery, delirium was assessed throughout ICU stay using the Confusion Assessment Method for ICU delirium and the Richmond Agitation and Sedation Scale. Cardiac surgery patients who developed delirium (n = 137) had lower total MMSE scores than patients who did not develop delirium (n = 457). In particular, orientation to place, working memory, delayed recall, and language domain scores were lower. Of these, only the working memory and delayed recall domains predicted delirium in a regression model adjusting for history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, age, sex, and duration of cardiopulmonary bypass. For each word not recalled on the three-word delayed recall assessment, the odds of delirium increased by 50%. For each item missed on the working memory index, the odds of delirium increased by 36%. Of the patients who developed delirium, 47% had a primary impairment in memory, 21% in working memory, and 33% in both domains. The area under the receiver operating characteristics curve using only the working memory and delayed recall domains was 0.75, compared to 0.76 for total MMSE score. Delirium risk is greater for individuals with reduced MMSE scores on the delayed recall and working memory domains. Research should address why patients with memory and executive vulnerabilities are more prone to postoperative delirium than those with other cognitive limitations.

Multi-Voxel Decoding and the Topography of Maintained Information During Visual Working Memory

PubMed Central

Lee, Sue-Hyun; Baker, Chris I.

2016-01-01

The ability to maintain representations in the absence of external sensory stimulation, such as in working memory, is critical for guiding human behavior. Human functional brain imaging studies suggest that visual working memory can recruit a network of brain regions from visual to parietal to prefrontal cortex. In this review, we focus on the maintenance of representations during visual working memory and discuss factors determining the topography of those representations. In particular, we review recent studies employing multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA) that demonstrate decoding of the maintained content in visual cortex, providing support for a “sensory recruitment” model of visual working memory. However, there is some evidence that maintained content can also be decoded in areas outside of visual cortex, including parietal and frontal cortex. We suggest that the ability to maintain representations during working memory is a general property of cortex, not restricted to specific areas, and argue that it is important to consider the nature of the information that must be maintained. Such information-content is critically determined by the task and the recruitment of specific regions during visual working memory will be both task- and stimulus-dependent. Thus, the common finding of maintained information in visual, but not parietal or prefrontal, cortex may be more of a reflection of the need to maintain specific types of visual information and not of a privileged role of visual cortex in maintenance. PMID:26912997

Working memory regulates trait anxiety-related threat processing biases.

PubMed

Booth, Robert W; Mackintosh, Bundy; Sharma, Dinkar

2017-06-01

High trait anxious individuals tend to show biased processing of threat. Correlational evidence suggests that executive control could be used to regulate such threat-processing. On this basis, we hypothesized that trait anxiety-related cognitive biases regarding threat should be exaggerated when executive control is experimentally impaired by loading working memory. In Study 1, 68 undergraduates read ambiguous vignettes under high and low working memory load; later, their interpretations of these vignettes were assessed via a recognition test. Trait anxiety predicted biased interpretation of social threat vignettes under high working memory load, but not under low working memory load. In Study 2, 53 undergraduates completed a dot probe task with fear-conditioned Japanese characters serving as threat stimuli. Trait anxiety predicted attentional bias to the threat stimuli but, again, this only occurred under high working memory load. Interestingly however, actual eye movements toward the threat stimuli were only associated with state anxiety, and this was not moderated by working memory load, suggesting that executive control regulates biased threat-processing downstream of initial input processes such as orienting. These results suggest that cognitive loads can exacerbate trait anxiety-related cognitive biases, and therefore represent a useful tool for assessing cognitive biases in future research. More importantly, since biased threat-processing has been implicated in the etiology and maintenance of anxiety, poor executive control may be a risk factor for anxiety disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Children's Speech Perception in Noise: Evidence for Dissociation From Language and Working Memory.

PubMed

Magimairaj, Beula M; Nagaraj, Naveen K; Benafield, Natalie J

2018-05-17

We examined the association between speech perception in noise (SPIN), language abilities, and working memory (WM) capacity in school-age children. Existing studies supporting the Ease of Language Understanding (ELU) model suggest that WM capacity plays a significant role in adverse listening situations. Eighty-three children between the ages of 7 to 11 years participated. The sample represented a continuum of individual differences in attention, memory, and language abilities. All children had normal-range hearing and normal-range nonverbal IQ. Children completed the Bamford-Kowal-Bench Speech-in-Noise Test (BKB-SIN; Etymotic Research, 2005), a selective auditory attention task, and multiple measures of language and WM. Partial correlations (controlling for age) showed significant positive associations among attention, memory, and language measures. However, BKB-SIN did not correlate significantly with any of the other measures. Principal component analysis revealed a distinct WM factor and a distinct language factor. BKB-SIN loaded robustly as a distinct 3rd factor with minimal secondary loading from sentence recall and short-term memory. Nonverbal IQ loaded as a 4th factor. Results did not support an association between SPIN and WM capacity in children. However, in this study, a single SPIN measure was used. Future studies using multiple SPIN measures are warranted. Evidence from the current study supports the use of BKB-SIN as clinical measure of speech perception ability because it was not influenced by variation in children's language and memory abilities. More large-scale studies in school-age children are needed to replicate the proposed role played by WM in adverse listening situations.

The Role of Phonological Working Memory and Environmental Factors in Lexical Development in Italian-Speaking Late Talkers: A One-Year Follow-Up Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marini, Andrea; Ruffino, Milena; Sali, Maria Enrica; Molteni, Massimo

2017-01-01

Purpose: This follow-up study assessed (a) the influence of phonological working memory (pWM), home literacy environment, and a family history of linguistic impairments in late talkers (LTs); (b) the diagnostic accuracy of a task of nonword repetition (NWR) in identifying LTs; and (c) the persistence of lexical weaknesses after 10 months. Method:…

The generality of working memory capacity: a latent-variable approach to verbal and visuospatial memory span and reasoning.

PubMed

Kane, Michael J; Hambrick, David Z; Tuholski, Stephen W; Wilhelm, Oliver; Payne, Tabitha W; Engle, Randall W

2004-06-01

A latent-variable study examined whether verbal and visuospatial working memory (WM) capacity measures reflect a primarily domain-general construct by testing 236 participants in 3 span tests each of verbal WM. visuospatial WM, verbal short-term memory (STM), and visuospatial STM. as well as in tests of verbal and spatial reasoning and general fluid intelligence (Gf). Confirmatory' factor analyses and structural equation models indicated that the WM tasks largely reflected a domain-general factor, whereas STM tasks, based on the same stimuli as the WM tasks, were much more domain specific. The WM construct was a strong predictor of Gf and a weaker predictor of domain-specific reasoning, and the reverse was true for the STM construct. The findings support a domain-general view of WM capacity, in which executive-attention processes drive the broad predictive utility of WM span measures, and domain-specific storage and rehearsal processes relate more strongly to domain-specific aspects of complex cognition. ((c) 2004 APA, all rights reserved)

Working Memory Load and Reminder Effect on Event-Based Prospective Memory of High- and Low-Achieving Students in Math.

PubMed

Chen, Youzhen; Lian, Rong; Yang, Lixian; Liu, Jianrong; Meng, Yingfang

The effects of working memory (WM) demand and reminders on an event-based prospective memory (PM) task were compared between students with low and high achievement in math. WM load (1- and 2-back tasks) was manipulated as a within-subject factor and reminder (with or without reminder) as a between-subject factor. Results showed that high-achieving students outperformed low-achieving students on all PM and n-back tasks. Use of a reminder improved PM performance and thus reduced prospective interference; the performance of ongoing tasks also improved for all students. Both PM and n-back performances in low WM load were better than in high WM load. High WM load had more influence on low-achieving students than on high-achieving students. Results suggest that low-achieving students in math were weak at PM and influenced more by high WM load. Thus, it is important to train these students to set up an obvious reminder for their PM and improve their WM.

Work ability score of solvent-exposed workers.

PubMed

Furu, Heidi; Sainio, Markku; Hyvärinen, Hanna-Kaisa; Kaukiainen, Ari

2018-03-28

Occupational chronic solvent encephalopathy (CSE), characterized by neurocognitive dysfunction, often leads to early retirement. However, only the more severe cases are diagnosed with CSE, and little is known about the work ability of solvent-exposed workers in general. The aim was to study memory and concentration symptoms, work ability and the effect of both solvent-related and non-occupational factors on work ability, in an actively working solvent-exposed population. A questionnaire on exposure and health was sent to 3640 workers in four solvent-exposed fields, i.e. painters and floor-layers, boat builders, printers, and metal workers. The total number of responses was 1730. We determined the work ability score (WAS), a single question item of the Work Ability Index, and studied solvent exposure, demographic factors, Euroquest memory and concentration symptoms, chronic diseases, and employment status using univariate and multivariate analyses. The findings were compared to those of a corresponding national blue-collar reference population (n = 221), and a small cohort of workers with CSE (n = 18). The proportion of workers with memory and concentration symptoms was significantly associated with solvent exposure. The WAS of solvent-exposed workers was lower than that of the national blue-collar reference group, and the difference was significant in the oldest age group (those aged over 60). Solvent-exposed worker's WAS were higher than those of workers diagnosed with CSE. The WAS were lowest among painters and floor-layers, followed by metal workers and printers, and highest among boat builders. The strongest explanatory factors for poor work ability were the number of chronic diseases, age and employment status. Solvent exposure was a weak independent risk factor for reduced WAS, comparable to a level of high alcohol consumption. Even if memory and concentration symptoms were associated with higher solvent exposure, the effect of solvents on self-experienced work ability was relatively weak. This in line with the improved occupational hygiene and reduced solvent exposure levels in industrialized countries, thus the effect may be stronger in high-level exposure environments. As a single question, WAS is easily included, applicable, and recommendable in occupational screening questionnaires.

The influence of linguistic and cognitive factors on the time course of verb-based implicit causality.

PubMed

Koornneef, Arnout; Dotlačil, Jakub; van den Broek, Paul; Sanders, Ted

2016-01-01

In three eye-tracking experiments the influence of the Dutch causal connective "want" (because) and the working memory capacity of readers on the usage of verb-based implicit causality was examined. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that although a causal connective is not required to activate implicit causality information during reading, effects of implicit causality surfaced more rapidly and were more pronounced when a connective was present in the discourse than when it was absent. In addition, Experiment 3 revealed that-in contrast to previous claims-the activation of implicit causality is not a resource-consuming mental operation. Moreover, readers with higher and lower working memory capacities behaved differently in a dual-task situation. Higher span readers were more likely to use implicit causality when they had all their working memory resources at their disposal. Lower span readers showed the opposite pattern as they were more likely to use the implicit causality cue in the case of an additional working memory load. The results emphasize that both linguistic and cognitive factors mediate the impact of implicit causality on text comprehension. The implications of these results are discussed in terms of the ongoing controversies in the literature-that is, the focusing-integration debate and the debates on the source of implicit causality.

Working memory training in healthy young adults: Support for the null from a randomized comparison to active and passive control groups.

PubMed

Clark, Cameron M; Lawlor-Savage, Linette; Goghari, Vina M

2017-01-01

Training of working memory as a method of increasing working memory capacity and fluid intelligence has received much attention in recent years. This burgeoning field remains highly controversial with empirically-backed disagreements at all levels of evidence, including individual studies, systematic reviews, and even meta-analyses. The current study investigated the effect of a randomized six week online working memory intervention on untrained cognitive abilities in a community-recruited sample of healthy young adults, in relation to both a processing speed training active control condition, as well as a no-contact control condition. Results of traditional null hypothesis significance testing, as well as Bayesian factor analyses, revealed support for the null hypothesis across all cognitive tests administered before and after training. Importantly, all three groups were similar at pre-training for a variety of individual variables purported to moderate transfer of training to fluid intelligence, including personality traits, motivation to train, and expectations of cognitive improvement from training. Because these results are consistent with experimental trials of equal or greater methodological rigor, we suggest that future research re-focus on: 1) other promising interventions known to increase memory performance in healthy young adults, and; 2) examining sub-populations or alternative populations in which working memory training may be efficacious.

Persistence of Gender Related-Effects on Visuo-Spatial and Verbal Working Memory in Right Brain-Damaged Patients.

PubMed

Piccardi, Laura; Matano, Alessandro; D'Antuono, Giovanni; Marin, Dario; Ciurli, Paola; Incoccia, Chiara; Verde, Paola; Guariglia, Paola

2016-01-01

The aim of the present study was to verify if gender differences in verbal and visuo-spatial working memory would persist following right cerebral lesions. To pursue our aim we investigated a large sample (n. 346) of right brain-damaged patients and healthy participants (n. 272) for the presence of gender effects in performing Corsi and Digit Test. We also assessed a subgroup of patients (n. 109) for the nature (active vs. passive) of working memory tasks. We tested working memory (WM) administering the Corsi Test (CBT) and the Digit Span (DS) using two different versions: forward (fCBT and fDS), subjects were required to repeat stimuli in the same order that they were presented; and backward (bCBT and bDS), subjects were required to repeat stimuli in the opposite order of presentation. In this way, passive storage and active processing of working memory were assessed. Our results showed the persistence of gender-related effects in spite of the presence of right brain lesions. We found that men outperformed women both in CBT and DS, regardless of active and passive processing of verbal and visuo-spatial stimuli. The presence of visuo-spatial disorders (i.e., hemineglect) can affect the performance on Corsi Test. In our sample, men and women were equally affected by hemineglect, therefore it did not mask the gender effect. Generally speaking, the persistence of the men's superiority in visuo-spatial tasks may be interpreted as a protective factor, at least for men, within other life factors such as level of education or kind of profession before retirement.

Individual differences in experiencing intrusive memories: the role of the ability to resist proactive interference.

PubMed

Verwoerd, Johan; Wessel, Ineke; de Jong, Peter J

2009-06-01

This study explored whether a relatively poor ability to resist or inhibit interference from irrelevant information in working memory is associated with experiencing undesirable intrusive memories. Non-selected participants (N=91) completed a self-report measure of intrusive memories, and carried out experimental tasks intended to measure two different types of inhibition: resistance to proactive interference and response inhibition (i.e., the ability to prevent automatically triggered responses). The results showed a significant relationship between inhibition at the cognitive level (i.e., resistance to proactive interference) and the frequency of intrusive memories (especially in the group of female participants) whereas no such relationship with measures of response inhibition emerged. These findings are consistent with the idea that deficient inhibitory control reflects a vulnerability factor for experiencing intrusive memories. Implications for research investigating risk factors for the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are discussed.

Memory for tonal pitches: a music-length effect hypothesis.

PubMed

Akiva-Kabiri, Lilach; Vecchi, Tomaso; Granot, Roni; Basso, Demis; Schön, Daniele

2009-07-01

One of the most studied effects of verbal working memory (WM) is the influence of the length of the words that compose the list to be remembered. This work aims to investigate the nature of musical WM by replicating the word length effect in the musical domain. Length and rate of presentation were manipulated in a recognition task of tone sequences. Results showed significant effects for both factors (length and presentation rate) as well as their interaction, suggesting the existence of different strategies (e.g., chunking and rehearsal) for the immediate memory of musical information, depending upon the length of the sequences.

Baclofen ameliorates spatial working memory impairments induced by chronic cerebral hypoperfusion via up-regulation of HCN2 expression in the PFC in rats.

PubMed

Luo, Pan; Chen, Cheng; Lu, Yun; Fu, TianLi; Lu, Qing; Xu, Xulin; Li, Changjun; He, Zhi; Guo, Lianjun

2016-07-15

Chronic cerebral hypoperfusion (CCH) causes memory deficits and increases the risk of vascular dementia (VD) through several biologically plausible pathways. However, whether CCH causes prefrontal cortex (PFC)-dependent spatial working memory impairments and Baclofen, a GABAB receptor agonist, could ameliorate the impairments is still not clear especially the mechanisms underlying the process. In this study, rats were subjected to permanent bilateral occlusion of the common carotid arteries (two-vessel occlusion, 2VO) to induce CCH. Two weeks later, rats were treated with 25mg/kg Baclofen (intraperitioneal injection, i.p.) for 3 weeks. Spatial working memory was evaluated in a Morris water maze using a modified delayed matching-to-place (DMP) procedure. Western blotting and immunohistochemistry were used to quantify the protein levels and protein localization. Our results showed that 2VO caused striking spatial working memory impairments, accompanied with a decreased HCN2 expression in PFC, but the protein levels of protein gene product 9.5 (PGP9.5, a neuron specific protein), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), synaptophysin (SYP), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), parvalbumin (PV) and HCN1 were not distinguishably changed as compared with sham-operated rats. Baclofen treatment significantly improved the spatial working memory impairments caused by 2VO, accompanied with a reversion of 2VO-induced down-regulation of HCN2. Furthermore, there was a co-localization of HCN2 subunits and parvalbumin-positive neurons in PFC. Therefore, HCN2 may target inhibitory interneurons that is implicated in working memory processes, which may be a possible mechanism of the up-regulation of HCN2 by Baclofen treatment that reliefs spatial working memory deficits in rats with CCH. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Age-related changes in decision making: comparing informed and noninformed situations.

PubMed

Van Duijvenvoorde, Anna C K; Jansen, Brenda R J; Bredman, Joren C; Huizenga, Hilde M

2012-01-01

Advantageous decision making progressively develops into early adulthood, most specifically in complex and motivationally salient decision situations in which direct feedback on gains and losses is provided (Figner & Weber, 2011). However, the factors that underlie this developmental improvement in decision making are still not well understood. The current study therefore investigates 2 potential factors, long-term memory and working memory, by assigning a large developmental sample (7-29 years of age) to a condition with either high or low demands on long-term and working memory. The first condition featured an age-adapted version of the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT; Bechara, Damasio, Damasio, & Anderson, 1994; i.e., a noninformed situation), whereas the second condition provided an external store where explicit information on gains, losses, and probabilities per choice option was presented (i.e., an informed situation). Consistent with previous developmental IGT studies, children up to age 12 did not learn to prefer advantageous options in the noninformed condition. In contrast, all age groups learned to prefer the advantageous options in the informed conditions, although a slight developmental increase in advantageous decision making remained. These results indicate that lowering dependence on long-term and working memory improves children's advantageous decision making. The results additionally suggest that other factors, like inhibitory control processes, may play an additional role in the development of advantageous decision making.

The role of aging in intra-item and item-context binding processes in visual working memory.

PubMed

Peterson, Dwight J; Naveh-Benjamin, Moshe

2016-11-01

Aging is accompanied by declines in both working memory and long-term episodic memory processes. Specifically, important age-related memory deficits are characterized by performance impairments exhibited by older relative to younger adults when binding distinct components into a single integrated representation, despite relatively intact memory for the individual components. While robust patterns of age-related binding deficits are prevalent in studies of long-term episodic memory, observations of such deficits in visual working memory (VWM) may depend on the specific type of binding process being examined. For instance, a number of studies indicate that processes involved in item-context binding of items to occupied spatial locations within visual working memory are impaired in older relative to younger adults. Other findings suggest that intra-item binding of visual surface features (e.g., color, shape), compared to memory for single features, within visual working memory, remains relatively intact. Here, we examined each of these binding processes in younger and older adults under both optimal conditions (i.e., no concurrent load) and concurrent load (e.g., articulatory suppression, backward counting). Experiment 1 revealed an age-related intra-item binding deficit for surface features under no concurrent load but not when articulatory suppression was required. In contrast, in Experiments 2 and 3, we observed an age-related item-context binding deficit regardless of the level of concurrent load. These findings reveal that the influence of concurrent load on distinct binding processes within VWM, potentially those supported by rehearsal, is an important factor mediating the presence or absence of age-related binding deficits within VWM. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Are planning, working memory, and inhibition associated with individual differences in preschool ADHD symptoms?

PubMed

Sonuga-Barke, Edmund J S; Dalen, Lindy; Daley, Dave; Remington, Bob

2002-01-01

The association between executive function (EF; planning, working memory, and inhibition) and individual differences in symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was explored in a sample of preschool children. One hundred sixty children (between the ages of 3 years, 0 months and 5 years, 6 months), selected so as to oversample high ADHD scorers, performed 3 tasks previously shown to measure planning (Tower of London), working memory (Noisy Book) and inhibition ("Puppet Says..."). EF measures were reliable (kappa > .77) and were correlated with IQ (rs > .38) and age (rs > .59). Once IQ and age were controlled, planning and working memory (r = .41) were correlated. Planning and working memory were not correlated with inhibition (rs < .20). There was no association between ADHD and working memory or planning (rs < .12). There was a significant negative association between ADHD and conduct problems and inhibition (r = -.30 and r = -.25, respectively). Only the link with ADHD persisted after the effects of other factors were controlled for in a multiple regression. Specific deficits in inhibitory control rather than general EF deficits are associated with ADHD in the preschool period. This association is linear in nature, supporting the idea that ADHD is better seen as a continuum rather than a discrete category. This association provides evidence for Barkley's (1997) view that ADHD is underpinned by inhibitory deficits in the preschool period.

Language aptitude for pronunciation in advanced second language (L2) learners: behavioural predictors and neural substrates.

PubMed

Hu, Xiaochen; Ackermann, Hermann; Martin, Jason A; Erb, Michael; Winkler, Susanne; Reiterer, Susanne M

2013-12-01

Individual differences in second language (L2) aptitude have been assumed to depend upon a variety of cognitive and personality factors. Especially, the cognitive factor phonological working memory has been conceptualised as language learning device. However, strong associations between phonological working memory and L2 aptitude have been previously found in early-stage learners only, not in advanced learners. The current study aimed at investigating the behavioural and neurobiological predictors of advanced L2 learning. Our behavioural results showed that phonetic coding ability and empathy, but not phonological working memory, predict L2 pronunciation aptitude in advanced learners. Second, functional neuroimaging revealed this behavioural trait to be correlated with hemodynamic responses of the cerebral network of speech motor control and auditory-perceptual areas. We suggest that the acquisition of L2 pronunciation aptitude is a dynamic process, requiring a variety of neural resources at different processing stages over time. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Transcription Factors in Long-Term Memory and Synaptic Plasticity

PubMed Central

Alberini, Cristina M.

2013-01-01

Transcription is a molecular requisite for long-term synaptic plasticity and long-term memory formation. Thus, in the last several years, one main interest of molecular neuroscience has been the identification of families of transcription factors that are involved in both of these processes. Transcription is a highly regulated process that involves the combined interaction and function of chromatin and many other proteins, some of which are essential for the basal process of transcription, while others control the selective activation or repression of specific genes. These regulated interactions ultimately allow a sophisticated response to multiple environmental conditions, as well as control of spatial and temporal differences in gene expression. Evidence based on correlative changes in expression, genetic mutations, and targeted molecular inhibition of gene expression have shed light on the function of transcription in both synaptic plasticity and memory formation. This review provides a brief overview of experimental work showing that several families of transcription factors, including CREB, C/EBP, Egr, AP-1, and Rel have essential functions in both processes. The results of this work suggest that patterns of transcription regulation represent the molecular signatures of long-term synaptic changes and memory formation. PMID:19126756

Executive Function, Visual Attention and the Cocktail Party Problem in Musicians and Non-Musicians.

PubMed

Clayton, Kameron K; Swaminathan, Jayaganesh; Yazdanbakhsh, Arash; Zuk, Jennifer; Patel, Aniruddh D; Kidd, Gerald

2016-01-01

The goal of this study was to investigate how cognitive factors influence performance in a multi-talker, "cocktail-party" like environment in musicians and non-musicians. This was achieved by relating performance in a spatial hearing task to cognitive processing abilities assessed using measures of executive function (EF) and visual attention in musicians and non-musicians. For the spatial hearing task, a speech target was presented simultaneously with two intelligible speech maskers that were either colocated with the target (0° azimuth) or were symmetrically separated from the target in azimuth (at ±15°). EF assessment included measures of cognitive flexibility, inhibition control and auditory working memory. Selective attention was assessed in the visual domain using a multiple object tracking task (MOT). For the MOT task, the observers were required to track target dots (n = 1,2,3,4,5) in the presence of interfering distractor dots. Musicians performed significantly better than non-musicians in the spatial hearing task. For the EF measures, musicians showed better performance on measures of auditory working memory compared to non-musicians. Furthermore, across all individuals, a significant correlation was observed between performance on the spatial hearing task and measures of auditory working memory. This result suggests that individual differences in performance in a cocktail party-like environment may depend in part on cognitive factors such as auditory working memory. Performance in the MOT task did not differ between groups. However, across all individuals, a significant correlation was found between performance in the MOT and spatial hearing tasks. A stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed that musicianship and performance on the MOT task significantly predicted performance on the spatial hearing task. Overall, these findings confirm the relationship between musicianship and cognitive factors including domain-general selective attention and working memory in solving the "cocktail party problem".

Executive Function, Visual Attention and the Cocktail Party Problem in Musicians and Non-Musicians

PubMed Central

Clayton, Kameron K.; Swaminathan, Jayaganesh; Yazdanbakhsh, Arash; Zuk, Jennifer; Patel, Aniruddh D.; Kidd, Gerald

2016-01-01

The goal of this study was to investigate how cognitive factors influence performance in a multi-talker, “cocktail-party” like environment in musicians and non-musicians. This was achieved by relating performance in a spatial hearing task to cognitive processing abilities assessed using measures of executive function (EF) and visual attention in musicians and non-musicians. For the spatial hearing task, a speech target was presented simultaneously with two intelligible speech maskers that were either colocated with the target (0° azimuth) or were symmetrically separated from the target in azimuth (at ±15°). EF assessment included measures of cognitive flexibility, inhibition control and auditory working memory. Selective attention was assessed in the visual domain using a multiple object tracking task (MOT). For the MOT task, the observers were required to track target dots (n = 1,2,3,4,5) in the presence of interfering distractor dots. Musicians performed significantly better than non-musicians in the spatial hearing task. For the EF measures, musicians showed better performance on measures of auditory working memory compared to non-musicians. Furthermore, across all individuals, a significant correlation was observed between performance on the spatial hearing task and measures of auditory working memory. This result suggests that individual differences in performance in a cocktail party-like environment may depend in part on cognitive factors such as auditory working memory. Performance in the MOT task did not differ between groups. However, across all individuals, a significant correlation was found between performance in the MOT and spatial hearing tasks. A stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed that musicianship and performance on the MOT task significantly predicted performance on the spatial hearing task. Overall, these findings confirm the relationship between musicianship and cognitive factors including domain-general selective attention and working memory in solving the “cocktail party problem”. PMID:27384330

Etiological Distinction of Working Memory Components in Relation to Mathematics

PubMed Central

Lukowski, Sarah L.; Soden, Brooke; Hart, Sara A.; Thompson, Lee A.; Kovas, Yulia; Petrill, Stephen A.

2014-01-01

Working memory has been consistently associated with mathematics achievement, although the etiology of these relations remains poorly understood. The present study examined the genetic and environmental underpinnings of math story problem solving, timed calculation, and untimed calculation alongside working memory components in 12-year-old monozygotic (n = 105) and same-sex dizygotic (n = 143) twin pairs. Results indicated significant phenotypic correlation between each working memory component and all mathematics outcomes (r = 0.18 – 0.33). Additive genetic influences shared between the visuo-spatial sketchpad and mathematics achievement was significant, accounting for roughly 89% of the observed correlation. In addition, genetic covariance was found between the phonological loop and math story problem solving. In contrast, despite there being a significant observed relationship between phonological loop and timed and untimed calculation, there was no significant genetic or environmental covariance between the phonological loop and timed or untimed calculation skills. Further analyses indicated that genetic overlap between the visuo-spatial sketchpad and math story problem solving and math fluency was distinct from general genetic factors, whereas g, phonological loop, and mathematics shared generalist genes. Thus, although each working memory component was related to mathematics, the etiology of their relationships may be distinct. PMID:25477699

Early Adolescent Sexual Debut: The Mediating Role of Working Memory Ability, Sensation Seeking, and Impulsivity

PubMed Central

Khurana, Atika; Romer, Daniel; Betancourt, Laura M.; Brodsky, Nancy L.; Giannetta, Joan M.; Hurt, Hallam

2013-01-01

Although deficits in working memory ability have been implicated in suboptimal decision making and risk taking among adolescents, its influence on early sexual initiation has so far not been examined. Analyzing 2 waves of panel data from a community sample of adolescents (N = 347; Mean age[baseline] = 13.4 years), assessed 1 year apart, the present study tested the hypothesis that weak working memory ability predicts early sexual initiation and explored whether this relationship is mediated by sensation seeking and 2 forms of impulsivity, namely acting-without-thinking and temporal discounting. The 2 forms of impulsivity were expected to be positively associated with early sexual initiation, whereas sensation seeking was hypothesized to be unrelated or to have a protective influence, due to its positive association with working memory. Results obtained from structural equation modeling procedures supported these predictions and in addition showed that the effects of 3 prominent risk factors (Black racial identity, low socioeconomic background, and early pubertal maturation) on early sexual initiation were entirely mediated by working memory and impulsivity. The findings are discussed in regard to their implications for preventing early sexual onset among adolescents. PMID:22369334

Spontaneous strategy use protects against visual working memory deficits in older adults infected with HIV.

PubMed

Woods, Steven Paul; Weber, Erica; Cameron, Marizela V; Dawson, Matthew S; Delano-Wood, Lisa; Bondi, Mark W; Grant, Igor

2010-12-01

Recent studies suggest that older human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected adults are at particular risk for HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND), including dementia. Deficits in attention/working memory are posited to play a central role in the development of HAND among older adults. The aim of the present study was to examine the possible protective benefits of spontaneous strategy use during a visual working memory task in 46 older and 42 younger adults infected with HIV. Results revealed a significant interaction between age and strategy use, with older adults who used a meta-cognitive strategy demonstrating superior working memory performance versus non-strategy users. This effect was not observed in the younger HIV-infected sample and was not better explained by possible confounding factors, such as education, comorbid medical conditions, or HIV disease severity. Within the older group, strategy use was associated with better executive functions and higher estimated verbal intelligence. Findings from this study suggest that working memory declines in older HIV-infected adults are moderated by the use of higher-level mnemonic strategies and may inform cognitive neurorehabilitation efforts to improve cognitive and everyday functioning outcomes in older persons living with HIV infection.

The emotional and reconstructive determinants of emotional memories: an experimental approach to flashbulb memory investigation.

PubMed

Lanciano, Tiziana; Curci, Antonietta; Semin, Gun R

2010-07-01

Flashbulb memories (FBMs) are vivid and detailed memories of the reception context of a public emotional event. Brown and Kulik (1977) introduced the label FBM to suggest the idea that individuals are able to preserve knowledge of an event in an indiscriminate way, in analogy with a photograph that preserves all details of a scene. Research work on FBMs has primarily been conducted using a naturalistic approach in order to explore the role of the emotional and reconstructive factors on FBM formation and maintenance. Nevertheless, these studies lack a sufficient control on the factors that might intervene in the process of FBM formation. The contribution of the present studies is addressed to experimentally investigating the role of emotional and reconstructive factors on emotionally charged memories, specifically on FBMs. Paralleling FBM findings, the two studies revealed that simply being in an emotional state allows people to remember all available information, such as irrelevant and unrelated details. Furthermore, the resulting memories are affected by reconstructive processes so that they are not as accurate as their richness of details would suggest.

Tracing a Route and Finding a Shortcut: The Working Memory, Motivational, and Personality Factors Involved.

PubMed

Pazzaglia, Francesca; Meneghetti, Chiara; Ronconi, Lucia

2018-01-01

Wayfinding (WF) is the ability to move around efficiently and find the way from a starting point to a destination. It is a component of spatial navigation, a coordinate and goal-directed movement of one's self through the environment. In the present study, the relationship between WF tasks (route tracing and shortcut finding) and individual factors were explored with the hypothesis that WF tasks would be predicted by different types of cognitive, affective, motivational variables, and personality factors. A group of 116 university students (88 F.) were conducted along a route in a virtual environment and then asked first to trace the same route again, and then to find a shortcut between the start and end points. Several instruments assessing visuospatial working memory, mental rotation ability, self-efficacy, spatial anxiety, positive attitude to exploring, and personality traits were administered. The results showed that a latent spatial ability factor (measured with the visuospatial working memory and mental rotations tests) - controlled for gender - predicted route-tracing performance, while self-report measures of anxiety, efficacy, and pleasure in exploring, and some personality traits were more likely to predict shortcut-finding performance. We concluded that both personality and cognitive abilities affect WF performance, but differently, depending on the requirements of the task.

Executive Dysfunction Among Children With Reading Comprehension Deficits

PubMed Central

Locascio, Gianna; Mahone, E. Mark; Eason, Sarah H.; Cutting, Laurie E.

2010-01-01

Emerging research supports the contribution of executive function (EF) to reading comprehension; however, a unique pattern has not been established for children who demonstrate comprehension difficulties despite average word recognition ability (specific reading comprehension deficit; S-RCD). To identify particular EF components on which children with S-RCD struggle, a range of EF skills was compared among 86 children, ages 10 to 14, grouped by word reading and comprehension abilities: 24 average readers, 44 with word recognition deficits (WRD), and 18 S-RCD. An exploratory principal components analysis of EF tests identified three latent factors, used in subsequent group comparisons: Planning/Spatial Working Memory, Verbal Working Memory, and Response Inhibition. The WRD group exhibited deficits (relative to controls) on Verbal Working Memory and Inhibition factors; S-RCD children performed more poorly than controls on the Planning factor. Further analyses suggested the WRD group’s poor performance on EF factors was a by-product of core deficits linked to WRD (after controlling for phonological processing, this group no longer showed EF deficits). In contrast, the S-RCD group’s poor performance on the planning component remained significant after controlling for phonological processing. Findings suggest reading comprehension difficulties are linked to executive dysfunction; in particular, poor strategic planning/organizing may lead to reading comprehension problems. PMID:20375294

Executive dysfunction among children with reading comprehension deficits.

PubMed

Locascio, Gianna; Mahone, E Mark; Eason, Sarah H; Cutting, Laurie E

2010-01-01

Emerging research supports the contribution of executive function (EF) to reading comprehension; however, a unique pattern has not been established for children who demonstrate comprehension difficulties despite average word recognition ability (specific reading comprehension deficit; S-RCD). To identify particular EF components on which children with S-RCD struggle, a range of EF skills was compared among 86 children, ages 10 to 14, grouped by word reading and comprehension abilities: 24 average readers, 44 with word recognition deficits (WRD), and 18 S-RCD. An exploratory principal components analysis of EF tests identified three latent factors, used in subsequent group comparisons: Planning/ Spatial Working Memory, Verbal Working Memory, and Response Inhibition. The WRD group exhibited deficits (relative to controls) on Verbal Working Memory and Inhibition factors; S-RCD children performed more poorly than controls on the Planning factor. Further analyses suggested the WRD group's poor performance on EF factors was a by-product of core deficits linked to WRD (after controlling for phonological processing, this group no longer showed EF deficits). In contrast, the S-RCD group's poor performance on the planning component remained significant after controlling for phonological processing. Findings suggest reading comprehension difficulties are linked to executive dysfunction; in particular, poor strategic planning/organizing may lead to reading comprehension problems.

Components of executive functioning in metamemory.

PubMed

Mäntylä, Timo; Rönnlund, Michael; Kliegel, Matthias

2010-10-01

This study examined metamemory in relation to three basic executive functions (set shifting, working memory updating, and response inhibition) measured as latent variables. Young adults (Experiment 1) and middle-aged adults (Experiment 2) completed a set of executive functioning tasks and the Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire (PRMQ). In Experiment 1, source recall and face recognition tasks were included as indicators of objective memory performance. In both experiments, analyses of the executive functioning data yielded a two-factor solution, with the updating and inhibition tasks constituting a common factor and the shifting tasks a separate factor. Self-reported memory problems showed low predictive validity, but subjective and objective memory performance were related to different components of executive functioning. In both experiments, set shifting, but not updating and inhibition, was related to PRMQ, whereas source recall showed the opposite pattern of correlations in Experiment 1. These findings suggest that metamemorial judgments reflect selective effects of executive functioning and that individual differences in mental flexibility contribute to self-beliefs of efficacy.

A Pilot Study on Factors Involved with Work Participation in the Early Stages of Multiple Sclerosis

PubMed Central

Van der Hiele, Karin; Middelkoop, Huub A. M.; Ruimschotel, Rob; Kamminga, Noëlle G. A.; Visser, Leo H.

2014-01-01

Background Up to 30% of recently diagnosed MS patients lose their jobs in the first four years after diagnosis. Taking into account the personal and socio-economic importance of sustaining employment, it is of the utmost importance to examine factors involved with work participation. Objective To investigate differences in self-reported functioning in recently diagnosed MS patients with and without a paid job. Methods Self-reports of physical and cognitive functioning, depression, anxiety and fatigue were gathered from 44 relapsing-remitting MS patients diagnosed within 3 years. Results Patients with a paid job (57%) reported better physical functioning (p<0.001), better memory functioning (p = 0.01) and a lower physical impact of fatigue (p = 0.018) than patients without a paid job. Physical functioning was the main predictor of employment status in a logistic regression model. In those with a paid job better memory functioning (r = 0.54, p = 0.005) and a lower social impact of fatigue (r = −0.46, p = 0.029) correlated with an increased number of working hours. Conclusion Better physical functioning is the primary factor involved with increased work participation in early MS. Better self-reported memory functioning and less social fatigue were associated with increased working hours. These findings highlight the importance of battling these symptoms in the early stages of MS. PMID:25153710

Exploring the Relationship Between Working Memory, Compressor Speed, and Background Noise Characteristics.

PubMed

Ohlenforst, Barbara; Souza, Pamela E; MacDonald, Ewen N

2016-01-01

Previous work has shown that individuals with lower working memory demonstrate reduced intelligibility for speech processed with fast-acting compression amplification. This relationship has been noted in fluctuating noise, but the extent of noise modulation that must be present to elicit such an effect is unknown. This study expanded on previous study by exploring the effect of background noise modulations in relation to compression speed and working memory ability, using a range of signal to noise ratios. Twenty-six older participants between ages 61 and 90 years were grouped by high or low working memory according to their performance on a reading span test. Speech intelligibility was measured for low-context sentences presented in background noise, where the noise varied in the extent of amplitude modulation. Simulated fast- or slow-acting compression amplification combined with individual frequency-gain shaping was applied to compensate for the individual's hearing loss. Better speech intelligibility scores were observed for participants with high working memory when fast compression was applied than when slow compression was applied. The low working memory group behaved in the opposite way and performed better under slow compression compared with fast compression. There was also a significant effect of the extent of amplitude modulation in the background noise, such that the magnitude of the score difference (fast versus slow compression) depended on the number of talkers in the background noise. The presented signal to noise ratios were not a significant factor on the measured intelligibility performance. In agreement with earlier research, high working memory allowed better speech intelligibility when fast compression was applied in modulated background noise. In the present experiment, that effect was present regardless of the extent of background noise modulation.

Working memory deficits affect risky decision-making in methamphetamine users with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

PubMed

Duarte, Nichole A; Woods, Steven Paul; Rooney, Alexandra; Atkinson, J Hampton; Grant, Igor

2012-04-01

Methamphetamine (MA) use and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) commonly co-occur and are independently associated with dysregulation of frontostriatal loops and risky decision-making; however, whether their comorbidity exacerbates risky decision-making is not known. This study evaluated 23 participants with histories of MA dependence and ADHD (MA+ADHD+), 25 subjects with MA dependence alone (MA+ADHD-), and 22 healthy adults (MA-ADHD-), who completed the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) as part of a larger neuropsychiatric research evaluation. Results showed a significant interaction between ADHD, MA, and working memory, such that individuals with working memory deficits in the MA+ADHD+ cohort demonstrated the strongest propensity to select cards from "disadvantageous" versus "advantageous" decks on the IGT. This effect was not better explained by other psychiatric, substance use, neuromedical, or cognitive factors. Findings suggest that working memory deficits may moderate the expression of risky decision-making in MA users with ADHD. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Knowledge cannot explain the developmental growth of working memory capacity.

PubMed

Cowan, Nelson; Ricker, Timothy J; Clark, Katherine M; Hinrichs, Garrett A; Glass, Bret A

2015-01-01

According to some views of cognitive growth, the development of working memory capacity can account for increases in the complexity of cognition. It has been difficult to ascertain, though, that there actually is developmental growth in capacity that cannot be attributed to other developing factors. Here we assess the role of item familiarity. We document developmental increases in working memory for visual arrays of English letters versus unfamiliar characters. Although letter knowledge played a special role in development between the ages of 6 and 8 years, children with adequate letter knowledge showed practically the same developmental growth in normalized functions for letters and unfamiliar characters. The results contribute to a growing body of evidence that the developmental improvement in working memory does not wholly stem from supporting processes such as encoding, mnemonic strategies, and knowledge. A video abstract is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJdqErLR2Hs&feature=youtu.be. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Mapping the developmental constraints on working memory span performance.

PubMed

Bayliss, Donna M; Jarrold, Christopher; Baddeley, Alan D; Gunn, Deborah M; Leigh, Eleanor

2005-07-01

This study investigated the constraints underlying developmental improvements in complex working memory span performance among 120 children of between 6 and 10 years of age. Independent measures of processing efficiency, storage capacity, rehearsal speed, and basic speed of processing were assessed to determine their contribution to age-related variance in complex span. Results showed that developmental improvements in complex span were driven by 2 age-related but separable factors: 1 associated with general speed of processing and 1 associated with storage ability. In addition, there was an age-related contribution shared between working memory, processing speed, and storage ability that was important for higher level cognition. These results pose a challenge for models of complex span performance that emphasize the importance of processing speed alone.

Integrative assessment of brain function in PTSD: brain stability and working memory.

PubMed

Veltmeyer, Melinda D; McFarlane, Alexander C; Bryant, Richard A; Mayo, Therese; Gordon, Evian; Clark, C Richard

2006-03-01

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is characterized by symptoms of hyperarousal, avoidance and intrusive trauma-related memories and deficits in everyday memory and attention. Separate studies in PTSD have found abnormalities in electroencephalogram EEG, in event-related potential (ERP) and behavioral measures of working memory and attention. The present study seeks to determine whether these abnormalities are related and the extent to which they share this relationship with clinical symptoms. EEG data were collected during an eyes-open paradigm and a one-back working memory task. Behavioral and clinical data (CAPS) were also collected. The PTSD group showed signs of altered cortical arousal as indexed by reduced alpha power and an increased theta/alpha ratio, and clinical and physiological measures of arousal were found to be related. The normal relationship between theta power and ERP indices of working memory was not affected in PTSD, with both sets of measures reduced in the disordered group. Medication appeared to underpin a number of abnormal parameters, including P3 amplitude to targets and the accuracy, though not speed, of target detection. The present study helps to overcome a limitation of earlier studies that assess such parameters independently in different groups of patients that vary in factors such as comorbidity, medication status, gender and symptom profile. The present study begins to shed light on the relationship between these measures and suggests that abnormalities in brain working memory may be linked to underlying abnormalities in brain stability.

Visual encoding impairment in patients with schizophrenia: contribution of reduced working memory span, decreased processing speed, and affective symptoms.

PubMed

Brébion, Gildas; Stephan-Otto, Christian; Huerta-Ramos, Elena; Ochoa, Susana; Usall, Judith; Abellán-Vega, Helena; Roca, Mercedes; Haro, Josep Maria

2015-01-01

Previous research has revealed the contribution of decreased processing speed and reduced working memory span in verbal and visual memory impairment in patients with schizophrenia. The role of affective symptoms in verbal memory has also emerged in a few studies. The authors designed a picture recognition task to investigate the impact of these factors on visual encoding. Two types of pictures (black and white vs. colored) were presented under 2 different conditions of context encoding (either displayed at a specific location or in association with another visual stimulus). It was assumed that the process of encoding associated pictures was more effortful than that of encoding pictures that were presented alone. Working memory span and processing speed were assessed. In the patient group, working memory span was significantly associated with the recognition of the associated pictures but not significantly with that of the other pictures. Controlling for processing speed eliminated the patients' deficit in the recognition of the colored pictures and greatly reduced their deficit in the recognition of the black-and-white pictures. The recognition of the black-and-white pictures was inversely related to anxiety in men and to depression in women. Working memory span constrains the effortful visual encoding processes in patients, whereas processing speed decrement accounts for most of their visual encoding deficit. Affective symptoms also have an impact on visual encoding, albeit differently in men and women. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

Relationship Among Signal Fidelity, Hearing Loss, and Working Memory for Digital Noise Suppression.

PubMed

Arehart, Kathryn; Souza, Pamela; Kates, James; Lunner, Thomas; Pedersen, Michael Syskind

2015-01-01

This study considered speech modified by additive babble combined with noise-suppression processing. The purpose was to determine the relative importance of the signal modifications, individual peripheral hearing loss, and individual cognitive capacity on speech intelligibility and speech quality. The participant group consisted of 31 individuals with moderate high-frequency hearing loss ranging in age from 51 to 89 years (mean = 69.6 years). Speech intelligibility and speech quality were measured using low-context sentences presented in babble at several signal-to-noise ratios. Speech stimuli were processed with a binary mask noise-suppression strategy with systematic manipulations of two parameters (error rate and attenuation values). The cumulative effects of signal modification produced by babble and signal processing were quantified using an envelope-distortion metric. Working memory capacity was assessed with a reading span test. Analysis of variance was used to determine the effects of signal processing parameters on perceptual scores. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to determine the role of degree of hearing loss and working memory capacity in individual listener response to the processed noisy speech. The model also considered improvements in envelope fidelity caused by the binary mask and the degradations to envelope caused by error and noise. The participants showed significant benefits in terms of intelligibility scores and quality ratings for noisy speech processed by the ideal binary mask noise-suppression strategy. This benefit was observed across a range of signal-to-noise ratios and persisted when up to a 30% error rate was introduced into the processing. Average intelligibility scores and average quality ratings were well predicted by an objective metric of envelope fidelity. Degree of hearing loss and working memory capacity were significant factors in explaining individual listener's intelligibility scores for binary mask processing applied to speech in babble. Degree of hearing loss and working memory capacity did not predict listeners' quality ratings. The results indicate that envelope fidelity is a primary factor in determining the combined effects of noise and binary mask processing for intelligibility and quality of speech presented in babble noise. Degree of hearing loss and working memory capacity are significant factors in explaining variability in listeners' speech intelligibility scores but not in quality ratings.

Musician enhancement for speech-in-noise.

PubMed

Parbery-Clark, Alexandra; Skoe, Erika; Lam, Carrie; Kraus, Nina

2009-12-01

To investigate the effect of musical training on speech-in-noise (SIN) performance, a complex task requiring the integration of working memory and stream segregation as well as the detection of time-varying perceptual cues. Previous research has indicated that, in combination with lifelong experience with musical stream segregation, musicians have better auditory perceptual skills and working memory. It was hypothesized that musicians would benefit from these factors and perform better on speech perception in noise than age-matched nonmusician controls. The performance of 16 musicians and 15 nonmusicians was compared on clinical measures of speech perception in noise-QuickSIN and Hearing-In-Noise Test (HINT). Working memory capacity and frequency discrimination were also assessed. All participants had normal hearing and were between the ages of 19 and 31 yr. To be categorized as a musician, participants needed to have started musical training before the age of 7 yr, have 10 or more years of consistent musical experience, and have practiced more than three times weekly within the 3 yr before study enrollment. Nonmusicians were categorized by the failure to meet the musician criteria, along with not having received musical training within the 7 yr before the study. Musicians outperformed the nonmusicians on both QuickSIN and HINT, in addition to having more fine-grained frequency discrimination and better working memory. Years of consistent musical practice correlated positively with QuickSIN, working memory, and frequency discrimination but not HINT. The results also indicate that working memory and frequency discrimination are more important for QuickSIN than for HINT. Musical experience appears to enhance the ability to hear speech in challenging listening environments. Large group differences were found for QuickSIN, and the results also suggest that this enhancement is derived in part from musicians' enhanced working memory and frequency discrimination. For HINT, in which performance was not linked to frequency discrimination ability and was only moderately linked to working memory, musicians still performed significantly better than the nonmusicians. The group differences for HINT were evident in the most difficult condition in which the speech and noise were presented from the same location and not spatially segregated. Understanding which cognitive and psychoacoustic factors as well as which lifelong experiences contribute to SIN may lead to more effective remediation programs for clinical populations for whom SIN poses a particular perceptual challenge. These results provide further evidence for musical training transferring to nonmusical domains and highlight the importance of taking musical training into consideration when evaluating a person's SIN ability in a clinical setting.

Carotid β-stiffness index is associated with slower processing speed but not working memory or white matter integrity in healthy middle-aged/older adults

PubMed Central

DuBose, Lyndsey E.; Voss, Michelle W.; Weng, Timothy B.; Kent, James D.; Dubishar, Kaitlyn M.; Lane-Cordova, Abbi; Sigurdsson, Gardar; Schmid, Phillip; Barlow, Patrick B.

2017-01-01

Aging is associated with increased carotid artery stiffness, a predictor of incident stroke, and reduced cognitive performance and brain white matter integrity (WMI) in humans. Therefore, we hypothesized that higher carotid stiffness/lower compliance would be independently associated with slower processing speed, higher working memory cost, and lower WMI in healthy middle-aged/older (MA/O) adults. Carotid β-stiffness (P < 0.001) was greater and compliance (P < 0.001) was lower in MA/O (n = 32; 64.4 ± 4.3 yr) vs. young (n = 19; 23.8 ± 2.9 yr) adults. MA/O adults demonstrated slower processing speed (27.4 ± 4.6 vs. 35.4 ± 5.0 U/60 s, P < 0.001) and higher working memory cost (−15.4 ± 0.14 vs. −2.2 ± 0.05%, P < 0.001) vs. young adults. Global WMI was lower in MA/O adults (P < 0.001) and regionally in the frontal lobe (P = 0.020) and genu (P = 0.009). In the entire cohort, multiple regression analysis that included education, sex, and body mass index, carotid β-stiffness index (B = −0.53 ± 0.15 U, P = 0.001) and age group (B = −4.61 ± 1.7, P = 0.012, adjusted R2 = 0.4) predicted processing speed but not working memory cost or WMI. Among MA/O adults, higher β-stiffness (B = −0.60 ± 0.18, P = 0.002) and lower compliance (B = 0.93 ± 0.26, P = 0.002) were associated with slower processing speed but not working memory cost or WMI. These data suggest that greater carotid artery stiffness is independently and selectively associated with slower processing speed but not working memory among MA/O adults. Carotid artery stiffening may modulate reductions in processing speed earlier than working memory with healthy aging in humans. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Previously, studies investigating the relation between large elastic artery stiffness, cognition, and brain structure have focused mainly on aortic stiffness in aged individuals with cardiovascular disease risk factors and other comorbidities. This study adds to the field by demonstrating that the age-related increases in carotid artery stiffness, but not aortic stiffness, is independently and selectively associated with slower processing speed but not working memory among middle-aged/older adults with low cardiovascular disease risk factor burden. PMID:28126907

Carotid β-stiffness index is associated with slower processing speed but not working memory or white matter integrity in healthy middle-aged/older adults.

PubMed

DuBose, Lyndsey E; Voss, Michelle W; Weng, Timothy B; Kent, James D; Dubishar, Kaitlyn M; Lane-Cordova, Abbi; Sigurdsson, Gardar; Schmid, Phillip; Barlow, Patrick B; Pierce, Gary L

2017-04-01

Aging is associated with increased carotid artery stiffness, a predictor of incident stroke, and reduced cognitive performance and brain white matter integrity (WMI) in humans. Therefore, we hypothesized that higher carotid stiffness/lower compliance would be independently associated with slower processing speed, higher working memory cost, and lower WMI in healthy middle-aged/older (MA/O) adults. Carotid β-stiffness ( P < 0.001) was greater and compliance ( P < 0.001) was lower in MA/O ( n = 32; 64.4 ± 4.3 yr) vs. young ( n = 19; 23.8 ± 2.9 yr) adults. MA/O adults demonstrated slower processing speed (27.4 ± 4.6 vs. 35.4 ± 5.0 U/60 s, P < 0.001) and higher working memory cost (-15.4 ± 0.14 vs. -2.2 ± 0.05%, P < 0.001) vs. young adults. Global WMI was lower in MA/O adults ( P < 0.001) and regionally in the frontal lobe ( P = 0.020) and genu ( P = 0.009). In the entire cohort, multiple regression analysis that included education, sex, and body mass index, carotid β-stiffness index (B = -0.53 ± 0.15 U, P = 0.001) and age group (B = -4.61 ± 1.7, P = 0.012, adjusted R 2 = 0.4) predicted processing speed but not working memory cost or WMI. Among MA/O adults, higher β-stiffness (B = -0.60 ± 0.18, P = 0.002) and lower compliance (B = 0.93 ± 0.26, P = 0.002) were associated with slower processing speed but not working memory cost or WMI. These data suggest that greater carotid artery stiffness is independently and selectively associated with slower processing speed but not working memory among MA/O adults. Carotid artery stiffening may modulate reductions in processing speed earlier than working memory with healthy aging in humans. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Previously, studies investigating the relation between large elastic artery stiffness, cognition, and brain structure have focused mainly on aortic stiffness in aged individuals with cardiovascular disease risk factors and other comorbidities. This study adds to the field by demonstrating that the age-related increases in carotid artery stiffness, but not aortic stiffness, is independently and selectively associated with slower processing speed but not working memory among middle-aged/older adults with low cardiovascular disease risk factor burden. Copyright © 2017 the American Physiological Society.

Influence of early attentional modulation on working memory

PubMed Central

Gazzaley, Adam

2011-01-01

It is now established that attention influences working memory (WM) at multiple processing stages. This liaison between attention and WM poses several interesting empirical questions. Notably, does attention impact WM via its influences on early perceptual processing? If so, what are the critical factors at play in this attention-perception-WM interaction. I review recent data from our laboratory utilizing a variety of techniques (electroencephalography (EEG), functional MRI (fMRI) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)), stimuli (features and complex objects), novel experimental paradigms, and research populations (younger and older adults), which converge to support the conclusion that top-down modulation of visual cortical activity at early perceptual processing stages (100–200 ms after stimulus onset) impacts subsequent WM performance. Factors that affect attentional control at this stage include cognitive load, task practice, perceptual training, and aging. These developments highlight the complex and dynamic relationships among perception, attention, and memory. PMID:21184764

Persistence of Gender Related-Effects on Visuo-Spatial and Verbal Working Memory in Right Brain-Damaged Patients

PubMed Central

Piccardi, Laura; Matano, Alessandro; D’Antuono, Giovanni; Marin, Dario; Ciurli, Paola; Incoccia, Chiara; Verde, Paola; Guariglia, Paola

2016-01-01

The aim of the present study was to verify if gender differences in verbal and visuo-spatial working memory would persist following right cerebral lesions. To pursue our aim we investigated a large sample (n. 346) of right brain-damaged patients and healthy participants (n. 272) for the presence of gender effects in performing Corsi and Digit Test. We also assessed a subgroup of patients (n. 109) for the nature (active vs. passive) of working memory tasks. We tested working memory (WM) administering the Corsi Test (CBT) and the Digit Span (DS) using two different versions: forward (fCBT and fDS), subjects were required to repeat stimuli in the same order that they were presented; and backward (bCBT and bDS), subjects were required to repeat stimuli in the opposite order of presentation. In this way, passive storage and active processing of working memory were assessed. Our results showed the persistence of gender-related effects in spite of the presence of right brain lesions. We found that men outperformed women both in CBT and DS, regardless of active and passive processing of verbal and visuo-spatial stimuli. The presence of visuo-spatial disorders (i.e., hemineglect) can affect the performance on Corsi Test. In our sample, men and women were equally affected by hemineglect, therefore it did not mask the gender effect. Generally speaking, the persistence of the men’s superiority in visuo-spatial tasks may be interpreted as a protective factor, at least for men, within other life factors such as level of education or kind of profession before retirement. PMID:27445734

Working memory training in healthy young adults: Support for the null from a randomized comparison to active and passive control groups

PubMed Central

Lawlor-Savage, Linette; Goghari, Vina M.

2017-01-01

Training of working memory as a method of increasing working memory capacity and fluid intelligence has received much attention in recent years. This burgeoning field remains highly controversial with empirically-backed disagreements at all levels of evidence, including individual studies, systematic reviews, and even meta-analyses. The current study investigated the effect of a randomized six week online working memory intervention on untrained cognitive abilities in a community-recruited sample of healthy young adults, in relation to both a processing speed training active control condition, as well as a no-contact control condition. Results of traditional null hypothesis significance testing, as well as Bayesian factor analyses, revealed support for the null hypothesis across all cognitive tests administered before and after training. Importantly, all three groups were similar at pre-training for a variety of individual variables purported to moderate transfer of training to fluid intelligence, including personality traits, motivation to train, and expectations of cognitive improvement from training. Because these results are consistent with experimental trials of equal or greater methodological rigor, we suggest that future research re-focus on: 1) other promising interventions known to increase memory performance in healthy young adults, and; 2) examining sub-populations or alternative populations in which working memory training may be efficacious. PMID:28558000

Quantity not quality: The relationship between fluid intelligence and working memory capacity

PubMed Central

Fukuda, Keisuke; Vogel, Edward; Mayr, Ulrich; Awh, Edward

2010-01-01

A key motivation for understanding capacity in working memory (WM) is its relationship with fluid intelligence. Recent evidence has suggested a 2-factor model that distinguishes between the number of representations that can be maintained in WM and the resolution of those representations. To determine how these factors relate to fluid intelligence, we conducted an exploratory factor analysis on multiple number-limited and resolution-limited measures of WM ability. The results strongly supported the 2-factor model, with fully orthogonal factors accounting for performance in the number-limited and resolution-limited conditions. Furthermore, the reliable relationship between WM capacity and fluid intelligence was exclusively supported by the number factor (r = .66), while the resolution factor made no reliable contribution (r = −.05). Thus, the relationship between WM capacity and standard measures of fluid intelligence is mediated by the number of representations that can be simultaneously maintained in WM rather than by the precision of those representations. PMID:21037165

Consequences of Adolescent Exposure to the Cannabinoid Receptor Agonist WIN55,212-2 on Working Memory in Female Rats.

PubMed

Kirschmann, Erin K; McCalley, Daniel M; Edwards, Caitlyn M; Torregrossa, Mary M

2017-01-01

Marijuana is a prevalent illicit substance used by adolescents, and several studies have indicated that adolescent use can lead to long-term cognitive deficits including problems with attention and memory. However, preclinical animal studies that observe cognitive deficits after cannabinoid exposure during adolescence utilize experimenter administration of doses of cannabinoids that may exceed what an organism would choose to take, suggesting that contingency and dose are critical factors that need to be addressed in translational models of consequences of cannabinoid exposure. Indeed, we recently developed an adolescent cannabinoid self-administration paradigm in male rats, and found that prior adolescent self-administration of the cannabinoid receptor agonist WIN55,212-2 (WIN) resulted in improved working memory performance in adulthood. In addition, the doses self-administered were not as high as those that are found to produce memory deficits. However, given known sex differences in both drug self-administration and learning and memory processes, it is possible that cannabinoid self-administration could have different cognitive consequences in females. Therefore, we aimed to explore the effects of self-administered vs. experimenter-administered WIN in adolescent female rats on adult cognitive function. Female rats were trained to self-administer WIN daily throughout adolescence (postnatal day 34-59). A control group self-administered vehicle solution. The acute effects of adolescent WIN self-administration on memory were determined using a short-term spatial memory test 24 h after final SA session; and the long-term effects on cognitive performance were assessed during protracted abstinence in adulthood using a delayed-match-to-sample working memory task. In a separate experiment, females were given daily intraperitoneal (IP) injections of a low or high dose of WIN, corresponding to self-administered and typical experimenter-administered doses, respectively, or its vehicle during adolescence and working memory was assessed under drug-free conditions in adulthood. While self-administration of WIN in adolescence had no significant effects on short-term spatial memory or adult working memory, experimenter administration of WIN resulted in improved adult working memory performance that was more pronounced in the low dose group. Thus, low-dose adolescent WIN exposure, whether self-administered or experimenter-administered, results in either improvements or no change in adult working memory performance in female rats, similar to previous results found in males.

Working memory mediates the effects of gestational age at birth on expressive language development in children.

PubMed

Riva, Valentina; Cantiani, Chiara; Dionne, Ginette; Marini, Andrea; Mascheretti, Sara; Molteni, Massimo; Marino, Cecilia

2017-07-01

This study tested the role of temporary memory, measured by phonological short-term memory (pSTM) and verbal working memory (vWM), as a mediator of the effect of 3 putative risk factors (i.e., socioeconomic status, home literacy environment, birth gestational age) upon expressive and receptive language. A community-based sample of 646 Italian children aged 6-11 years was assessed with a comprehensive battery of language and cognitive tests. A mediation analysis was used to examine whether memory mediates environmental/biological effects on language. The results demonstrated a developmental cascade of effects, whereby the duration of pregnancy drives vWM functioning that, in turn, may affect expressive linguistic outcome Conclusion: Treatments focused on vWM, specifically to preterm children, may improve their language development, with enduring consequences on educational and psychosocial outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Mental Objects in Working Memory: Development of Basic Capacity or of Cognitive Completion?

PubMed Central

Cowan, Nelson

2018-01-01

Working memory is the small amount of information that we hold in mind and use to carry out cognitive processes such as language comprehension and production, problem-solving, and decision-making. In order to understand cognitive development, it would be helpful to know whether working memory increases in capacity with development and, if so, how and why. I will focus on two major stumbling blocks toward understanding working memory development, namely that (1) many potentially relevant aspects of the mind change in parallel during development, obscuring the role of any one change; and (2) one cannot use the same test procedure from infancy to adulthood, complicating comparisons across age groups. With regard to the first stumbling block, the parallel development of different aspects of the mind, we discuss research in which attempts were made to hold constant some factors (knowledge, strategies, direction of attention) to investigate whether developmental differences remain. With regard to the second stumbling block, procedural differences in tests at different age groups, I suggest ways in which the results might be reconciled across procedures. I highlight the value of pursuing research that could distinguish between two different key hypotheses that emerge: that there is a developmental increase in the number of working memory slots (or in a basic resource that holds items in working memory), and that there is a developmental increase in the amount of detail that each of these slots can hold. PMID:28215289

Mental Objects in Working Memory: Development of Basic Capacity or of Cognitive Completion?

PubMed

Cowan, N

2017-01-01

Working memory is the small amount of information that we hold in mind and use to carry out cognitive processes such as language comprehension and production, problem solving, and decision making. In order to understand cognitive development, it would be helpful to know whether working memory increases in capacity with development and, if so, how and why. I will focus on two major stumbling blocks toward understanding working memory development, namely that (1) many potentially relevant aspects of the mind change in parallel during development, obscuring the role of any one change; and (2) one cannot use the same test procedure from infancy to adulthood, complicating comparisons across age groups. With regard to the first stumbling block, the parallel development of different aspects of the mind, we discuss research in which attempts were made to hold constant some factors (knowledge, strategies, direction of attention) to investigate whether developmental differences remain. With regard to the second stumbling block, procedural differences in tests for different age groups, I suggest ways in which the results might be reconciled across procedures. I highlight the value of pursuing research that could distinguish between two different key hypotheses that emerge: that there is a developmental increase in the number of working memory slots (or in a basic resource that holds items in working memory), and that there is a developmental increase in the amount of detail that each of these slots can hold. © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effects of working memory load and repeated scenario exposure on emergency braking performance.

PubMed

Engström, Johan; Aust, Mikael Ljung; Viström, Matias

2010-10-01

The objective of the present study was to examine the effect of working memory load on drivers' responses to a suddenly braking lead vehicle and whether this effect (if any) is moderated by repeated scenario exposure. Several experimental studies have found delayed braking responses to lead vehicle braking events during concurrent performance of nonvisual, working memory-loading tasks, such as hands-free phone conversation. However, the common use of repeated, and hence somewhat expected, braking events may undermine the generalizability of these results to naturalistic, unexpected, emergency braking scenarios. A critical lead vehicle braking scenario was implemented in a fixed-based simulator.The effects of working memory load and repeated scenario exposure on braking performance were examined. Brake response time was decomposed into accelerator pedal release time and accelerator-to-brake pedal movement time. Accelerator pedal release times were strongly reduced with repeated scenario exposure and were delayed by working memory load with a small but significant amount (178 ms).The two factors did not interact. There were no effects on accelerator-to-brake pedal movement time. The results suggest that effects of working memory load on response performance obtained from repeated critical lead vehicle braking scenarios may be validly generalized to real world unexpected events. The results have important implications for the interpretation of braking performance in experimental settings, in particular in the context of safety-related evaluation of in-vehicle information and communication technologies.

Reaction Times to Consecutive Automation Failures: A Function of Working Memory and Sustained Attention.

PubMed

Jipp, Meike

2016-12-01

This study explored whether working memory and sustained attention influence cognitive lock-up, which is a delay in the response to consecutive automation failures. Previous research has demonstrated that the information that automation provides about failures and the time pressure that is associated with a task influence cognitive lock-up. Previous research has also demonstrated considerable variability in cognitive lock-up between participants. This is why individual differences might influence cognitive lock-up. The present study tested whether working memory-including flexibility in executive functioning-and sustained attention might be crucial in this regard. Eighty-five participants were asked to monitor automated aircraft functions. The experimental manipulation consisted of whether or not an initial automation failure was followed by a consecutive failure. Reaction times to the failures were recorded. Participants' working-memory and sustained-attention abilities were assessed with standardized tests. As expected, participants' reactions to consecutive failures were slower than their reactions to initial failures. In addition, working-memory and sustained-attention abilities enhanced the speed with which participants reacted to failures, more so with regard to consecutive than to initial failures. The findings highlight that operators with better working memory and sustained attention have small advantages when initial failures occur, but their advantages increase across consecutive failures. The results stress the need to consider personnel selection strategies to mitigate cognitive lock-up in general and training procedures to enhance the performance of low ability operators. © 2016, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

Can improving working memory prevent academic difficulties? A school based randomised controlled trial.

PubMed

Roberts, Gehan; Quach, Jon; Gold, Lisa; Anderson, Peter; Rickards, Field; Mensah, Fiona; Ainley, John; Gathercole, Susan; Wake, Melissa

2011-06-20

Low academic achievement is common and is associated with adverse outcomes such as grade repetition, behavioural disorders and unemployment. The ability to accurately identify these children and intervene before they experience academic failure would be a major advance over the current 'wait to fail' model. Recent research suggests that a possible modifiable factor for low academic achievement is working memory, the ability to temporarily store and manipulate information in a 'mental workspace'. Children with working memory difficulties are at high risk of academic failure. It has recently been demonstrated that working memory can be improved with adaptive training tasks that encourage improvements in working memory capacity. Our trial will determine whether the intervention is efficacious as a selective prevention strategy for young children at risk of academic difficulties and is cost-effective. This randomised controlled trial aims to recruit 440 children with low working memory after a school-based screening of 2880 children in Grade one. We will approach caregivers of all children from 48 participating primary schools in metropolitan Melbourne for consent. Children with low working memory will be randomised to usual care or the intervention. The intervention will consist of 25 computerised working memory training sessions, which take approximately 35 minutes each to complete. Follow-up of children will be conducted at 6, 12 and 24 months post-randomisation through child face-to-face assessment, parent and teacher surveys and data from government authorities. The primary outcome is academic achievement at 12 and 24 months, and other outcomes include child behaviour, attention, health-related quality of life, working memory, and health and educational service utilisation. A successful start to formal learning in school sets the stage for future academic, psychological and economic well-being. If this preventive intervention can be shown to be efficacious, then we will have the potential to prevent academic underachievement in large numbers of at-risk children, to offer a ready-to-use intervention to the Australian school system and to build international research partnerships along the health-education interface, in order to carry our further studies of effectiveness and generalisability.

Longitudinal Study of the Transition From Healthy Aging to Alzheimer Disease

PubMed Central

Johnson, David K.; Storandt, Martha; Morris, John C.; Galvin, James E.

2009-01-01

Background Detection of the earliest cognitive changes signifying Alzheimer disease is difficult. Objective To model the cognitive decline in preclinical Alzheimer disease. Design Longitudinal archival study comparing individuals who became demented during follow-up and people who remained nondemented on each of 4 cognitive factors: global, verbal memory, visuospatial, and working memory. Setting Alzheimer Disease Research Center, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri. Participants One hundred thirty-four individuals who became demented during follow-up and 310 who remained nondemented. Main Outcome Measures Inflection point in longitudinal cognitive performance. Results The best-fitting model for each of the 4 factors in the stable group was linear, with a very slight downward trend on all but the Visuospatial factor. In contrast, a piecewise model with accelerated slope after a sharp inflection point provided the best fit for the group that progressed. The optimal inflection point for all 4 factors was prior to diagnosis of dementia: Global, 2 years; Verbal and Working Memory, 1 year; and Visuospatial, 3 years. These results were also obtained when data were limited to the subset (n=44) with autopsy-confirmed Alzheimer disease. Conclusions There is a sharp inflection point followed by accelerating decline in multiple domains of cognition, not just memory, in the preclinical period in Alzheimer disease when there is insufficient cognitive decline to warrant clinical diagnosis using conventional criteria. Early change was seen in tests of visuospatial ability, most of which were speeded. Research into early detection of cognitive disorders using only episodic memory tasks may not be sensitive to all of the early manifestations of disease. PMID:19822781

Erythropoietin Attenuates the Memory Deficits in Aging Rats by Rescuing the Oxidative Stress and Inflammation and Promoting BDNF Releasing.

PubMed

Jia, Zhankui; Xue, Rui; Ma, Shengli; Xu, Jingjing; Guo, Si; Li, Songchao; Zhang, Erwei; Wang, Jun; Yang, Jinjian

2016-10-01

Aging is a natural process accompanied with many disorders, including the memory decline. The underlying mechanisms for the age-related memory decline are complicated. Previous work suggested that oxidative stress, inflammatory disturbance, and the neurotropic absence play important roles in the age-related disorders. Thus, to seek a drug to target those abnormalities might be a possible protective approach for aging. Here, we reported that supplements with exogenous erythropoietin (EPO) for 4 weeks could partially rescue the spatial and fear memory impairments in aged rats. The EPO treatment also suppresses the oxidative stress and inflammatory response. Most importantly, EPO supplement restores the mRNA and protein levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), the critical neurotropic factor for synaptic plasticity and memory. Our study strongly suggests the potential usage of EPO in an anti-aging agent clinically.

Contribution of neurocognition to 18-month employment outcomes in first-episode psychosis.

PubMed

Karambelas, George J; Cotton, Sue M; Farhall, John; Killackey, Eóin; Allott, Kelly A

2017-10-27

To examine whether baseline neurocognition predicts vocational outcomes over 18 months in patients with first-episode psychosis enrolled in a randomized controlled trial of Individual Placement and Support or treatment as usual. One-hundred and thirty-four first-episode psychosis participants completed an extensive neurocognitive battery. Principal axis factor analysis using PROMAX rotation was used to determine the underlying structure of the battery. Setwise (hierarchical) multiple linear and logistic regressions were used to examine predictors of (1) total hours employed over 18 months and (2) employment status, respectively. Neurocognition factors were entered in the models after accounting for age, gender, premorbid IQ, negative symptoms, treatment group allocation and employment status at baseline. Five neurocognitive factors were extracted: (1) processing speed, (2) verbal learning and memory, (3) knowledge and reasoning, (4) attention and working memory and (5) visual organization and memory. Employment status over 18 months was not significantly predicted by any of the predictors in the final model. Total hours employed over 18 months were significantly predicted by gender (P = .027), negative symptoms (P = .032) and verbal learning and memory (P = .040). Every step of the regression model was a significant predictor of total hours worked overall (final model: P = .013). Verbal learning and memory, negative symptoms and gender were implicated in duration of employment in first-episode psychosis. The other neurocognitive domains did not significantly contribute to the prediction of vocational outcomes over 18 months. Interventions targeting verbal memory may improve vocational outcomes in early psychosis. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

The relative contribution of neurocognition and social cognition to 6-month vocational outcomes following Individual Placement and Support in first-episode psychosis.

PubMed

Allott, Kelly A; Cotton, Susan M; Chinnery, Gina L; Baksheev, Gennady N; Massey, Jessica; Sun, Pamela; Collins, Zoe; Barlow, Emma; Broussard, Christina; Wahid, Tasha; Proffitt, Tina-Marie; Jackson, Henry J; Killackey, Eoin

2013-10-01

To examine whether baseline neurocognition and social cognition predict vocational outcomes over 6 months in patients with first-episode psychosis (FEP) enrolled in a randomised controlled trial of Individual Placement and Support (IPS) versus treatment as usual (TAU). 135 FEP participants (IPS n=69; TAU n=66) completed a comprehensive neurocognitive and social cognitive battery. Principal axis factor analysis using PROMAX rotation was used to determine the underlying cognitive structure of the battery. Setwise (hierarchical) logistic and multivariate linear regressions were used to examine predictors of: (a) enrolment in education and employment; and (b) hours of employment over 6 months. Neurocognition and social cognition factors were entered into the models after accounting for premorbid IQ, baseline functioning and treatment group. Six cognitive factors were extracted: (i) social cognition; (ii) information processing speed; (iii) verbal learning and memory; (iv) attention and working memory; (v) visual organisation and memory; and (vi) verbal comprehension. Enrolment in education over 6 months was predicted by enrolment in education at baseline (p=.002) and poorer visual organisation and memory (p=.024). Employment over 6 months was predicted by employment at baseline (p=.041) and receiving IPS (p=.020). Better visual organisation and memory predicted total hours of paid work over 6 months (p<.001). Visual organisation and memory predicted the enrolment in education and duration of employment, after accounting for premorbid IQ, baseline functioning and treatment. Social cognition did not contribute to the prediction of vocational outcomes. Neurocognitive interventions may enhance employment duration in FEP. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Preliminary findings of the effects of rivastigmine, an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, on working memory in cocaine-dependent volunteers

PubMed Central

Mahoney, James J.; Kalechstein, Ari D.; Verrico, Christopher D.; Arnoudse, Nicholas M.; Shapiro, Benjamin A.; De La Garza, Richard

2015-01-01

Long-term cocaine use is a risk factor for the onset of neurocognitive impairment. This study sought to determine whether the cholinesterase inhibitor rivastigmine could improve neurocognitive performance in cocaine-dependent individuals. Cocaine-dependent individuals who were not seeking treatment at the time of enrollment in the study were randomly assigned to receive placebo (n = 16), rivastigmine 3 mg (n = 13), or rivastigmine 6 mg (n = 12). The baseline neurocognitive assessment, which included measures of attention/information processing (as measured by the Continuous Performance Task-II (CPT-II)), verbal learning/episodic memory (as measured by the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised (HVLT-R)), and working memory (as measured by the Dual N-Back Task), was conducted prior to the administration of study medication (Day 0). The follow-up assessment was conducted on Day 8 after the participants had received rivastigmine or placebo for 7 days (Day 2–8). Rivastigmine administration significantly improved performance on one measure of working memory span (mean n-back span). This study provides additional data showing that cocaine-associated neurocognitive impairment, specifically working memory deficits, can be remediated, at least to some degree. PMID:24239594

Preliminary findings of the effects of rivastigmine, an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, on working memory in cocaine-dependent volunteers.

PubMed

Mahoney, James J; Kalechstein, Ari D; Verrico, Christopher D; Arnoudse, Nicholas M; Shapiro, Benjamin A; De La Garza, Richard

2014-04-03

Long-term cocaine use is a risk factor for the onset of neurocognitive impairment. This study sought to determine whether the cholinesterase inhibitor rivastigmine could improve neurocognitive performance in cocaine-dependent individuals. Cocaine-dependent individuals who were not seeking treatment at the time of enrollment in the study were randomly assigned to receive placebo (n=16), rivastigmine 3mg (n=13), or rivastigmine 6mg (n=12). The baseline neurocognitive assessment, which included measures of attention/information processing (as measured by the Continuous Performance Task-II (CPT-II)), verbal learning/episodic memory (as measured by the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised (HVLT-R)), and working memory (as measured by the Dual N-Back Task), was conducted prior to the administration of study medication (Day 0). The follow-up assessment was conducted on Day 8 after the participants had received rivastigmine or placebo for 7days (Day 2-8). Rivastigmine administration significantly improved performance on one measure of working memory span (mean n-back span). This study provides additional data showing that cocaine-associated neurocognitive impairment, specifically working memory deficits, can be remediated, at least to some degree. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Object-based benefits without object-based representations.

PubMed

Fougnie, Daryl; Cormiea, Sarah M; Alvarez, George A

2013-08-01

Influential theories of visual working memory have proposed that the basic units of memory are integrated object representations. Key support for this proposal is provided by the same object benefit: It is easier to remember multiple features of a single object than the same set of features distributed across multiple objects. Here, we replicate the object benefit but demonstrate that features are not stored as single, integrated representations. Specifically, participants could remember 10 features better when arranged in 5 objects compared to 10 objects, yet memory for one object feature was largely independent of memory for the other object feature. These results rule out the possibility that integrated representations drive the object benefit and require a revision of the concept of object-based memory representations. We propose that working memory is object-based in regard to the factors that enhance performance but feature based in regard to the level of representational failure. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Individual differences in false memory from misinformation: cognitive factors.

PubMed

Zhu, Bi; Chen, Chuansheng; Loftus, Elizabeth F; Lin, Chongde; He, Qinghua; Chen, Chunhui; Li, He; Xue, Gui; Lu, Zhonglin; Dong, Qi

2010-07-01

This research investigated the cognitive correlates of false memories that are induced by the misinformation paradigm. A large sample of Chinese college students (N=436) participated in a misinformation procedure and also took a battery of cognitive tests. Results revealed sizable and systematic individual differences in false memory arising from exposure to misinformation. False memories were significantly and negatively correlated with measures of intelligence (measured with Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale), perception (Motor-Free Visual Perception Test, Change Blindness, and Tone Discrimination), memory (Wechsler Memory Scales and 2-back Working Memory tasks), and face judgement (Face Recognition and Facial Expression Recognition). These findings suggest that people with relatively low intelligence and poor perceptual abilities might be more susceptible to the misinformation effect.

Sentence comprehension following moderate closed head injury in adults.

PubMed

Leikin, Mark; Ibrahim, Raphiq; Aharon-Peretz, Judith

2012-09-01

The current study explores sentence comprehension impairments among adults following moderate closed head injury. It was hypothesized that if the factor of syntactic complexity significantly affects sentence comprehension in these patients, it would testify to the existence of syntactic processing deficit along with working-memory problems. Thirty-six adults (18 closed head injury patients and 18 healthy controls matched in age, gender, and IQ) participated in the study. A picture-sentence matching task together with various tests for memory, language, and reading abilities were used to explore whether sentence comprehension impairments exist as a result of a deficit in syntactic processing or of working-memory dysfunction. Results indicate significant impairment in sentence comprehension among adults with closed head injury compared with their non-head-injured peers. Results also reveal that closed head injury patients demonstrate considerable decline in working memory, short-term memory, and semantic knowledge. Analysis of the results shows that memory impairment and syntactic complexity contribute significantly to sentence comprehension difficulties in closed head injury patients. At the same time, the presentation mode (spoken or written language) was found to have no effect on comprehension among adults with closed head injury, and their reading abilities appear to be relatively intact.

Depressive Symptoms Affect Working Memory in Healthy Older Adult Hispanics.

PubMed

Salazar-Villanea, Monica; Liebmann, Edward; Garnier-Villarreal, Mauricio; Montenegro-Montenegro, Esteban; Johnson, David K

2015-10-01

Low and middle income nations will experience an unprecedented growth of the elderly population and subsequent increase in age-related neurological disorders. Worldwide prevalence and incidence of all-types of neurological disorders with serious mental health complications will increase with life expectancy across the globe. One-in- ten individuals over 75 has at least moderate cognitive impairment. Prevalence of cognitive impairment doubles every 5 years thereafter. Latin America's population of older adult's 65 years and older is growing rapidly, yet little is known about cognitive aging among healthy older Latinos. Clinically significant depressive symptomatology is common among community-dwelling older adults and is associated with deficits across multiple cognitive domains, however much of the literature has not modeled the unique effects of depression distinct from negative and low positive affect. Our objective was to understand how mental health affects cognitive health in healthy aging Latinos. The present study used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the relative effects of Negative Affect, Positive Affect and Geriatric Depression on Verbal Memory, Verbal Reasoning, Processing Speed, and Working Memory in healthy aging Latinos. Data was collected from a sample of healthy community dwelling older adults living in San Jose, Costa Rica. Modeling of latent variables attenuated error and improved measurement reliability of cognition, affect, and depression variables. Costa Ricans enjoy a notoriety for being much happier than US citizens and are renowned as one of the happiest nations in the world in global surveys. This was born out in these data. Costa Rican affective profiles differed substantively from US profiles. Levels of negative affect and depression were similar to US samples, but their levels of positive affect were much higher. Cognitive performance of these Costa Rican older adults was similar to US-age and education matched peers. CFA and SEM found that increased depressive symptomatology had deleterious effects on Working Memory made up of subtest scores sampling simple attention and vigilance for numbers. Verbal Memory, Verbal Reasoning, and Processing Speed were not affected by self-reported Positive Affect, Negative Affect or Depressive symptoms. Costa Rican older adults were happy, as evidenced by the high ratio of positive affect to relatively low negative affect. Thus, we were somewhat surprised to find that depressive symptoms were selectively correlated to decrements in working memory and that negative and positive affect contributed negligible amounts of variance to any of the cognitive factors. Because of the methodological rigor of latent variable analysis, these results are very specific. The Working Memory factor is not contaminated with Speed of Processing or other measured cognitive factors. Likewise, the measured Geriatric Depression represents symptoms that are richly cognitive, not overtly affective.

Similarity-based interference in a working memory numerical updating task: age-related differences between younger and older adults.

PubMed

Pelegrina, Santiago; Borella, Erika; Carretti, Barbara; Lechuga, M Teresa

2012-01-01

Similarity among representations held simultaneously in working memory (WM) is a factor which increases interference and hinders performance. The aim of the current study was to investigate age-related differences between younger and older adults in a working memory numerical updating task, in which the similarity between information held in WM was manipulated. Results showed a higher susceptibility of older adults to similarity-based interference when accuracy, and not response times, was considered. It was concluded that older adults' WM difficulties appear to be due to the availability of stored information, which, in turn, might be related to the ability to generate distinctive representations and to the process of binding such representations to their context when similar information has to be processed in WM.

Subtypes and comorbidity in mathematical learning disabilities: Multidimensional study of verbal and visual memory processes is key to understanding.

PubMed

Szűcs, D

2016-01-01

A large body of research suggests that mathematical learning disability (MLD) is related to working memory impairment. Here, I organize part of this literature through a meta-analysis of 36 studies with 665 MLD and 1049 control participants. I demonstrate that one subtype of MLD is associated with reading problems and weak verbal short-term and working memory. Another subtype of MLD does not have associated reading problems and is linked to weak visuospatial short-term and working memory. In order to better understand MLD we need to precisely define potentially modality-specific memory subprocesses and supporting executive functions, relevant for mathematical learning. This can be achieved by taking a multidimensional parametric approach systematically probing an extended network of cognitive functions. Rather than creating arbitrary subgroups and/or focus on a single factor, highly powered studies need to position individuals in a multidimensional parametric space. This will allow us to understand the multidimensional structure of cognitive functions and their relationship to mathematical performance. © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Reading Comprehension in Children with ADHD: Cognitive Underpinnings of the Centrality Deficit

PubMed Central

Miller, Amanda C.; Keenan, Janice M.; Betjemann, Rebecca S.; Willcutt, Erik; Pennington, Bruce F.; Olson, Richard K.

2012-01-01

We examined reading comprehension in children with ADHD by assessing their ability to build a coherent mental representation that allows them to recall central and peripheral information. We compared children with ADHD (mean age 9.78) to word reading-matched controls (mean age 9.89) on their ability to retell a passage. We found that even though children with ADHD recalled more central than peripheral information, they showed their greatest deficit, relative to controls, on central information – a centrality deficit (Miller & Keenan, 2009). We explored the cognitive underpinnings of this deficit using regressions to compare how well cognitive factors (working memory, inhibition, processing speed, and IQ) predicted the ability to recall central information, after controlling for word reading ability, and whether these cognitive factors interacted with ADHD symptoms. Working memory accounted for the most unique variance. Although previous evidence for reading comprehension difficulties in children with ADHD have been mixed, this study suggests that even when word reading ability is controlled, children with ADHD have difficulty building a coherent mental representation, and this difficulty is likely related to deficits in working memory. PMID:23054132

Visual selective attention is equally functional for individuals with low and high working memory capacity: evidence from accuracy and eye movements.

PubMed

Mall, Jonathan T; Morey, Candice C; Wolff, Michael J; Lehnert, Franziska

2014-10-01

Selective attention and working memory capacity (WMC) are related constructs, but debate about the manner in which they are related remains active. One elegant explanation of variance in WMC is that the efficiency of filtering irrelevant information is the crucial determining factor, rather than differences in capacity per se. We examined this hypothesis by relating WMC (as measured by complex span tasks) to accuracy and eye movements during visual change detection tasks with different degrees of attentional filtering and allocation requirements. Our results did not indicate strong filtering differences between high- and low-WMC groups, and where differences were observed, they were counter to those predicted by the strongest attentional filtering hypothesis. Bayes factors indicated evidence favoring positive or null relationships between WMC and correct responses to unemphasized information, as well as between WMC and the time spent looking at unemphasized information. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that individual differences in storage capacity, not only filtering efficiency, underlie individual differences in working memory.

Peripheral Nerve Injury Leads to Working Memory Deficits and Dysfunction of the Hippocampus by Upregulation of TNF-α in Rodents

PubMed Central

Ren, Wen-Jie; Liu, Yong; Zhou, Li-Jun; Li, Wei; Zhong, Yi; Pang, Rui-Ping; Xin, Wen-Jun; Wei, Xu-Hong; Wang, Jun; Zhu, He-Quan; Wu, Chang-You; Qin, Zhi-Hai; Liu, Guosong; Liu, Xian-Guo

2011-01-01

Patients with chronic pain usually suffer from working memory deficits, which may decrease their intellectual ability significantly. Despite intensive clinical studies, the mechanism underlying this form of memory impairment remains elusive. In this study, we investigated this issue in the spared nerve injury (SNI) model of neuropathic pain, a most common form of chronic pain. We found that SNI impaired working memory and short-term memory in rats and mice. To explore the potential mechanisms, we studied synaptic transmission/plasticity in hippocampus, a brain region critically involved in memory function. We found that frequency facilitation, a presynaptic form of short-term plasticity, and long-term potentiation at CA3–CA1 synapses were impaired after SNI. Structurally, density of presynaptic boutons in hippocampal CA1 synapses was reduced significantly. At the molecular level, we found that tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) increased in cerebrospinal fluid, in hippocampal tissue and in plasma after SNI. Intracerebroventricular or intrahippocampal injection of recombinant rat TNF mimicked the effects of SNI in naive rats, whereas inhibition of TNF-α or genetic deletion of TNF receptor 1 prevented both memory deficits and synaptic dysfunction induced by SNI. As TNF-α is critical for development of neuropathic pain, we suggested that the over-production of TNF-α following peripheral nerve injury might lead to neuropathic pain and memory deficits, simultaneously. PMID:21289602

Component processes of memory in alcoholism: pattern of compromise and neural substrates.

PubMed

Pitel, Anne-Lise; Eustache, Francis; Beaunieux, Helene

2014-01-01

Initially, alcohol-related memory deficits were considered only through the prism of Korsakoff's syndrome (KS). It is now clear, however, that chronic alcohol consumption results in memory disorders in alcoholics without ostensible neurologic complications, such as Wernicke's encephalopathy and KS. Most of the principal memory components are affected, including working memory, episodic memory, semantic memory, perceptual memory, and procedural memory. The extent of those cognitive impairments depends on several factors, such as age, gender, nutritional status, and psychiatric comorbidity. While memory disorders, especially episodic memory deficits, are largely definitive in patients with KS, recovery of memory abilities has been described with abstinence in uncomplicated alcoholics. Neuropsychologic impairments, and especially memory disorders, must be evaluated at alcohol treatment entry because they could impede patients from benefiting fully from cognitive and behavioral treatment approaches for alcohol dependence. Screening of memory deficits could also enable clinicians to detect, among alcoholics without ostensible neurologic complications, those at risk of developing permanent and debilitating amnesia that features KS. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Working memory and the identification of facial expression in patients with left frontal glioma.

PubMed

Mu, Yong-Gao; Huang, Ling-Juan; Li, Shi-Yun; Ke, Chao; Chen, Yu; Jin, Yu; Chen, Zhong-Ping

2012-09-01

Patients with brain tumors may have cognitive dysfunctions including memory deterioration, such as working memory, that affect quality of life. This study was to explore the presence of defects in working memory and the identification of facial expressions in patients with left frontal glioma. This case-control study recruited 11 matched pairs of patients and healthy control subjects (mean age ± standard deviation, 37.00 ± 10.96 years vs 36.73 ± 11.20 years; 7 male and 4 female) from March through December 2011. The psychological tests contained tests that estimate verbal/visual-spatial working memory, executive function, and the identification of facial expressions. According to the paired samples analysis, there were no differences in the anxiety and depression scores or in the intelligence quotients between the 2 groups (P > .05). All indices of the Digit Span Test were significantly worse in patients than in control subjects (P < .05), but the Tapping Test scores did not differ between patient and control groups. Of all 7 Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) indexes, only the Preservative Response was significantly different between patients and control subjects (P < .05). Patients were significantly less accurate in detecting angry facial expressions than were control subjects (30.3% vs 57.6%; P < .05) but showed no deficits in the identification of other expressions. The backward indexes of the Digit Span Test were associated with emotion scores and tumor size and grade (P < .05). Patients with left frontal glioma had deficits in verbal working memory and the ability to identify anger. These may have resulted from damage to functional frontal cortex regions, in which roles in these 2 capabilities have not been confirmed. However, verbal working memory performance might be affected by emotional and tumor-related factors.

Sleep and memory in healthy children and adolescents - a critical review.

PubMed

Kopasz, Marta; Loessl, Barbara; Hornyak, Magdolna; Riemann, Dieter; Nissen, Christoph; Piosczyk, Hannah; Voderholzer, Ulrich

2010-06-01

There is mounting evidence that sleep is important for learning, memory and the underlying neural plasticity. This article aims to review published studies that evaluate the association between sleep, its distinct stages and memory systems in healthy children and adolescents. Furthermore it intends to suggest directions for future research. A computerised search of the literature for relevant articles published between 1966 and March 2008 was performed using the keywords "sleep", "memory", "learn", "child", "adolescents", "adolescence" and "teenager". Fifteen studies met the inclusion criteria. Published studies focused on the impact of sleep on working memory and memory consolidation. In summary, most studies support the hypothesis that sleep facilitates working memory as well as memory consolidation in children and adolescents. There is evidence that performance in abstract and complex tasks involving higher brain functions declines more strongly after sleep deprivation than the performance in simple memory tasks. Future studies are needed to better understand the impact of a variety of variables potentially modulating the interplay between sleep and memory, such as developmental stage, socioeconomic burden, circadian factors, or the level of post-learning sensory and motor activity (interference). This line of research can provide valuable input relevant to teaching, learning and public health policy. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Parietal cortex integrates contextual and saliency signals during the encoding of natural scenes in working memory.

PubMed

Santangelo, Valerio; Di Francesco, Simona Arianna; Mastroberardino, Serena; Macaluso, Emiliano

2015-12-01

The Brief presentation of a complex scene entails that only a few objects can be selected, processed indepth, and stored in memory. Both low-level sensory salience and high-level context-related factors (e.g., the conceptual match/mismatch between objects and scene context) contribute to this selection process, but how the interplay between these factors affects memory encoding is largely unexplored. Here, during fMRI we presented participants with pictures of everyday scenes. After a short retention interval, participants judged the position of a target object extracted from the initial scene. The target object could be either congruent or incongruent with the context of the scene, and could be located in a region of the image with maximal or minimal salience. Behaviourally, we found a reduced impact of saliency on visuospatial working memory performance when the target was out-of-context. Encoding-related fMRI results showed that context-congruent targets activated dorsoparietal regions, while context-incongruent targets de-activated the ventroparietal cortex. Saliency modulated activity both in dorsal and ventral regions, with larger context-related effects for salient targets. These findings demonstrate the joint contribution of knowledge-based and saliency-driven attention for memory encoding, highlighting a dissociation between dorsal and ventral parietal regions. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Information Processing: A Review of Implications of Johnstone's Model for Science Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

St Clair-Thompson, Helen; Overton, Tina; Botton, Chris

2010-01-01

The current review is concerned with an information processing model used in science education. The purpose is to summarise the current theoretical understanding, in published research, of a number of factors that are known to influence learning and achievement. These include field independence, working memory, long-term memory, and the use of…

Phonological Working Memory in German Children with Poor Reading and Spelling Abilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steinbrink, Claudia; Klatte, Maria

2008-01-01

Deficits in verbal short-term memory have been identified as one factor underlying reading and spelling disorders. However, the nature of this deficit is still unclear. It has been proposed that poor readers make less use of phonological coding, especially if the task can be solved through visual strategies. In the framework of Baddeley's…

Compromised encoding of proprioceptively determined joint angles in older adults: the role of working memory and attentional load.

PubMed

Goble, Daniel J; Mousigian, Marianne A; Brown, Susan H

2012-01-01

Perceiving the positions and movements of one's body segments (i.e., proprioception) is critical for movement control. However, this ability declines with older age as has been demonstrated by joint angle matching paradigms in the absence of vision. The aim of the present study was to explore the extent to which reduced working memory and attentional load influence older adult proprioceptive matching performance. Older adults with relatively HIGH versus LOW working memory ability as determined by backward digit span and healthy younger adults, performed memory-based elbow position matching with and without attentional load (i.e., counting by 3 s) during target position encoding. Even without attentional load, older adults with LOW digit spans (i.e., 4 digits or less) had larger matching errors than younger adults. Further, LOW older adults made significantly greater errors when attentional loads were present during proprioceptive target encoding as compared to both younger and older adults with HIGH digit span scores (i.e., 5 digits or greater). These results extend previous position matching results that suggested greater errors in older adults were due to degraded input signals from peripheral mechanoreceptors. Specifically, the present work highlights the role cognitive factors play in the assessment of older adult proprioceptive acuity using memory-based matching paradigms. Older adults with LOW working memory appear prone to compromised proprioceptive encoding, especially when secondary cognitive tasks must be concurrently executed. This may ultimately result in poorer performance on various activities of daily living.

Insulin-like growth factor 2 rescues aging-related memory loss in rats.

PubMed

Steinmetz, Adam B; Johnson, Sarah A; Iannitelli, Dylan E; Pollonini, Gabriella; Alberini, Cristina M

2016-08-01

Aging is accompanied by declines in memory performance, and particularly affects memories that rely on hippocampal-cortical systems, such as episodic and explicit. With aged populations significantly increasing, the need for preventing or rescuing memory deficits is pressing. However, effective treatments are lacking. Here, we show that the level of the mature form of insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF-2), a peptide regulated in the hippocampus by learning, required for memory consolidation and a promoter of memory enhancement in young adult rodents, is significantly reduced in hippocampal synapses of aged rats. By contrast, the hippocampal level of the immature form proIGF-2 is increased, suggesting an aging-related deficit in IGF-2 processing. In agreement, aged compared to young adult rats are deficient in the activity of proprotein convertase 2, an enzyme that likely mediates IGF-2 posttranslational processing. Hippocampal administration of the recombinant, mature form of IGF-2 rescues hippocampal-dependent memory deficits and working memory impairment in aged rats. Thus, IGF-2 may represent a novel therapeutic avenue for preventing or reversing aging-related cognitive impairments. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cognitive Factors Contributing to Spelling Performance in Children with Prenatal Alcohol Exposure

PubMed Central

Glass, Leila; Graham, Diana M.; Akshoomoff, Natacha; Mattson, Sarah N.

2015-01-01

Objective Heavy prenatal alcohol exposure is associated with impaired school functioning. Spelling performance has not been comprehensively evaluated. We examined whether children with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure demonstrate deficits in spelling and related abilities, including reading, and tested whether there are unique underlying mechanisms for observed deficits in this population. Method Ninety-six school-age children comprised two groups: children with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure (AE, n=49) and control children (CON, n=47). Children completed select subtests from the WIAT-II and NEPSY-II. Group differences and relations between spelling and theoretically-related cognitive variables were evaluated using MANOVA and Pearson correlations. Hierarchical regression analyses were utilized to assess contributions of group membership and cognitive variables to spelling performance. The specificity of these deficits and underlying mechanisms was tested by examining the relations between reading ability, group membership, and cognitive variables. Results Groups differed significantly on all variables. Group membership and phonological processing significantly contributed to spelling performance. In addition, a significant group*working memory interaction revealed that working memory independently contributed significantly to spelling only for the AE group. All cognitive variables contributed to reading across groups and a group*working memory interaction revealed that working memory contributed independently to reading only for alcohol-exposed children. Conclusion Alcohol-exposed children demonstrated a unique pattern of spelling deficits. The relation of working memory to spelling and reading was specific to the AE group, suggesting that if prenatal alcohol exposure is known or suspected, working memory ability should be considered in the development and implementation of explicit instruction. PMID:25643217

Processing Determinism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Grady, William

2015-01-01

I propose that the course of development in first and second language acquisition is shaped by two types of processing pressures--internal efficiency-related factors relevant to easing the burden on working memory and external input-related factors such as frequency of occurrence. In an attempt to document the role of internal factors, I consider…

Impaired long-term memory retention and working memory in sdy mutant mice with a deletion in Dtnbp1, a susceptibility gene for schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Takao, Keizo; Toyama, Keiko; Nakanishi, Kazuo; Hattori, Satoko; Takamura, Hironori; Takeda, Masatoshi; Miyakawa, Tsuyoshi; Hashimoto, Ryota

2008-01-01

Background Schizophrenia is a complex genetic disorder caused by multiple genetic and environmental factors. The dystrobrevin-binding protein 1 (DTNBP1: dysbindin-1) gene is a major susceptibility gene for schizophrenia. Genetic variations in DTNBP1 are associated with cognitive functions, general cognitive ability and memory function, and clinical features of patients with schizophrenia including negative symptoms and cognitive decline. Since reduced expression of dysbindin-1 has been observed in postmortem brains of patients with schizophrenia, the sandy (sdy) mouse, which has a deletion in the Dtnbp1 gene and expresses no dysbindin-1 protein, could be an animal model of schizophrenia. To address this issue, we have carried out a comprehensive behavioral analysis of the sdy mouse in this study. Results In a rotarod test, sdy mice did not exhibit motor learning whilst the wild type mice did. In a Barnes circular maze test both sdy mice and wild type mice learned to selectively locate the escape hole during the course of the training period and in the probe trial conducted 24 hours after last training. However, sdy mice did not locate the correct hole in the retention probe tests 7 days after the last training trial, whereas wild type mice did, indicating impaired long-term memory retention. A T-maze forced alternation task, a task of working memory, revealed no effect of training in sdy mice despite the obvious effect of training in wild type mice, suggesting a working memory deficit. Conclusion Sdy mouse showed impaired long-term memory retention and working memory. Since genetic variation in DTNBP1 is associated with both schizophrenia and memory function, and memory function is compromised in patients with schizophrenia, the sdy mouse may represent a useful animal model to investigate the mechanisms of memory dysfunction in the disorder. PMID:18945333

Impaired long-term memory retention and working memory in sdy mutant mice with a deletion in Dtnbp1, a susceptibility gene for schizophrenia.

PubMed

Takao, Keizo; Toyama, Keiko; Nakanishi, Kazuo; Hattori, Satoko; Takamura, Hironori; Takeda, Masatoshi; Miyakawa, Tsuyoshi; Hashimoto, Ryota

2008-10-22

Schizophrenia is a complex genetic disorder caused by multiple genetic and environmental factors. The dystrobrevin-binding protein 1 (DTNBP1: dysbindin-1) gene is a major susceptibility gene for schizophrenia. Genetic variations in DTNBP1 are associated with cognitive functions, general cognitive ability and memory function, and clinical features of patients with schizophrenia including negative symptoms and cognitive decline. Since reduced expression of dysbindin-1 has been observed in postmortem brains of patients with schizophrenia, the sandy (sdy) mouse, which has a deletion in the Dtnbp1 gene and expresses no dysbindin-1 protein, could be an animal model of schizophrenia. To address this issue, we have carried out a comprehensive behavioral analysis of the sdy mouse in this study. In a rotarod test, sdy mice did not exhibit motor learning whilst the wild type mice did. In a Barnes circular maze test both sdy mice and wild type mice learned to selectively locate the escape hole during the course of the training period and in the probe trial conducted 24 hours after last training. However, sdy mice did not locate the correct hole in the retention probe tests 7 days after the last training trial, whereas wild type mice did, indicating impaired long-term memory retention. A T-maze forced alternation task, a task of working memory, revealed no effect of training in sdy mice despite the obvious effect of training in wild type mice, suggesting a working memory deficit. Sdy mouse showed impaired long-term memory retention and working memory. Since genetic variation in DTNBP1 is associated with both schizophrenia and memory function, and memory function is compromised in patients with schizophrenia, the sdy mouse may represent a useful animal model to investigate the mechanisms of memory dysfunction in the disorder.

Effects of Steady-State Noise on Verbal Working Memory in Young Adults

PubMed Central

Alt, Mary; DeDe, Gayle; Olson, Sarah; Shehorn, James

2015-01-01

Purpose We set out to examine the impact of perceptual, linguistic, and capacity demands on performance of verbal working-memory tasks. The Ease of Language Understanding model (Rönnberg et al., 2013) provides a framework for testing the dynamics of these interactions within the auditory-cognitive system. Methods Adult native speakers of English (n = 45) participated in verbal working-memory tasks requiring processing and storage of words involving different linguistic demands (closed/open set). Capacity demand ranged from 2 to 7 words per trial. Participants performed the tasks in quiet and in speech-spectrum-shaped noise. Separate groups of participants were tested at different signal-to-noise ratios. Word-recognition measures were obtained to determine effects of noise on intelligibility. Results Contrary to predictions, steady-state noise did not have an adverse effect on working-memory performance in every situation. Noise negatively influenced performance for the task with high linguistic demand. Of particular importance is the finding that the adverse effects of background noise were not confined to conditions involving declines in recognition. Conclusions Perceptual, linguistic, and cognitive demands can dynamically affect verbal working-memory performance even in a population of healthy young adults. Results suggest that researchers and clinicians need to carefully analyze task demands to understand the independent and combined auditory-cognitive factors governing performance in everyday listening situations. PMID:26384291

Curvilinear relationship between phonological working memory load and social-emotional modulation

PubMed Central

Mano, Quintino R.; Brown, Gregory G.; Bolden, Khalima; Aupperle, Robin; Sullivan, Sarah; Paulus, Martin P.; Stein, Murray B.

2015-01-01

Accumulating evidence suggests that working memory load is an important factor for the interplay between cognitive and facial-affective processing. However, it is unclear how distraction caused by perception of faces interacts with load-related performance. We developed a modified version of the delayed match-to-sample task wherein task-irrelevant facial distracters were presented early in the rehearsal of pseudoword memoranda that varied incrementally in load size (1-syllable, 2-syllables, or 3-syllables). Facial distracters displayed happy, sad, or neutral expressions in Experiment 1 (N=60) and happy, fearful, or neutral expressions in Experiment 2 (N=29). Facial distracters significantly disrupted task performance in the intermediate load condition (2-syllable) but not in the low or high load conditions (1- and 3-syllables, respectively), an interaction replicated and generalised in Experiment 2. All facial distracters disrupted working memory in the intermediate load condition irrespective of valence, suggesting a primary and general effect of distraction caused by faces. However, sad and fearful faces tended to be less disruptive than happy faces, suggesting a secondary and specific valence effect. Working memory appears to be most vulnerable to social-emotional information at intermediate loads. At low loads, spare capacity is capable of accommodating the combinatorial load (1-syllable plus facial distracter), whereas high loads maximised capacity and deprived facial stimuli from occupying working memory slots to cause disruption. PMID:22928750

Using Neuroplasticity-Based Auditory Training to Improve Verbal Memory in Schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Fisher, Melissa; Holland, Christine; Merzenich, Michael M.; Vinogradov, Sophia

2009-01-01

Objective Impaired verbal memory in schizophrenia is a key rate-limiting factor for functional outcome, does not respond to currently available medications, and shows only modest improvement after conventional behavioral remediation. The authors investigated an innovative approach to the remediation of verbal memory in schizophrenia, based on principles derived from the basic neuroscience of learning-induced neuroplasticity. The authors report interim findings in this ongoing study. Method Fifty-five clinically stable schizophrenia subjects were randomly assigned to either 50 hours of computerized auditory training or a control condition using computer games. Those receiving auditory training engaged in daily computerized exercises that placed implicit, increasing demands on auditory perception through progressively more difficult auditory-verbal working memory and verbal learning tasks. Results Relative to the control group, subjects who received active training showed significant gains in global cognition, verbal working memory, and verbal learning and memory. They also showed reliable and significant improvement in auditory psychophysical performance; this improvement was significantly correlated with gains in verbal working memory and global cognition. Conclusions Intensive training in early auditory processes and auditory-verbal learning results in substantial gains in verbal cognitive processes relevant to psychosocial functioning in schizophrenia. These gains may be due to a training method that addresses the early perceptual impairments in the illness, that exploits intact mechanisms of repetitive practice in schizophrenia, and that uses an intensive, adaptive training approach. PMID:19448187

Is the Link from Working Memory to Analogy Causal? No Analogy Improvements following Working Memory Training Gains

PubMed Central

Richey, J. Elizabeth; Phillips, Jeffrey S.; Schunn, Christian D.; Schneider, Walter

2014-01-01

Analogical reasoning has been hypothesized to critically depend upon working memory through correlational data [1], but less work has tested this relationship through experimental manipulation [2]. An opportunity for examining the connection between working memory and analogical reasoning has emerged from the growing, although somewhat controversial, body of literature suggests complex working memory training can sometimes lead to working memory improvements that transfer to novel working memory tasks. This study investigated whether working memory improvements, if replicated, would increase analogical reasoning ability. We assessed participants’ performance on verbal and visual analogy tasks after a complex working memory training program incorporating verbal and spatial tasks [3], [4]. Participants’ improvements on the working memory training tasks transferred to other short-term and working memory tasks, supporting the possibility of broad effects of working memory training. However, we found no effects on analogical reasoning. We propose several possible explanations for the lack of an impact of working memory improvements on analogical reasoning. PMID:25188356

Neuropsychology in a Memory Disorder Clinic.

PubMed

Ruchinskas, Robert A; Cullum, C Munro

2018-05-01

The rationale for and factors related to embedding a neuropsychologist in the midst of a neurology-based memory disorder clinic are discussed. Common conditions encountered are briefly reviewed, along with an evaluation aimed at assisting with differential diagnosis. Advice for neuropsychologists is offered in terms of creating and refining a working model in a neurology clinic and strategies to improve communication and effectiveness are presented.

Cognitive processes in children's reading and attention: the role of working memory, divided attention, and response inhibition.

PubMed

Savage, Robert; Cornish, Kim; Manly, Tom; Hollis, Chris

2006-08-01

Children experiencing attention difficulties have documented cognitive deficits in working memory (WM), response inhibition and dual tasks. Recent evidence suggests however that these same cognitive processes are also closely associated with reading acquisition. This paper therefore explores whether these variables predicted attention difficulties or reading among 123 children with and without significant attention problems sampled from the school population. Children were screened using current WM and attention task measures. Three factors explained variance in WM and attention tasks. Response inhibition tasks loaded mainly with central executive measures, but a dual processing task loaded with the visual-spatial WM measures. Phonological loop measures loaded independently of attention measures. After controls for age, IQ and attention-group membership, phonological loop and 'central processing' measures both predicted reading ability. A 'visual memory/dual-task' factor predicted attention group membership after controls for age, IQ and reading ability. Results thus suggest that some of the processes previously assumed to be predictive of attention problems may reflect processes involved in reading acquisition. Visual memory and dual-task functioning are, however, purer indices of cognitive difficulty in children experiencing attention problems.

Cognitive status in patients with multiple sclerosis in Lanzarote.

PubMed

Pérez-Martín, María Yaiza; Eguia-Del Río, Pablo; González-Platas, Montserrat; Jiménez-Sosa, Alejandro

2016-01-01

Cognitive impairment is a common feature in multiple sclerosis affecting ~43%-72% of patients, which involves cognitive functions such as memory, processing speed, attention, and executive function. The aim of this study was to describe the extent and pattern of the involvement of cognitive impairment and psychological status in all patients with multiple sclerosis on a small Spanish island. In all, 70 patients and 56 healthy controls were included in the study between February 2013 and May 2013. All participants were assessed using the Brief Repeatable Battery of Neuropsychological Test. The patients also completed instruments to evaluate the presence of fatigue, perceived cognitive dysfunction, and symptoms of anxiety and depression. All procedures were performed in a single session. Cognitive impairment, defined as a score <1.5 standard deviation on two subtests of the battery, was present in 35% of the participants. The most frequently affected domain was working memory, followed by verbal memory and processing speed. Disease duration showed a moderate correlation with visuospatial memory and processing speed. The Expanded Disability Status Scale score correlated with verbal and processing speed. Verbal memory was correlated with depression symptoms and fatigue. Cognitive impairment was present in 35% of the study population. The most affected domains were working memory and verbal memory. Working memory and verbal fluency deficit are independent factors of disease evolution. Cognitive decline is related to clinical variables and psychological measures such as fatigue or depression but not to anxiety.

Cognitive status in patients with multiple sclerosis in Lanzarote

PubMed Central

Pérez-Martín, María Yaiza; Eguia-del Río, Pablo; González-Platas, Montserrat; Jiménez-Sosa, Alejandro

2016-01-01

Objectives Cognitive impairment is a common feature in multiple sclerosis affecting ~43%–72% of patients, which involves cognitive functions such as memory, processing speed, attention, and executive function. The aim of this study was to describe the extent and pattern of the involvement of cognitive impairment and psychological status in all patients with multiple sclerosis on a small Spanish island. Patients and methods In all, 70 patients and 56 healthy controls were included in the study between February 2013 and May 2013. All participants were assessed using the Brief Repeatable Battery of Neuropsychological Test. The patients also completed instruments to evaluate the presence of fatigue, perceived cognitive dysfunction, and symptoms of anxiety and depression. All procedures were performed in a single session. Results Cognitive impairment, defined as a score <1.5 standard deviation on two subtests of the battery, was present in 35% of the participants. The most frequently affected domain was working memory, followed by verbal memory and processing speed. Disease duration showed a moderate correlation with visuospatial memory and processing speed. The Expanded Disability Status Scale score correlated with verbal and processing speed. Verbal memory was correlated with depression symptoms and fatigue. Conclusion Cognitive impairment was present in 35% of the study population. The most affected domains were working memory and verbal memory. Working memory and verbal fluency deficit are independent factors of disease evolution. Cognitive decline is related to clinical variables and psychological measures such as fatigue or depression but not to anxiety. PMID:27418825

Happiness increases verbal and spatial working memory capacity where sadness does not: Emotion, working memory and executive control.

PubMed

Storbeck, Justin; Maswood, Raeya

2016-08-01

The effects of emotion on working memory and executive control are often studied in isolation. Positive mood enhances verbal and impairs spatial working memory, whereas negative mood enhances spatial and impairs verbal working memory. Moreover, positive mood enhances executive control, whereas negative mood has little influence. We examined how emotion influences verbal and spatial working memory capacity, which requires executive control to coordinate between holding information in working memory and completing a secondary task. We predicted that positive mood would improve both verbal and spatial working memory capacity because of its influence on executive control. Positive, negative and neutral moods were induced followed by completing a verbal (Experiment 1) or spatial (Experiment 2) working memory operation span task to assess working memory capacity. Positive mood enhanced working memory capacity irrespective of the working memory domain, whereas negative mood had no influence on performance. Thus, positive mood was more successful holding information in working memory while processing task-irrelevant information, suggesting that the influence mood has on executive control supersedes the independent effects mood has on domain-specific working memory.

"The people I grew up with": the role of sociodemographic factors in early memories in an Italian sample.

PubMed

Artioli, Federica; Cicogna, Pera Carla; Occhionero, Miranda; Reese, Elaine

2012-01-01

This within-culture study aimed to investigate the age and density of earliest memories in a sample of Italian young adults. The framework of this study is sociocultural, with an emphasis on family reminiscing as contributing to early memories. In this regard Italy is of interest due to the fact that it is a Western but familial oriented culture, where multi-generational family ties are still strong in comparison with other European counterparts, providing for the opportunity to investigate the offset of childhood amnesia as a function of growing up in an extended family structure. Consistent with Mullen (1994), 90 undergraduate students were interviewed about their earliest memory and about sociodemographic factors in their early childhood years: household composition, gender, birth order, presence of family moves, and significant early childhood experiences. Participants who grew up in an extended family situation reported earlier and denser memories in comparison with those from nuclear families. Results are discussed in light of other cross-cultural work on childhood amnesia and with respect to sociocultural theories of the importance of family reminiscing for one's early memories.

Genetically determined measures of striatal D2 signaling predict prefrontal activity during working memory performance.

PubMed

Bertolino, Alessandro; Taurisano, Paolo; Pisciotta, Nicola Marco; Blasi, Giuseppe; Fazio, Leonardo; Romano, Raffaella; Gelao, Barbara; Lo Bianco, Luciana; Lozupone, Madia; Di Giorgio, Annabella; Caforio, Grazia; Sambataro, Fabio; Niccoli-Asabella, Artor; Papp, Audrey; Ursini, Gianluca; Sinibaldi, Lorenzo; Popolizio, Teresa; Sadee, Wolfgang; Rubini, Giuseppe

2010-02-22

Variation of the gene coding for D2 receptors (DRD2) has been associated with risk for schizophrenia and with working memory deficits. A functional intronic SNP (rs1076560) predicts relative expression of the two D2 receptors isoforms, D2S (mainly pre-synaptic) and D2L (mainly post-synaptic). However, the effect of functional genetic variation of DRD2 on striatal dopamine D2 signaling and on its correlation with prefrontal activity during working memory in humans is not known. Thirty-seven healthy subjects were genotyped for rs1076560 (G>T) and underwent SPECT with [123I]IBZM (which binds primarily to post-synaptic D2 receptors) and with [123I]FP-CIT (which binds to pre-synaptic dopamine transporters, whose activity and density is also regulated by pre-synaptic D2 receptors), as well as BOLD fMRI during N-Back working memory. Subjects carrying the T allele (previously associated with reduced D2S expression) had striatal reductions of [123I]IBZM and of [123I]FP-CIT binding. DRD2 genotype also differentially predicted the correlation between striatal dopamine D2 signaling (as identified with factor analysis of the two radiotracers) and activity of the prefrontal cortex during working memory as measured with BOLD fMRI, which was positive in GG subjects and negative in GT. Our results demonstrate that this functional SNP within DRD2 predicts striatal binding of the two radiotracers to dopamine transporters and D2 receptors as well as the correlation between striatal D2 signaling with prefrontal cortex activity during performance of a working memory task. These data are consistent with the possibility that the balance of excitatory/inhibitory modulation of striatal neurons may also affect striatal outputs in relationship with prefrontal activity during working memory performance within the cortico-striatal-thalamic-cortical pathway.

Genetically Determined Measures of Striatal D2 Signaling Predict Prefrontal Activity during Working Memory Performance

PubMed Central

Bertolino, Alessandro; Taurisano, Paolo; Pisciotta, Nicola Marco; Blasi, Giuseppe; Fazio, Leonardo; Romano, Raffaella; Gelao, Barbara; Bianco, Luciana Lo; Lozupone, Madia; Di Giorgio, Annabella; Caforio, Grazia; Sambataro, Fabio; Niccoli-Asabella, Artor; Papp, Audrey; Ursini, Gianluca; Sinibaldi, Lorenzo; Popolizio, Teresa; Sadee, Wolfgang; Rubini, Giuseppe

2010-01-01

Background Variation of the gene coding for D2 receptors (DRD2) has been associated with risk for schizophrenia and with working memory deficits. A functional intronic SNP (rs1076560) predicts relative expression of the two D2 receptors isoforms, D2S (mainly pre-synaptic) and D2L (mainly post-synaptic). However, the effect of functional genetic variation of DRD2 on striatal dopamine D2 signaling and on its correlation with prefrontal activity during working memory in humans is not known. Methods Thirty-seven healthy subjects were genotyped for rs1076560 (G>T) and underwent SPECT with [123I]IBZM (which binds primarily to post-synaptic D2 receptors) and with [123I]FP-CIT (which binds to pre-synaptic dopamine transporters, whose activity and density is also regulated by pre-synaptic D2 receptors), as well as BOLD fMRI during N-Back working memory. Results Subjects carrying the T allele (previously associated with reduced D2S expression) had striatal reductions of [123I]IBZM and of [123I]FP-CIT binding. DRD2 genotype also differentially predicted the correlation between striatal dopamine D2 signaling (as identified with factor analysis of the two radiotracers) and activity of the prefrontal cortex during working memory as measured with BOLD fMRI, which was positive in GG subjects and negative in GT. Conclusions Our results demonstrate that this functional SNP within DRD2 predicts striatal binding of the two radiotracers to dopamine transporters and D2 receptors as well as the correlation between striatal D2 signaling with prefrontal cortex activity during performance of a working memory task. These data are consistent with the possibility that the balance of excitatory/inhibitory modulation of striatal neurons may also affect striatal outputs in relationship with prefrontal activity during working memory performance within the cortico-striatal-thalamic-cortical pathway. PMID:20179754

The Issue of Power in the Identification of "g" with Lower-Order Factors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Matzke, Dora; Dolan, Conor V.; Molenaar, Dylan

2010-01-01

In higher order factor models, general intelligence (g) is often found to correlate perfectly with lower-order common factors, suggesting that g and some well-defined cognitive ability, such as working memory, may be identical. However, the results of studies that addressed the equivalence of g and lower-order factors are inconsistent. We suggest…

Interaction between emotion and memory: importance of mammillary bodies damage in a mouse model of the alcoholic Korsakoff syndrome.

PubMed

Béracochéa, Daniel

2005-01-01

Chronic alcohol consumption (CAC) can lead to the Korsakoff syndrome (KS), a memory deficiency attributed to diencephalic damage and/or to medial temporal or cortical related dysfunction. The etiology of KS remains unclear. Most animal models of KS involve thiamine-deficient diets associated with pyrithiamine treatment. Here we present a mouse model of CAC-induced KS. We demonstrate that CAC-generated retrieval memory deficits in working/ episodic memory tasks, together with a reduction of fear reactivity, result from damage to the mammillary bodies (MB). Experimental lesions of MB in non-alcoholic mice produced the same memory and emotional impairments. Drugs having anxiogenic-like properties counteract such impairments produced by CAC or by MB lesions. We suggest (a) that MB are the essential components of a brain network underlying emotional processes, which would be critically important in the retrieval processes involved in working/ episodic memory tasks, and (b) that failure to maintain emotional arousal due to MB damage can be a main factor of CAC-induced memory deficits. Overall, our animal model fits well with general neuropsychological and anatomic impairments observed in KS.

Interaction Between Emotion and Memory: Importance of Mammillary Bodies Damage in a Mouse Model of the Alcoholic Korsakoff Syndrome

PubMed Central

Béracochéa, Daniel

2005-01-01

Chronic alcohol consumption (CAC) can lead to the Korsakoff syndrome (KS), a memory deficiency attributed to diencephalie damage and/or to medial temporal or cortical related dysfunction. The etiology of KS remains unclear. Most animal models of KS involve thiaminedeficient diets associated with pyrithiamine treatment. Here we present a mouse model of CAC-induced KS. We demonstrate that CAC-generated retrieval memory deficits in working/ episodic memory tasks, together with a reduction of fear reactivity, result from damage to the mammillary bodies (MB). Experimental lesions of MB in non-alcoholic mice produced the same memory and emotional impairments. Drugs having anxiogenic-like properties counteract such impairments produced by CAC or by MB lesions. We suggest (a) that MB are the essential components of a brain network underlying emotional processes, which would be critically important in the retrieval processes involved in working/ episodic memory tasks, and (b) that failure to maintain emotional arousal due to MB damage can be a main factor of CAC-induced memory deficits. Overall, our animal model fits well with general neuropsychological and anatomic impairments observed in KS. PMID:16444899

Memory loss in Alzheimer's disease

PubMed Central

Jahn, Holger

2013-01-01

Loss of memory is among the first symptoms reported by patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease (AD) and by their caretakers. Working memory and long-term declarative memory are affected early during the course of the disease. The individual pattern of impaired memory functions correlates with parameters of structural or functional brain integrity. AD pathology interferes with the formation of memories from the molecular level to the framework of neural networks. The investigation of AD memory loss helps to identify the involved neural structures, such as the default mode network, the influence of epigenetic and genetic factors, such as ApoE4 status, and evolutionary aspects of human cognition. Clinically, the analysis of memory assists the definition of AD subtypes, disease grading, and prognostic predictions. Despite new AD criteria that allow the earlier diagnosis of the disease by inclusion of biomarkers derived from cerebrospinal fluid or hippocampal volume analysis, neuropsychological testing remains at the core of AD diagnosis. PMID:24459411

Stressing the mind: the effect of cognitive load and articulatory suppression on attentional guidance from working memory.

PubMed

Soto, David; Humphreys, Glyn W

2008-07-01

Four experiments explored the effect of cognitive load on the time course of top-down guidance of attention from working memory (WM). Observers had to search for a target presented among several distractors, with the target and distractor stimuli embedded inside different objects. On half of the trials, one of the distractor objects was cued by a matching item held in WM. When a single item was maintained in memory, search performance was impaired relative to a neutral baseline, where the memory and search displays did not match. These effects of WM on subsequent search were reduced by including a verbal suppression task during the WM and search displays, and by varying the WM load. The degree of competition for resources in WM is a key factor in determining the time course and magnitude of the interaction between WM and visual selection.

The Cortisol Awakening Response and Cognition across the Adult Lifespan

PubMed Central

Ennis, Gilda E.; Moffat, Scott D.; Hertzog, Christopher

2016-01-01

Although the hippocampus is thought to play a central role in the regulation of the cortisol awakening response (CAR), results from past studies examining the relationship between the CAR and hippocampally-mediated memory and cognition have been mixed. Inconsistent findings may be due to the use of cortisol samples collected on only 1 to 2 days since reduced sampling can permit unstable situational factors to bias results. We used cortisol assessments from 10 consecutive days to test the relationship of the CAR to episodic memory, working memory, and processing speed in a sample of healthy young, middle-aged, and older adults (age range: 23 – 79 years; N = 56). We tested if the relationship between the CAR and cognition would depend upon age and also tested if other cortisol measures, specifically waking cortisol, diurnal cortisol output (i.e., area under the curve) and diurnal cortisol slope (linear and quadratic), would be related to cognition. We found that a more positive CAR slope was related to better episodic memory and that this relationship did not depend upon age. The CAR was not significantly related to working memory. The relationship of the CAR to processing speed was not significant when using a CAR measure that corrected for non-compliant cortisol sampling. We also found that higher waking cortisol was significantly related to better working memory, but not episodic memory or processing speed. Neither diurnal cortisol output nor diurnal linear cortisol slope was significantly related to cognitive functioning. Future work should investigate the mechanisms underpinning the relationship of the cortisol awakening process to cognitive functioning. PMID:27105036

Shifts in Audiovisual Processing in Healthy Aging.

PubMed

Baum, Sarah H; Stevenson, Ryan

2017-09-01

The integration of information across sensory modalities into unified percepts is a fundamental sensory process upon which a multitude of cognitive processes are based. We review the body of literature exploring aging-related changes in audiovisual integration published over the last five years. Specifically, we review the impact of changes in temporal processing, the influence of the effectiveness of sensory inputs, the role of working memory, and the newer studies of intra-individual variability during these processes. Work in the last five years on bottom-up influences of sensory perception has garnered significant attention. Temporal processing, a driving factors of multisensory integration, has now been shown to decouple with multisensory integration in aging, despite their co-decline with aging. The impact of stimulus effectiveness also changes with age, where older adults show maximal benefit from multisensory gain at high signal-to-noise ratios. Following sensory decline, high working memory capacities have now been shown to be somewhat of a protective factor against age-related declines in audiovisual speech perception, particularly in noise. Finally, newer research is emerging focusing on the general intra-individual variability observed with aging. Overall, the studies of the past five years have replicated and expanded on previous work that highlights the role of bottom-up sensory changes with aging and their influence on audiovisual integration, as well as the top-down influence of working memory.

Natural Conversations as a Source of False Memories in Children: Implications for the Testimony of Young Witnesses

PubMed Central

Principe, Gabrielle F.; Schindewolf, Erica

2012-01-01

Research on factors that can affect the accuracy of children’s autobiographical remembering has important implications for understanding the abilities of young witnesses to provide legal testimony. In this article, we review our own recent research on one factor that has much potential to induce errors in children’s event recall, namely natural memory sharing conversations with peers and parents. Our studies provide compelling evidence that not only can the content of conversations about the past intrude into later memory but that such exchanges can prompt the generation of entirely false narratives that are more detailed than true accounts of experienced events. Further, our work show that deeper and more creative participation in memory sharing dialogues can boost the damaging effects of conversationally conveyed misinformation. Implications of this collection of findings for children’s testimony are discussed. PMID:23129880

Expertise and age-related changes in components of intelligence.

PubMed

Masunaga, H; Horn, J

2001-06-01

In a sample of 263 male GO players at 48 levels of expertise and ranging from 18 to 78 years of age, it was found that factors of expertise deductive reasoning (EDR) and expertise working memory (EWM) were independent of factors of fluid reasoning (Gf) and short-term working memory (STWM) that, along with cognitive speed (Gs), have been found to characterize decline of intelligence in adulthood. The main effects of analyses of cross-sectional age differences indicated age-related decline in EDR and EWM as well as in Gf, STWM, and Gs. However, interaction and partialing analyses indicated that decline in EDR and EWM decreased to no decline with increase in level of expertise. The results thus suggest that with increase in factors known to raise the level of expertise--particularly, intensive, well-designed practice--there may be no age-related decline in the intelligence that is measured in the abilities of expertise.

Older adults do not notice their names: a new twist to a classic attention task.

PubMed

Naveh-Benjamin, Moshe; Kilb, Angela; Maddox, Geoffrey B; Thomas, Jenna; Fine, Hope C; Chen, Tina; Cowan, Nelson

2014-11-01

Although working memory spans are, on average, lower for older adults than young adults, we demonstrate in 5 experiments a way in which older adults paradoxically resemble higher capacity young adults. Specifically, in a selective-listening task, older adults almost always failed to notice their names presented in an unattended channel. This is an exaggeration of what high-span young adults show and the opposite of what low-span young adults show. This striking finding in older adults remained significant after controlling for working memory span and for noticing their names in an attended channel. The findings were replicated when presentation rate was slowed and when the ear in which the unattended name was presented was controlled. These results point to an account of older adults' performance involving not only an inhibition factor, which allows high-span young adults to suppress the channel to be ignored, but also an attentional capacity factor, with more unallocated capacity. This capacity allows low-span young adults to notice their names much more often than older adults with comparably low working memory spans do. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

The Contributions of Domain-General and Numerical Factors to Third-Grade Arithmetic Skills and Mathematical Learning Disability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cowan, Richard; Powell, Daisy

2014-01-01

Explanations of the marked individual differences in elementary school mathematical achievement and mathematical learning disability (MLD or dyscalculia) have involved domain-general factors (working memory, reasoning, processing speed, and oral language) and numerical factors that include single-digit processing efficiency and multidigit skills…

Brief, pre-retrieval stress differentially influences long-term memory depending on sex and corticosteroid response.

PubMed

Zoladz, Phillip R; Kalchik, Andrea E; Hoffman, Mackenzie M; Aufdenkampe, Rachael L; Burke, Hanna M; Woelke, Sarah A; Pisansky, Julia M; Talbot, Jeffery N

2014-03-01

Previous work has indicated that stress generally impairs memory retrieval. However, little research has addressed discrepancies that exist in this line of work and the factors that could explain why stress can exert differential effects on retrieval processes. Therefore, we examined the influence of brief, pre-retrieval stress that was administered immediately before testing on long-term memory in males and females. Participants learned a list of 42 words varying in emotional valence and arousal. Following the learning phase, participants were given an immediate free recall test. Twenty-four hours later, participants submerged their non-dominant hand in a bath of ice cold (Stress) or warm (No Stress) water for 3 min. Immediately following this manipulation, participants' memory for the word list was assessed via free recall and recognition tests. We observed no group differences on short-term memory. However, male participants who showed a robust cortisol response to the stress exhibited enhanced long-term recognition memory, while male participants who demonstrated a blunted cortisol response to the stress exhibited impaired long-term recall and recognition memory. These findings suggest that the effects of brief, pre-retrieval stress on long-term memory are sex-specific and mediated by corticosteroid mechanisms. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Influence of non-spatial working memory demands on reach-grasp responses to loss of balance: Effects of age and fall risk.

PubMed

Westlake, Kelly P; Johnson, Brian P; Creath, Robert A; Neff, Rachel M; Rogers, Mark W

2016-03-01

Reactive balance recovery strategies following an unexpected loss of balance are crucial to the prevention of falls, head trauma and other major injuries in older adults. While a longstanding focus has been on understanding lower limb recovery responses, the upper limbs also play a critical role. However, when a fall occurs, little is known about the role of memory and attention shifting on the reach to grasp recovery strategy and what factors determine the speed and precision of this response beyond simple reaction time. The objective of this study was to compare response time and accuracy of a stabilizing grasp following a balance perturbation in older adult fallers compared to non-fallers and younger adults while loading the processing demands of non-spatial, verbal working memory. Working memory was engaged with a progressively challenging verb-generation task that was interrupted by an unexpected sideways platform perturbation and a pre-instructed reach to grasp response. Results revealed that the older adults, particularly those at high fall risk, demonstrated significantly increased movement time to handrail contact and grasping errors during conditions in which non-spatial memory was actively engaged. These findings provide preliminary evidence of the cognitive deficit in attention shifting away from an ongoing working memory task that underlies delayed and inaccurate protective reach to grasp responses in older adult fallers. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

In the working memory of the beholder: Art appreciation is enhanced when visual complexity is compatible with working memory.

PubMed

Sherman, Aleksandra; Grabowecky, Marcia; Suzuki, Satoru

2015-08-01

What shapes art appreciation? Much research has focused on the importance of visual features themselves (e.g., symmetry, natural scene statistics) and of the viewer's experience and expertise with specific artworks. However, even after taking these factors into account, there are considerable individual differences in art preferences. Our new result suggests that art preference is also influenced by the compatibility between visual properties and the characteristics of the viewer's visual system. Specifically, we have demonstrated, using 120 artworks from diverse periods, cultures, genres, and styles, that art appreciation is increased when the level of visual complexity within an artwork is compatible with the viewer's visual working memory capacity. The result highlights the importance of the interaction between visual features and the beholder's general visual capacity in shaping art appreciation. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Consciousness and working memory: Current trends and research perspectives.

PubMed

Velichkovsky, Boris B

2017-10-01

Working memory has long been thought to be closely related to consciousness. However, recent empirical studies show that unconscious content may be maintained within working memory and that complex cognitive computations may be performed on-line. This promotes research on the exact relationships between consciousness and working memory. Current evidence for working memory being a conscious as well as an unconscious process is reviewed. Consciousness is shown to be considered a subset of working memory by major current theories of working memory. Evidence for unconscious elements in working memory is shown to come from visual masking and attentional blink paradigms, and from the studies of implicit working memory. It is concluded that more research is needed to explicate the relationship between consciousness and working memory. Future research directions regarding the relationship between consciousness and working memory are discussed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The impact of cognitive control, incentives, and working memory load on the P3 responses of externalizing prisoners.

PubMed

Baskin-Sommers, Arielle R; Krusemark, Elizabeth A; Curtin, John J; Lee, Christopher; Vujnovich, Aleice; Newman, Joseph P

2014-02-01

The P3 amplitude reduction is one of the most common correlates of externalizing. However, few studies have used experimental manipulations designed to challenge different cognitive functions in order to clarify the processes that impact this reduction. To examine factors moderating P3 amplitude in trait externalizing, we administered an n-back task that manipulated cognitive control demands, working memory load, and incentives to a sample of male offenders. Offenders with high trait externalizing scores did not display a global reduction in P3 amplitude. Rather, the negative association between trait externalizing and P3 amplitude was specific to trials involving inhibition of a dominant response during infrequent stimuli, in the context of low working memory load, and incentives for performance. In addition, we discuss the potential implications of these findings for externalizing-related psychopathologies. The results complement and expand previous work on the process-level dysfunction contributing to externalizing-related deficits in P3. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Relationships of Working Memory, Secondary Memory, and General Fluid Intelligence: Working Memory is Special

PubMed Central

Shelton, Jill Talley; Elliott, Emily M.; Matthews, Russell A.; Hill, B. D.; Gouvier, Wm. Drew

2010-01-01

Recent efforts have been made to elucidate the commonly observed link between working memory and reasoning ability. The results have been inconsistent, with some work suggesting the emphasis placed on retrieval from secondary memory by working memory tests is the driving force behind this association (Mogle, Lovett, Stawski, & Sliwinski, 2008), while other research suggests retrieval from secondary memory is only partly responsible for the observed link between working memory and reasoning (Unsworth & Engle, 2006, 2007b). The present study investigates the relationship between processing speed, working memory, secondary memory, primary memory, and fluid intelligence. Although our findings show all constructs are significantly correlated with fluid intelligence, working memory, but not secondary memory, accounts for significant unique variance in fluid intelligence. Our data support predictions made by Unsworth and Engle, and suggest that the combined need for maintenance and retrieval processes present in working memory tests makes them “special” in their prediction of higher-order cognition. PMID:20438278

Cognitive Function and Vascular Risk Factors Among Older African American Adults

PubMed Central

Park, Moon Ho; Tsang, Siny; Sperling, Scott A.; Manning, Carol

2017-01-01

To evaluate the association between vascular risk factors and cognitive impairment among older African American (AA) adults in a primary care clinic. Participants included 96 AA adults aged 60 years or older who were evaluated for global and domain-specific cognition. Participants were interviewed using the Computerized Assessment of Memory and Cognitive Impairment (CAMCI). The relationship between CAMCI cognitive domain scores and vascular risk factors were examined using hierarchical regression models. Patients who smoked, those with higher SBP/DBP values had lower accuracy rates on CAMCI cognitive domains (attention, executive, memory).Those with higher BMI had better attention scores. Patients with higher HbA1C values had worse verbal memory. Patients with higher blood pressure were significantly faster in responding to tasks in the executive domain. Primary care providers working with older AA adults with these VRFs could implement cognitive screening earlier into their practice to reduce barriers of seeking treatment. PMID:28417319

Working Memory From the Psychological and Neurosciences Perspectives: A Review.

PubMed

Chai, Wen Jia; Abd Hamid, Aini Ismafairus; Abdullah, Jafri Malin

2018-01-01

Since the concept of working memory was introduced over 50 years ago, different schools of thought have offered different definitions for working memory based on the various cognitive domains that it encompasses. The general consensus regarding working memory supports the idea that working memory is extensively involved in goal-directed behaviors in which information must be retained and manipulated to ensure successful task execution. Before the emergence of other competing models, the concept of working memory was described by the multicomponent working memory model proposed by Baddeley and Hitch. In the present article, the authors provide an overview of several working memory-relevant studies in order to harmonize the findings of working memory from the neurosciences and psychological standpoints, especially after citing evidence from past studies of healthy, aging, diseased, and/or lesioned brains. In particular, the theoretical framework behind working memory, in which the related domains that are considered to play a part in different frameworks (such as memory's capacity limit and temporary storage) are presented and discussed. From the neuroscience perspective, it has been established that working memory activates the fronto-parietal brain regions, including the prefrontal, cingulate, and parietal cortices. Recent studies have subsequently implicated the roles of subcortical regions (such as the midbrain and cerebellum) in working memory. Aging also appears to have modulatory effects on working memory; age interactions with emotion, caffeine and hormones appear to affect working memory performances at the neurobiological level. Moreover, working memory deficits are apparent in older individuals, who are susceptible to cognitive deterioration. Another younger population with working memory impairment consists of those with mental, developmental, and/or neurological disorders such as major depressive disorder and others. A less coherent and organized neural pattern has been consistently reported in these disadvantaged groups. Working memory of patients with traumatic brain injury was similarly affected and shown to have unusual neural activity (hyper- or hypoactivation) as a general observation. Decoding the underlying neural mechanisms of working memory helps support the current theoretical understandings concerning working memory, and at the same time provides insights into rehabilitation programs that target working memory impairments from neurophysiological or psychological aspects.

Memory reconsolidation, repeating, and working through: Science and culture in psychotherapeutic research and practice.

PubMed

Levin, Charles

2015-01-01

Hypothesizing that an effective common feature in divergent forms of psychotherapy is a process of memory reconsolidation integrating new emotional experiences, Lane et al. usefully shift the focus away from established and/or specialized techniques to deeper questions about the underlying principles of psychotherapeutic change. More research attention to cultural factors influencing the definition and treatment of psychopathology is also needed.

Dissociable brain biomarkers of fluid intelligence.

PubMed

Paul, Erick J; Larsen, Ryan J; Nikolaidis, Aki; Ward, Nathan; Hillman, Charles H; Cohen, Neal J; Kramer, Arthur F; Barbey, Aron K

2016-08-15

Cognitive neuroscience has long sought to understand the biological foundations of human intelligence. Decades of research have revealed that general intelligence is correlated with two brain-based biomarkers: the concentration of the brain biochemical N-acetyl aspartate (NAA) measured by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and total brain volume measured using structural MR imaging (MRI). However, the relative contribution of these biomarkers in predicting performance on core facets of human intelligence remains to be well characterized. In the present study, we sought to elucidate the role of NAA and brain volume in predicting fluid intelligence (Gf). Three canonical tests of Gf (BOMAT, Number Series, and Letter Sets) and three working memory tasks (Reading, Rotation, and Symmetry span tasks) were administered to a large sample of healthy adults (n=211). We conducted exploratory factor analysis to investigate the factor structure underlying Gf independent from working memory and observed two Gf components (verbal/spatial and quantitative reasoning) and one working memory component. Our findings revealed a dissociation between two brain biomarkers of Gf (controlling for age and sex): NAA concentration correlated with verbal/spatial reasoning, whereas brain volume correlated with quantitative reasoning and working memory. A follow-up analysis revealed that this pattern of findings is observed for males and females when analyzed separately. Our results provide novel evidence that distinct brain biomarkers are associated with specific facets of human intelligence, demonstrating that NAA and brain volume are independent predictors of verbal/spatial and quantitative facets of Gf. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Nature of Individual Differences in Working Memory Capacity: Active Maintenance in Primary Memory and Controlled Search from Secondary Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Unsworth, Nash; Engle, Randall W.

2007-01-01

Studies examining individual differences in working memory capacity have suggested that individuals with low working memory capacities demonstrate impaired performance on a variety of attention and memory tasks compared with individuals with high working memory capacities. This working memory limitation can be conceived of as arising from 2…

Sex-Related Differences in the Effects of Sleep Habits on Verbal and Visuospatial Working Memory

PubMed Central

Nakagawa, Seishu; Takeuchi, Hikaru; Taki, Yasuyuki; Nouchi, Rui; Sekiguchi, Atsushi; Kotozaki, Yuka; Miyauchi, Carlos M.; Iizuka, Kunio; Yokoyama, Ryoichi; Shinada, Takamitsu; Yamamoto, Yuki; Hanawa, Sugiko; Araki, Tsuyoshi; Kunitoki, Keiko; Sassa, Yuko; Kawashima, Ryuta

2016-01-01

Poor sleep quality negatively affects memory performance, and working memory in particular. We investigated sleep habits related to sleep quality including sleep duration, daytime nap duration, nap frequency, and dream content recall frequency (DCRF). Declarative working memory can be subdivided into verbal working memory (VWM) and visuospatial working memory (VSWM). We hypothesized that sleep habits would have different effects on VWM and VSWM. To our knowledge, our study is the first to investigate differences between VWM and VSWM related to daytime nap duration, nap frequency, and DCRF. Furthermore, we tested the hypothesis that the effects of duration and frequency of daytime naps and DCRF on VWM and VSWM differed according to sex. We assessed 779 healthy right-handed individuals (434 males and 345 females; mean age: 20.7 ± 1.8 years) using a digit span forward and backward VWM task, a forward and backward VSWM task, and sleep habits scales. A correlation analysis was used to test the relationships between VWM capacity (VWMC) and VSWM capacity (VSWMC) scores and sleep duration, nap duration, nap frequency, and DCRF. Furthermore, multiple regression analyses were conducted to identify factors associated with VWMC and VSWMC scores and to identify sex-related differences. We found significant positive correlations between VSWMC and nap duration and DCRF, and between VWMC and sleep duration in all subjects. Furthermore, we found that working memory capacity (WMC) was positively correlated with nap duration in males and with sleep duration in females, and DCRF was positively correlated with VSWMC in females. Our finding of sex-related differences in the effects of sleep habits on WMC has not been reported previously. The associations between WMC and sleep habits differed according to sex because of differences in the underlying neural correlates of VWM and VSWM, and effectiveness of the sleep habits in males and females. PMID:27516751

Intranasally delivered small interfering RNA-mediated suppression of scavenger receptor Mac-1 attenuates microglial phenotype switching and working memory impairment following hypoxia.

PubMed

Das, Sudeshna; Mishra, K P; Ganju, Lilly; Singh, S B

2018-05-05

Brain, being the highest consumer of oxygen, is prone to increased risk of hypoxia-induced neurological insults. In response to hypoxia, microglia, the major resident immune cells of brain switches to an activated phenotype and promote inflammatory responses leading to tissue damage and loss of cognitive functions including working memory impairment. Till date, no proven clinical therapeutics is available to retard the progression of neurodegenerative memory impairment. In the present study, we investigated the therapeutic potential of intranasal small interfering RNA (siRNA) delivery in a mouse model of hypoxia-induced working memory impairment using microglial receptor, Mac-1 as a target gene. Here, we implicate Mac-1 scavenger receptor in microglial phenotype switching, neurodegeneration in prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and working memory impairment. RNA mediated silencing of Mac-1 in both in vitro and in vivo model showed significant impact of it on hypoxia induced altered expression of Mac-1 endogenous ligand, signaling cascade proteins, transcription factors and NADPH oxidase pathway. Efficient degradation of Mac-1 mRNA suppressed expression of M1 phenotypic markers, inflammatory chemokines, and cytokines, but on the other hand, it upregulated M2 phenotypic markers and anti-inflammatory cytokines. Neuronal viability and synaptic plasticity markers were also modulated significantly by this strategy. Behavioral study revealed significant downregulation in the number of working memory errors at a time-dependent manner after silencing the Mac-1 gene during continuous hypoxic exposure. The novel findings of this study for the very first time, unmasked the role of Mac-1 receptor in neurodegenerative disease progression under hypoxic condition and at the same time indicated the potential therapeutic value of this non-invasive siRNA delivery approach for treating working memory loss. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sex-Related Differences in the Effects of Sleep Habits on Verbal and Visuospatial Working Memory.

PubMed

Nakagawa, Seishu; Takeuchi, Hikaru; Taki, Yasuyuki; Nouchi, Rui; Sekiguchi, Atsushi; Kotozaki, Yuka; Miyauchi, Carlos M; Iizuka, Kunio; Yokoyama, Ryoichi; Shinada, Takamitsu; Yamamoto, Yuki; Hanawa, Sugiko; Araki, Tsuyoshi; Kunitoki, Keiko; Sassa, Yuko; Kawashima, Ryuta

2016-01-01

Poor sleep quality negatively affects memory performance, and working memory in particular. We investigated sleep habits related to sleep quality including sleep duration, daytime nap duration, nap frequency, and dream content recall frequency (DCRF). Declarative working memory can be subdivided into verbal working memory (VWM) and visuospatial working memory (VSWM). We hypothesized that sleep habits would have different effects on VWM and VSWM. To our knowledge, our study is the first to investigate differences between VWM and VSWM related to daytime nap duration, nap frequency, and DCRF. Furthermore, we tested the hypothesis that the effects of duration and frequency of daytime naps and DCRF on VWM and VSWM differed according to sex. We assessed 779 healthy right-handed individuals (434 males and 345 females; mean age: 20.7 ± 1.8 years) using a digit span forward and backward VWM task, a forward and backward VSWM task, and sleep habits scales. A correlation analysis was used to test the relationships between VWM capacity (VWMC) and VSWM capacity (VSWMC) scores and sleep duration, nap duration, nap frequency, and DCRF. Furthermore, multiple regression analyses were conducted to identify factors associated with VWMC and VSWMC scores and to identify sex-related differences. We found significant positive correlations between VSWMC and nap duration and DCRF, and between VWMC and sleep duration in all subjects. Furthermore, we found that working memory capacity (WMC) was positively correlated with nap duration in males and with sleep duration in females, and DCRF was positively correlated with VSWMC in females. Our finding of sex-related differences in the effects of sleep habits on WMC has not been reported previously. The associations between WMC and sleep habits differed according to sex because of differences in the underlying neural correlates of VWM and VSWM, and effectiveness of the sleep habits in males and females.

The psychology of computer displays in the modern mission control center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Granaas, Michael M.; Rhea, Donald C.

1988-01-01

Work at NASA's Western Aeronautical Test Range (WATR) has demonstrated the need for increased consideration of psychological factors in the design of computer displays for the WATR mission control center. These factors include color perception, memory load, and cognitive processing abilities. A review of relevant work in the human factors psychology area is provided to demonstrate the need for this awareness. The information provided should be relevant in control room settings where computerized displays are being used.

Executive Function and Temperamental Fear Concurrently Predict Deception in School-Aged Children.

PubMed

Babkirk, Sarah; Saunders, Lauren V; Solomon, Beylul; Kessel, Ellen M; Crossman, Angela; Gokhan, Nurper; Dennis, Tracy A

The decision to intentionally withhold truthful information, or deception, is a key component of moral development and may be a precursor to more serious anti-social tendencies. Two factors, executive function and temperamental fear are each thought to influence childhood deception. Few studies, however, have explored deception in relation to both of these factors simultaneously. This was the goal of the present study. Executive function, as measured by a working memory task, and temperamental fear, as measured via maternal report were assessed in relation to observed deceptive behavior among 6 - 9-year-old children ( N = 43). Results showed that children displaying high working memory capacity and high temperamental fear were more likely to exhibit deceptive behavior. Implications for predictors of childhood deception and applications for moral education are discussed.

Contrasting single and multi-component working-memory systems in dual tasking.

PubMed

Nijboer, Menno; Borst, Jelmer; van Rijn, Hedderik; Taatgen, Niels

2016-05-01

Working memory can be a major source of interference in dual tasking. However, there is no consensus on whether this interference is the result of a single working memory bottleneck, or of interactions between different working memory components that together form a complete working-memory system. We report a behavioral and an fMRI dataset in which working memory requirements are manipulated during multitasking. We show that a computational cognitive model that assumes a distributed version of working memory accounts for both behavioral and neuroimaging data better than a model that takes a more centralized approach. The model's working memory consists of an attentional focus, declarative memory, and a subvocalized rehearsal mechanism. Thus, the data and model favor an account where working memory interference in dual tasking is the result of interactions between different resources that together form a working-memory system. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The contributions of handedness and working memory to episodic memory.

PubMed

Sahu, Aparna; Christman, Stephen D; Propper, Ruth E

2016-11-01

Past studies have independently shown associations of working memory and degree of handedness with episodic memory retrieval. The current study takes a step ahead by examining whether handedness and working memory independently predict episodic memory. In agreement with past studies, there was an inconsistent-handed advantage for episodic memory; however, this advantage was absent for working memory tasks. Furthermore, regression analyses showed handedness, and complex working memory predicted episodic memory performance at different times. Results are discussed in light of theories of episodic memory and hemispheric interaction.

Modification of hippocampal markers of synaptic plasticity by memantine in animal models of acute and repeated restraint stress: implications for memory and behavior.

PubMed

Amin, Shaimaa Nasr; El-Aidi, Ahmed Amro; Ali, Mohamed Mostafa; Attia, Yasser Mahmoud; Rashed, Laila Ahmed

2015-06-01

Stress is any condition that impairs the balance of the organism physiologically or psychologically. The response to stress involves several neurohormonal consequences. Glutamate is the primary excitatory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system, and its release is increased by stress that predisposes to excitotoxicity in the brain. Memantine is an uncompetitive N-methyl D-aspartate glutamatergic receptors antagonist and has shown beneficial effect on cognitive function especially in Alzheimer's disease. The aim of the work was to investigate memantine effect on memory and behavior in animal models of acute and repeated restraint stress with the evaluation of serum markers of stress and the expression of hippocampal markers of synaptic plasticity. Forty-two male rats were divided into seven groups (six rats/group): control, acute restraint stress, acute restraint stress with Memantine, repeated restraint stress, repeated restraint stress with Memantine and Memantine groups (two subgroups as positive control). Spatial working memory and behavior were assessed by performance in Y-maze. We evaluated serum cortisol, tumor necrotic factor, interleukin-6 and hippocampal expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, synaptophysin and calcium-/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II. Our results revealed that Memantine improved spatial working memory in repeated stress, decreased serum level of stress markers and modified the hippocampal synaptic plasticity markers in both patterns of stress exposure; in ARS, Memantine upregulated the expression of synaptophysin and brain-derived neurotrophic factor and downregulated the expression of calcium-/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II, and in repeated restraint stress, it upregulated the expression of synaptophysin and downregulated calcium-/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II expression.

Working Memory From the Psychological and Neurosciences Perspectives: A Review

PubMed Central

Chai, Wen Jia; Abd Hamid, Aini Ismafairus; Abdullah, Jafri Malin

2018-01-01

Since the concept of working memory was introduced over 50 years ago, different schools of thought have offered different definitions for working memory based on the various cognitive domains that it encompasses. The general consensus regarding working memory supports the idea that working memory is extensively involved in goal-directed behaviors in which information must be retained and manipulated to ensure successful task execution. Before the emergence of other competing models, the concept of working memory was described by the multicomponent working memory model proposed by Baddeley and Hitch. In the present article, the authors provide an overview of several working memory-relevant studies in order to harmonize the findings of working memory from the neurosciences and psychological standpoints, especially after citing evidence from past studies of healthy, aging, diseased, and/or lesioned brains. In particular, the theoretical framework behind working memory, in which the related domains that are considered to play a part in different frameworks (such as memory’s capacity limit and temporary storage) are presented and discussed. From the neuroscience perspective, it has been established that working memory activates the fronto-parietal brain regions, including the prefrontal, cingulate, and parietal cortices. Recent studies have subsequently implicated the roles of subcortical regions (such as the midbrain and cerebellum) in working memory. Aging also appears to have modulatory effects on working memory; age interactions with emotion, caffeine and hormones appear to affect working memory performances at the neurobiological level. Moreover, working memory deficits are apparent in older individuals, who are susceptible to cognitive deterioration. Another younger population with working memory impairment consists of those with mental, developmental, and/or neurological disorders such as major depressive disorder and others. A less coherent and organized neural pattern has been consistently reported in these disadvantaged groups. Working memory of patients with traumatic brain injury was similarly affected and shown to have unusual neural activity (hyper- or hypoactivation) as a general observation. Decoding the underlying neural mechanisms of working memory helps support the current theoretical understandings concerning working memory, and at the same time provides insights into rehabilitation programs that target working memory impairments from neurophysiological or psychological aspects. PMID:29636715

Coaching positively influences the effects of working memory training on visual working memory as well as mathematical ability.

PubMed

Nelwan, Michel; Vissers, Constance; Kroesbergen, Evelyn H

2018-05-01

The goal of the present study was to test whether the amount of coaching influenced the results of working memory training on both visual and verbal working memory. Additionally, the effects of the working memory training on the amount of progress after specific training in mathematics were evaluated. In this study, 23 children between 9 and 12 years of age with both attentional and mathematical difficulties participated in a working memory training program with a high amount of coaching, while another 25 children received no working memory training. Results of these groups were compared to 21 children who completed the training with a lower amount of coaching. The quality of working memory, as well as mathematic skills, were measured three times using untrained transfer tasks. Bayesian statistics were used to test informative hypotheses. After receiving working memory training, the highly coached group performed better than the group that received less coaching on visual working memory and mathematics, but not on verbal working memory. The highly coached group retained their advantage in mathematics, even though the effect on visual working memory decreased. However, no added effect of working memory training was found on the learning curve during mathematical training. Moreover, the less-coached group was outperformed by the group that did not receive working memory training, both in visual working memory and mathematics. These results suggest that motivation and proper coaching might be crucial for ensuring compliance and effects of working memory training, and that far transfer might be possible. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cerebellar contribution to spatial event processing: involvement in procedural and working memory components.

PubMed

Mandolesi, L; Leggio, M G; Graziano, A; Neri, P; Petrosini, L

2001-12-01

Spatial function is one of the cognitive functions altered in the presence of cerebellar lesions. We investigated the cerebellar contribution to the acquisition of spatial procedural and working memory components by means of a radial maze. To establish whether a cerebellar lesion would cause a deficit in solving the radial maze, a first experiment was carried out by using a full-baited maze procedure in different experimental groups, with or without cerebellar lesion and with or without pretraining. Non-pretrained hemicerebellectomized (HCbed) animals exhibited impaired performances in all (motor, spatial and procedural) task aspects. Pre-trained HCbed animals performed similarly to control animals in the task aspects linked to the processing of spatial and procedural factors. To distinguish procedural from working memory components, a forced-choice paradigm of the radial maze was used in the second experiment. Non-pretrained HCbed rats continued to make a lot of errors and show severe perseverative tendencies, already observed in the first experiment, supporting a specific cerebellar role in acquiring new behaviours and in modifying them in relation to the context. Interestingly, hindered from putting the acquired explorative patterns into action and compelled to use only working memory abilities, the pretrained HCbed group exhibited a dramatic worsening of performance. In conclusion, the present findings demonstrate that cerebellar damage induces a specific behaviour in radial maze tasks, characterized by an inflexible use of the procedures (if indeed any procedure was acquired before the lesion) and by a severe impairment in working memory processes.

Alcohol Attenuates Load-related Activation During a Working Memory Task: Relation to Level of Response to Alcohol

PubMed Central

Paulus, Martin P.; Tapert, Susan F.; Pulido, Carmen; Schuckit, Marc A.

2008-01-01

Background A low level of response to alcohol is a major risk factor for the development of alcohol dependence, but neural correlates of this marker are unclear. Method Ten healthy volunteers were classified by median split on level of response to alcohol and underwent 2 sessions of functional magnetic resonance imaging following ingestion of a moderate dose of alcohol and a placebo. The blood oxygen level–dependent activation to an event-related visual working memory test was examined. Results The subjects exhibited longer response latencies and more errors as a function of increasing working memory load and showed a load-dependent increase in activation in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, posterior parietal cortex, and visual cortex. Alcohol did not affect performance (errors or response latency), but attenuated the working memory load–dependent activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. During the placebo condition, individuals with a low level of response to alcohol showed greater activation in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and posterior parietal cortex than those with a high level of response to alcohol. During the alcohol condition, groups showed similar attenuation of load-dependent brain activation in these regions. Conclusion Low-level responders relative to high-level responders exhibited an increased working memory load–dependent activation in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and posterior parietal cortex when not exposed to alcohol. This increase in brain response was attenuated in low-level responders after ingesting a moderate dose of alcohol. PMID:16899039

Attention bias modification training under working memory load increases the magnitude of change in attentional bias.

PubMed

Clarke, Patrick J F; Branson, Sonya; Chen, Nigel T M; Van Bockstaele, Bram; Salemink, Elske; MacLeod, Colin; Notebaert, Lies

2017-12-01

Attention bias modification (ABM) procedures have shown promise as a therapeutic intervention, however current ABM procedures have proven inconsistent in their ability to reliably achieve the requisite change in attentional bias needed to produce emotional benefits. This highlights the need to better understand the precise task conditions that facilitate the intended change in attention bias in order to realise the therapeutic potential of ABM procedures. Based on the observation that change in attentional bias occurs largely outside conscious awareness, the aim of the current study was to determine if an ABM procedure delivered under conditions likely to preclude explicit awareness of the experimental contingency, via the addition of a working memory load, would contribute to greater change in attentional bias. Bias change was assessed among 122 participants in response to one of four ABM tasks given by the two experimental factors of ABM training procedure delivered either with or without working memory load, and training direction of either attend-negative or avoid-negative. Findings revealed that avoid-negative ABM procedure under working memory load resulted in significantly greater reductions in attentional bias compared to the equivalent no-load condition. The current findings will require replication with clinical samples to determine the utility of the current task for achieving emotional benefits. These present findings are consistent with the position that the addition of a working memory load may facilitate change in attentional bias in response to an ABM training procedure. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Future of Memory: Remembering, Imagining, and the Brain

PubMed Central

Schacter, Daniel L.; Addis, Donna Rose; Hassabis, Demis; Martin, Victoria C.; Spreng, R. Nathan; Szpunar, Karl K.

2013-01-01

During the past few years, there has been a dramatic increase in research examining the role of memory in imagination and future thinking. This work has revealed striking similarities between remembering the past and imagining or simulating the future, including the finding that a common brain network underlies both memory and imagination. Here we discuss a number of key points that have emerged during recent years, focusing in particular on the importance of distinguishing between temporal and non-temporal factors in analyses of memory and imagination, the nature of differences between remembering the past and imagining the future, the identification of component processes that comprise the default network supporting memory-based simulations, and the finding that this network can couple flexibly with other networks to support complex goal-directed simulations. This growing area of research has broadened our conception of memory by highlighting the many ways in which memory supports adaptive functioning. PMID:23177955

Task-switching cost and repetition priming: two overlooked confounds in the first-set procedure of the Sternberg paradigm and how they affect memory set-size effects.

PubMed

Jou, Jerwen

2014-10-01

Subjects performed Sternberg-type memory recognition tasks (Sternberg paradigm) in four experiments. Category-instance names were used as learning and testing materials. Sternberg's original experiments demonstrated a linear relation between reaction time (RT) and memory-set size (MSS). A few later studies found no relation, and other studies found a nonlinear relation (logarithmic) between the two variables. These deviations were used as evidence undermining Sternberg's serial scan theory. This study identified two confounding variables in the fixed-set procedure of the paradigm (where multiple probes are presented at test for a learned memory set) that could generate a MSS RT function that was either flat or logarithmic rather than linearly increasing. These two confounding variables were task-switching cost and repetition priming. The former factor worked against smaller memory sets and in favour of larger sets whereas the latter factor worked in the opposite way. Results demonstrated that a null or a logarithmic RT-to-MSS relation could be the artefact of the combined effects of these two variables. The Sternberg paradigm has been used widely in memory research, and a thorough understanding of the subtle methodological pitfalls is crucial. It is suggested that a varied-set procedure (where only one probe is presented at test for a learned memory set) is a more contamination-free procedure for measuring the MSS effects, and that if a fixed-set procedure is used, it is worthwhile examining the RT function of the very first trials across the MSSs, which are presumably relatively free of contamination by the subsequent trials.

Associations between cognitively stimulating leisure activities, cognitive function and age-related cognitive decline.

PubMed

Ferreira, Nicola; Owen, Adrian; Mohan, Anita; Corbett, Anne; Ballard, Clive

2015-04-01

Emerging literature suggests that lifestyle factors may play an important role in reducing age-related cognitive decline. There have, however, been few studies investigating the role of cognitively stimulating leisure activities in maintaining cognitive health. This study sought to identify changes in cognitive performance with age and to investigate associations of cognitive performance with several key cognitively stimulating leisure activities. Over 65,000 participants provided demographic and lifestyle information and completed tests of grammatical reasoning, spatial working memory, verbal working memory and episodic memory. Regression analyses suggested that frequency of engaging in Sudoku or similar puzzles was significantly positively associated with grammatical reasoning, spatial working memory and episodic memory scores. Furthermore, for participants aged under 65 years, frequency of playing non-cognitive training computer games was also positively associated with performance in the same cognitive domains. The results also suggest that grammatical reasoning and episodic memory are particularly vulnerable to age-related decline. Further investigation to determine the potential benefits of participating in Sudoku puzzles and non-cognitive computer games is indicated, particularly as they are associated with grammatical reasoning and episodic memory, cognitive domains found to be strongly associated with age-related cognitive decline. Results of this study have implications for developing improved guidance for the public regarding the potential value of cognitively stimulating leisure activities. The results also suggest that grammatical reasoning and episodic memory should be targeted in developing appropriate outcome measures to assess efficacy of future interventions, and in developing cognitive training programmes to prevent or delay cognitive decline. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Can verbal working memory training improve reading?

PubMed

Banales, Erin; Kohnen, Saskia; McArthur, Genevieve

2015-01-01

The aim of the current study was to determine whether poor verbal working memory is associated with poor word reading accuracy because the former causes the latter, or the latter causes the former. To this end, we tested whether (a) verbal working memory training improves poor verbal working memory or poor word reading accuracy, and whether (b) reading training improves poor reading accuracy or verbal working memory in a case series of four children with poor word reading accuracy and verbal working memory. Each child completed 8 weeks of verbal working memory training and 8 weeks of reading training. Verbal working memory training improved verbal working memory in two of the four children, but did not improve their reading accuracy. Similarly, reading training improved word reading accuracy in all children, but did not improve their verbal working memory. These results suggest that the causal links between verbal working memory and reading accuracy may not be as direct as has been assumed.

Working and reference memory across the estrous cycle of rat: a long-term study in gonadally intact females.

PubMed

Pompili, Assunta; Tomaz, Carlos; Arnone, Benedetto; Tavares, Maria Clotilde; Gasbarri, Antonella

2010-11-12

The results of many studies conducted over the past two decades suggested a role of estrogen on mammal's ability to learn and remember. In the present paper, we analyzed the influence that the endogenous fluctuation of estrogen, naturally present across the different phases of estrous cycle of female rats, can exert over the performance of tasks utilized to assess memory. In particular, we analyzed the performances in an eight arms radial maze task, dependent upon working memory, and in a water maze (WM) task, dependent upon spatial reference memory. The water maze is aversively motivated by the desire to escape onto a safe platform, whereas the radial arm maze (RAM) is motivated by food reward. The difference in reinforcement may affect the speed of learning, the strategy adopted and the necessity for accurate navigation. Therefore, coherent results obtained through the two different tasks can be due to mnemonic factors. The study was conducted during a long period of time, 14 months, utilizing gonadally intact females, without pharmacological and surgical treatments. In order to evaluate the post-acquisition phase we first trained the animals to reach the criterion in performing tasks, and then we submitted them to experimental phase. Our results show that estrogen can have an effect on memory processes, and that this effect may be different in relation to different kinds of memory. In fact, in our study, estrogen selectively improved working memory, but not reference memory, during post-acquisition performance of a RAM task with four baited and four un-baited arms. Moreover, WM performances showed that estrogen have a negative effect on spatial reference memory. (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Children’s visuospatial memory predicts mathematics achievement through early adolescence

PubMed Central

Li, Yaoran

2017-01-01

A previous study showed that gains in visuospatial memory from first to fifth grade predicted end-of-fifth grade mathematics but not reading achievement, controlling other factors. In this follow up study, these relations were assessed from sixth to ninth grade, inclusive (n = 145). The results showed that growth in visuospatial memory across the elementary school years was related to growth in mathematics achievement after fifth grade, controlling intelligence, the central executive and phonological memory components of working memory, in-class attentive behavior, parental education, and fifth grade mathematics achievement. As found for fifth grade, this relation was not found for reading achievement after fifth grade. In total, the results suggest that visuospatial memory has a unique influence on ease of learning some types of mathematics and that this influence becomes more important across successive grades. PMID:28192484

Children's visuospatial memory predicts mathematics achievement through early adolescence.

PubMed

Li, Yaoran; Geary, David C

2017-01-01

A previous study showed that gains in visuospatial memory from first to fifth grade predicted end-of-fifth grade mathematics but not reading achievement, controlling other factors. In this follow up study, these relations were assessed from sixth to ninth grade, inclusive (n = 145). The results showed that growth in visuospatial memory across the elementary school years was related to growth in mathematics achievement after fifth grade, controlling intelligence, the central executive and phonological memory components of working memory, in-class attentive behavior, parental education, and fifth grade mathematics achievement. As found for fifth grade, this relation was not found for reading achievement after fifth grade. In total, the results suggest that visuospatial memory has a unique influence on ease of learning some types of mathematics and that this influence becomes more important across successive grades.

Visual working memory buffers information retrieved from visual long-term memory.

PubMed

Fukuda, Keisuke; Woodman, Geoffrey F

2017-05-16

Human memory is thought to consist of long-term storage and short-term storage mechanisms, the latter known as working memory. Although it has long been assumed that information retrieved from long-term memory is represented in working memory, we lack neural evidence for this and need neural measures that allow us to watch this retrieval into working memory unfold with high temporal resolution. Here, we show that human electrophysiology can be used to track information as it is brought back into working memory during retrieval from long-term memory. Specifically, we found that the retrieval of information from long-term memory was limited to just a few simple objects' worth of information at once, and elicited a pattern of neurophysiological activity similar to that observed when people encode new information into working memory. Our findings suggest that working memory is where information is buffered when being retrieved from long-term memory and reconcile current theories of memory retrieval with classic notions about the memory mechanisms involved.

Visual working memory buffers information retrieved from visual long-term memory

PubMed Central

Fukuda, Keisuke; Woodman, Geoffrey F.

2017-01-01

Human memory is thought to consist of long-term storage and short-term storage mechanisms, the latter known as working memory. Although it has long been assumed that information retrieved from long-term memory is represented in working memory, we lack neural evidence for this and need neural measures that allow us to watch this retrieval into working memory unfold with high temporal resolution. Here, we show that human electrophysiology can be used to track information as it is brought back into working memory during retrieval from long-term memory. Specifically, we found that the retrieval of information from long-term memory was limited to just a few simple objects’ worth of information at once, and elicited a pattern of neurophysiological activity similar to that observed when people encode new information into working memory. Our findings suggest that working memory is where information is buffered when being retrieved from long-term memory and reconcile current theories of memory retrieval with classic notions about the memory mechanisms involved. PMID:28461479

Working and strategic memory deficits in schizophrenia

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stone, M.; Gabrieli, J. D.; Stebbins, G. T.; Sullivan, E. V.

1998-01-01

Working memory and its contribution to performance on strategic memory tests in schizophrenia were studied. Patients (n = 18) and control participants (n = 15), all men, received tests of immediate memory (forward digit span), working memory (listening, computation, and backward digit span), and long-term strategic (free recall, temporal order, and self-ordered pointing) and nonstrategic (recognition) memory. Schizophrenia patients performed worse on all tests. Education, verbal intelligence, and immediate memory capacity did not account for deficits in working memory in schizophrenia patients. Reduced working memory capacity accounted for group differences in strategic memory but not in recognition memory. Working memory impairment may be central to the profile of impaired cognitive performance in schizophrenia and is consistent with hypothesized frontal lobe dysfunction associated with this disease. Additional medial-temporal dysfunction may account for the recognition memory deficit.

Passive Double-Sensory Evoked Coherence Correlates with Long-Term Memory Capacity.

PubMed

Horwitz, Anna; Mortensen, Erik L; Osler, Merete; Fagerlund, Birgitte; Lauritzen, Martin; Benedek, Krisztina

2017-01-01

HIGHLIGHTS Memory correlates with the difference between single and double-sensory evoked steady-state coherence in the gamma range (Δ C ).The correlation is most pronounced for the anterior brain region (Δ C A ).The correlation is not driven by birth size, education, speed of processing, or intelligence.The sensitivity of Δ C A for detecting low memory capacity is 90%. Cerebral rhythmic activity and oscillations are important pathways of communication between cortical cell assemblies and may be key factors in memory. We asked whether memory performance is related to gamma coherence in a non-task sensory steady-state stimulation. We investigated 40 healthy males born in 1953 who were part of a Danish birth cohort study. Coherence was measured in the gamma range in response to a single-sensory visual stimulation (36 Hz) and a double-sensory combined audiovisual stimulation (auditive: 40 Hz; visual: 36 Hz). The individual difference in coherence (Δ C ) between the bimodal and monomodal stimulation was calculated for each subject and used as the main explanatory variable. Δ C in total brain were significantly negatively correlated with long-term verbal recall. This correlation was pronounced for the anterior region. In addition, the correlation between Δ C and long-term memory was robust when controlling for working memory, as well as a wide range of potentially confounding factors, including intelligence, length of education, speed of processing, visual attention and executive function. Moreover, we found that the difference in anterior coherence (Δ C A ) is a better predictor of memory than power in multivariate models. The sensitivity of Δ C A for detecting low memory capacity is 92%. Finally, Δ C A was also associated with other types of memory: verbal learning, visual recognition, and spatial memory, and these additional correlations were also robust enough to control for a range of potentially confounding factors. Thus, the Δ C is a predictor of memory performance may be useful in cognitive neuropsychological testing.

Passive Double-Sensory Evoked Coherence Correlates with Long-Term Memory Capacity

PubMed Central

Horwitz, Anna; Mortensen, Erik L.; Osler, Merete; Fagerlund, Birgitte; Lauritzen, Martin; Benedek, Krisztina

2017-01-01

HIGHLIGHTS Memory correlates with the difference between single and double-sensory evoked steady-state coherence in the gamma range (ΔC).The correlation is most pronounced for the anterior brain region (ΔCA).The correlation is not driven by birth size, education, speed of processing, or intelligence.The sensitivity of ΔCA for detecting low memory capacity is 90%. Cerebral rhythmic activity and oscillations are important pathways of communication between cortical cell assemblies and may be key factors in memory. We asked whether memory performance is related to gamma coherence in a non-task sensory steady-state stimulation. We investigated 40 healthy males born in 1953 who were part of a Danish birth cohort study. Coherence was measured in the gamma range in response to a single-sensory visual stimulation (36 Hz) and a double-sensory combined audiovisual stimulation (auditive: 40 Hz; visual: 36 Hz). The individual difference in coherence (ΔC) between the bimodal and monomodal stimulation was calculated for each subject and used as the main explanatory variable. ΔC in total brain were significantly negatively correlated with long-term verbal recall. This correlation was pronounced for the anterior region. In addition, the correlation between ΔC and long-term memory was robust when controlling for working memory, as well as a wide range of potentially confounding factors, including intelligence, length of education, speed of processing, visual attention and executive function. Moreover, we found that the difference in anterior coherence (ΔCA) is a better predictor of memory than power in multivariate models. The sensitivity of ΔCA for detecting low memory capacity is 92%. Finally, ΔCA was also associated with other types of memory: verbal learning, visual recognition, and spatial memory, and these additional correlations were also robust enough to control for a range of potentially confounding factors. Thus, the ΔC is a predictor of memory performance may be useful in cognitive neuropsychological testing. PMID:29311868

The effects of nicotine and non-nicotine smoking factors on working memory and associated brain function.

PubMed

McClernon, Francis Joseph; Froeliger, Brett; Rose, Jed E; Kozink, Rachel V; Addicott, Merideth A; Sweitzer, Maggie M; Westman, Eric C; Van Wert, Dana M

2016-07-01

Smoking abstinence impairs executive function, which may promote continued smoking behavior and relapse. The differential influence of nicotine and non-nicotine (i.e. sensory, motor) smoking factors and related neural substrates is not known. In a fully factorial, within-subjects design, 33 smokers underwent fMRI scanning following 24 hours of wearing a nicotine or placebo patch while smoking very low nicotine content cigarettes or remaining abstinent from smoking. During scanning, blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signal was acquired while participants performed a verbal N-back task. Following 24-hour placebo (versus nicotine) administration, accuracy on the N-back task was significantly worse and task-related BOLD signal lower in dorsomedial frontal cortex. These effects were observed irrespective of smoking. Our data provide novel evidence that abstinence-induced deficits in working memory and changes in underlying brain function are due in large part to abstinence from nicotine compared with non-nicotine factors. This work has implications both for designing interventions that target abstinence-induced cognitive deficits and for nicotine-reduction policy. © 2015 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Memory systems interaction in the pigeon: working and reference memory.

PubMed

Roberts, William A; Strang, Caroline; Macpherson, Krista

2015-04-01

Pigeons' performance on a working memory task, symbolic delayed matching-to-sample, was used to examine the interaction between working memory and reference memory. Reference memory was established by training pigeons to discriminate between the comparison cues used in delayed matching as S+ and S- stimuli. Delayed matching retention tests then measured accuracy when working and reference memory were congruent and incongruent. In 4 experiments, it was shown that the interaction between working and reference memory is reciprocal: Strengthening either type of memory leads to a decrease in the influence of the other type of memory. A process dissociation procedure analysis of the data from Experiment 4 showed independence of working and reference memory, and a model of working memory and reference memory interaction was shown to predict the findings reported in the 4 experiments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Measurement invariance of neuropsychological tests in diverse older persons.

PubMed

Mungas, Dan; Widaman, Keith F; Reed, Bruce R; Tomaszewski Farias, Sarah

2011-03-01

Comparability of meaning of neuropsychological test results across ethnic, linguistic, and cultural groups is important for clinicians challenged with assessing increasing numbers of older ethnic minorities. We examined the dimensional structure of a neuropsychological test battery in linguistically and demographically diverse older adults. The Spanish and English Neuropsychological Assessment Scales (SENAS), developed to provide psychometrically sound measures of cognition for multiethnic and multilingual applications, was administered to a community dwelling sample of 760 Whites, 443 African Americans, 451 English-speaking Hispanics, and 882 Spanish-speaking Hispanics. Cognitive function spanned a broad range from normal to mildly impaired to demented. Multiple group confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine equivalence of the dimensional structure for the SENAS across the groups defined by language and ethnicity. Covariance among 16 SENAS tests was best explained by five cognitive dimensions corresponding to episodic memory, semantic memory/language, spatial ability, attention/working memory, and verbal fluency. Multiple Group confirmatory factor analysis supported a common dimensional structure in the diverse groups. Measures of episodic memory showed the most compelling evidence of measurement equivalence across groups. Measurement equivalence was observed for most but not all measures of semantic memory/language and spatial ability. Measures of attention/working memory defined a common dimension in the different groups, but results suggest that scores are not strictly comparable across groups. These results support the applicability of the SENAS for use with multiethnic and bilingual older adults, and more broadly, provide evidence of similar dimensions of cognition in the groups represented in the study. (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved

Working Memory in the Prefrontal Cortex

PubMed Central

Funahashi, Shintaro

2017-01-01

The prefrontal cortex participates in a variety of higher cognitive functions. The concept of working memory is now widely used to understand prefrontal functions. Neurophysiological studies have revealed that stimulus-selective delay-period activity is a neural correlate of the mechanism for temporarily maintaining information in working memory processes. The central executive, which is the master component of Baddeley’s working memory model and is thought to be a function of the prefrontal cortex, controls the performance of other components by allocating a limited capacity of memory resource to each component based on its demand. Recent neurophysiological studies have attempted to reveal how prefrontal neurons achieve the functions of the central executive. For example, the neural mechanisms of memory control have been examined using the interference effect in a dual-task paradigm. It has been shown that this interference effect is caused by the competitive and overloaded recruitment of overlapping neural populations in the prefrontal cortex by two concurrent tasks and that the information-processing capacity of a single neuron is limited to a fixed level, can be flexibly allocated or reallocated between two concurrent tasks based on their needs, and enhances behavioral performance when its allocation to one task is increased. Further, a metamemory task requiring spatial information has been used to understand the neural mechanism for monitoring its own operations, and it has been shown that monitoring the quality of spatial information represented by prefrontal activity is an important factor in the subject's choice and that the strength of spatially selective delay-period activity reflects confidence in decision-making. Although further studies are needed to elucidate how the prefrontal cortex controls memory resource and supervises other systems, some important mechanisms related to the central executive have been identified. PMID:28448453

The Contribution of Cognitive Factors to Individual Differences in Understanding Noise-Vocoded Speech in Young and Older Adults

PubMed Central

Rosemann, Stephanie; Gießing, Carsten; Özyurt, Jale; Carroll, Rebecca; Puschmann, Sebastian; Thiel, Christiane M.

2017-01-01

Noise-vocoded speech is commonly used to simulate the sensation after cochlear implantation as it consists of spectrally degraded speech. High individual variability exists in learning to understand both noise-vocoded speech and speech perceived through a cochlear implant (CI). This variability is partly ascribed to differing cognitive abilities like working memory, verbal skills or attention. Although clinically highly relevant, up to now, no consensus has been achieved about which cognitive factors exactly predict the intelligibility of speech in noise-vocoded situations in healthy subjects or in patients after cochlear implantation. We aimed to establish a test battery that can be used to predict speech understanding in patients prior to receiving a CI. Young and old healthy listeners completed a noise-vocoded speech test in addition to cognitive tests tapping on verbal memory, working memory, lexicon and retrieval skills as well as cognitive flexibility and attention. Partial-least-squares analysis revealed that six variables were important to significantly predict vocoded-speech performance. These were the ability to perceive visually degraded speech tested by the Text Reception Threshold, vocabulary size assessed with the Multiple Choice Word Test, working memory gauged with the Operation Span Test, verbal learning and recall of the Verbal Learning and Retention Test and task switching abilities tested by the Comprehensive Trail-Making Test. Thus, these cognitive abilities explain individual differences in noise-vocoded speech understanding and should be considered when aiming to predict hearing-aid outcome. PMID:28638329

Interactions Between Modality of Working Memory Load and Perceptual Load in Distractor Processing.

PubMed

Koshino, Hideya; Olid, Pilar

2015-01-01

The present study investigated interactions between working memory load and perceptual load. The load theory (Lavie, Hirst, de Fockert, & Viding, 2004 ) claims that perceptual load decreases distractor interference, whereas working memory load increases interference. However, recent studies showed that effects of working memory might depend on the relationship between modalities of working memory and task stimuli. Here, we examined whether the relationship between working memory load and perceptual load would remain the same across modalities. The results of Experiment 1 showed that verbal working memory load did not affect a compatibility effect for low perceptual load, whereas it increased the compatibility effect for high perceptual load. In Experiment 2, the compatibility effect remained the same regardless of visual working memory load. These results suggest that the effects of working memory load and perceptual load depend on the relationship between the modalities of working memory and stimuli.

Working-memory performance is related to spatial breadth of attention.

PubMed

Kreitz, Carina; Furley, Philip; Memmert, Daniel; Simons, Daniel J

2015-11-01

Working memory and attention are closely related constructs. Models of working memory often incorporate an attention component, and some even equate working memory and attentional control. Although some attention-related processes, including inhibitory control of response conflict and interference resolution, are strongly associated with working memory, for other aspects of attention the link is less clear. We examined the association between working-memory performance and attentional breadth, the ability to spread attention spatially. If the link between attention and working memory is broader than inhibitory and interference resolution processes, then working-memory performance might also be associated with other attentional abilities, including attentional breadth. We tested 123 participants on a variety of working-memory and attentional-breadth measures, finding a strong correlation between performances on these two types of tasks. This finding demonstrates that the link between working memory and attention extends beyond inhibitory processes.

CD8 T cell memory: it takes all kinds

PubMed Central

Hamilton, Sara E.; Jameson, Stephen C.

2012-01-01

Understanding the mechanisms that regulate the differentiation and maintenance of CD8+ memory T cells is fundamental to the development of effective T cell-based vaccines. Memory cell differentiation is influenced by the cytokines that accompany T cell priming, the history of previous antigen encounters, and the tissue sites into which memory cells migrate. These cues combine to influence the developing CD8+ memory pool, and recent work has revealed the importance of multiple transcription factors, metabolic molecules, and surface receptors in revealing the type of memory cell that is generated. Paired with increasingly meticulous subsetting and sorting of memory populations, we now know the CD8+ memory pool to be phenotypically and functionally heterogeneous in nature. This includes both recirculating and tissue-resident memory populations, and cells with varying degrees of inherent longevity and protective function. These data point to the importance of tailored vaccine design. Here we discuss how the diversity of the memory CD8+ T cell pool challenges the notion that “one size fits all” for pathogen control, and how distinct memory subsets may be suited for distinct aspects of protective immunity. PMID:23230436

Construct validity of the Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test in older adults with memory complaints.

PubMed

Clerici, Francesca; Ghiretti, Roberta; Di Pucchio, Alessandra; Pomati, Simone; Cucumo, Valentina; Marcone, Alessandra; Vanacore, Nicola; Mariani, Claudio; Cappa, Stefano Francesco

2017-06-01

The Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test (FCSRT) is the memory test recommended by the International Working Group on Alzheimer's disease (AD) for the detection of amnestic syndrome of the medial temporal type in prodromal AD. Assessing the construct validity and internal consistency of the Italian version of the FCSRT is thus crucial. The FCSRT was administered to 338 community-dwelling participants with memory complaints (57% females, age 74.5 ± 7.7 years), including 34 with AD, 203 with Mild Cognitive Impairment, and 101 with Subjective Memory Impairment. Internal Consistency was estimated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. To assess convergent validity, five FCSRT scores (Immediate Free Recall, Immediate Total Recall, Delayed Free Recall, Delayed Total Recall, and Index of Sensitivity of Cueing) were correlated with three well-validated memory tests: Story Recall, Rey Auditory Verbal Learning test, and Rey Complex Figure (RCF) recall (partial correlation analysis). To assess divergent validity, a principal component analysis (an exploratory factor analysis) was performed including, in addition to the above-mentioned memory tasks, the following tests: Word Fluencies, RCF copy, Clock Drawing Test, Trail Making Test, Frontal Assessment Battery, Raven Coloured Progressive Matrices, and Stroop Colour-Word Test. Cronbach's alpha coefficients for immediate recalls (IFR and ITR) and delayed recalls (DFR and DTR) were, respectively, .84 and .81. All FCSRT scores were highly correlated with those of the three well-validated memory tests. The factor analysis showed that the FCSRT does not load on the factors saturated by non-memory tests. These findings indicate that the FCSRT has a good internal consistency and has an excellent construct validity as an episodic memory measure. © 2015 The British Psychological Society.

Speech timing and working memory in profoundly deaf children after cochlear implantation

PubMed Central

Burkholder, Rose A.; Pisoni, David B.

2012-01-01

Thirty-seven profoundly deaf children between 8- and 9-years-old with cochlear implants and a comparison group of normal-hearing children were studied to measure speaking rates, digit spans, and speech timing during digit span recall. The deaf children displayed longer sentence durations and pauses during recall and shorter digit spans compared to the normal-hearing children. Articulation rates, measured from sentence durations, were strongly correlated with immediate memory span in both normal-hearing and deaf children, indicating that both slower subvocal rehearsal and scanning processes may be factors that contribute to the deaf children’s shorter digit spans. These findings demonstrate that subvocal verbal rehearsal speed and memory scanning processes are not only dependent on chronological age as suggested in earlier research by Cowan and colleagues (1998). Instead, in this clinical population the absence of early auditory experience and phonological processing activities before implantation appears to produce measurable effects on the working memory processes that rely on verbal rehearsal and serial scanning of phonological information in short-term memory. PMID:12742763

WAIS-IV Subtest Covariance Structure: Conceptual and Statistical Considerations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ward, L. Charles; Bergman, Maria A.; Hebert, Katina R.

2012-01-01

D. Wechsler (2008b) reported confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) with standardization data (ages 16-69 years) for 10 core and 5 supplemental subtests from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV). Analyses of the 15 subtests supported 4 hypothesized oblique factors (Verbal Comprehension, Working Memory, Perceptual Reasoning,…

Working Memory in the Classroom: An Inside Look at the Central Executive.

PubMed

Barker, Lauren A

2016-01-01

This article provides a review of working memory and its application to educational settings. A discussion of the varying definitions of working memory is presented. Special attention is given to the various multidisciplinary professionals who work with students with working memory deficits, and their unique understanding of the construct. Definitions and theories of working memory are briefly summarized and provide the foundation for understanding practical applications of working memory to assessment and intervention. Although definitions and models of working memory abound, there is limited consensus regarding universally accepted definitions and models. Current research indicates that developing new models of working memory may be an appropriate paradigm shift at this time. The integration of individual practitioner's knowledge regarding academic achievement, working memory and processing speed could provide a foundation for the future development of new working memory models. Future directions for research should aim to explain how tasks and behaviors are supported by the substrates of the cortico-striatal and the cerebro-cerebellar systems. Translation of neurobiological information into educational contexts will be helpful to inform all practitioners' knowledge of working memory constructs. It will also allow for universally accepted definitions and models of working memory to arise and facilitate more effective collaboration between disciplines working in educational setting.

A Comparison of Laboratory and Clinical Working Memory Tests and Their Prediction of Fluid Intelligence

PubMed Central

Shelton, Jill T.; Elliott, Emily M.; Hill, B. D.; Calamia, Matthew R.; Gouvier, Wm. Drew

2010-01-01

The working memory (WM) construct is conceptualized similarly across domains of psychology, yet the methods used to measure WM function vary widely. The present study examined the relationship between WM measures used in the laboratory and those used in applied settings. A large sample of undergraduates completed three laboratory-based WM measures (operation span, listening span, and n-back), as well as the WM subtests from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III and the Wechsler Memory Scale-III. Performance on all of the WM subtests of the clinical batteries shared positive correlations with the lab measures; however, the Arithmetic and Spatial Span subtests shared lower correlations than the other WM tests. Factor analyses revealed that a factor comprising scores from the three lab WM measures and the clinical subtest, Letter-Number Sequencing (LNS), provided the best measurement of WM. Additionally, a latent variable approach was taken using fluid intelligence as a criterion construct to further discriminate between the WM tests. The results revealed that the lab measures, along with the LNS task, were the best predictors of fluid abilities. PMID:20161647

The dynamics of sensory buffers: geometric, spatial, and experience-dependent shaping of iconic memory.

PubMed

Graziano, Martin; Sigman, Mariano

2008-05-23

When a stimulus is presented, its sensory trace decays rapidly, lasting for approximately 1000 ms. This brief and labile memory, referred as iconic memory, serves as a buffer before information is transferred to working memory and executive control. Here we explored the effect of different factors--geometric, spatial, and experience--with respect to the access and the maintenance of information in iconic memory and the progressive distortion of this memory. We studied performance in a partial report paradigm, a design wherein recall of only part of a stimulus array is required. Subjects had to report the identity of a letter in a location that was cued in a variable delay after the stimulus onset. Performance decayed exponentially with time, and we studied the different parameters (time constant, zero-delay value, and decay amplitude) as a function of the different factors. We observed that experience (determined by letter frequency) affected the access to iconic memory but not the temporal decay constant. On the contrary, spatial position affected the temporal course of delay. The entropy of the error distribution increased with time reflecting a progressive morphological distortion of the iconic buffer. We discuss our results on the context of a model of information access to executive control and how it is affected by learning and attention.

Visuospatial and verbal memory in mental arithmetic.

PubMed

Clearman, Jack; Klinger, Vojtěch; Szűcs, Dénes

2017-09-01

Working memory allows complex information to be remembered and manipulated over short periods of time. Correlations between working memory and mathematics achievement have been shown across the lifespan. However, only a few studies have examined the potentially distinct contributions of domain-specific visuospatial and verbal working memory resources in mental arithmetic computation. Here we aimed to fill this gap in a series of six experiments pairing addition and subtraction tasks with verbal and visuospatial working memory and interference tasks. In general, we found higher levels of interference between mental arithmetic and visuospatial working memory tasks than between mental arithmetic and verbal working memory tasks. Additionally, we found that interference that matched the working memory domain of the task (e.g., verbal task with verbal interference) lowered working memory performance more than mismatched interference (verbal task with visuospatial interference). Findings suggest that mental arithmetic relies on domain-specific working memory resources.

Transfer after Working Memory Updating Training

PubMed Central

Waris, Otto; Soveri, Anna; Laine, Matti

2015-01-01

During the past decade, working memory training has attracted much interest. However, the training outcomes have varied between studies and methodological problems have hampered the interpretation of results. The current study examined transfer after working memory updating training by employing an extensive battery of pre-post cognitive measures with a focus on near transfer. Thirty-one healthy Finnish young adults were randomized into either a working memory training group or an active control group. The working memory training group practiced with three working memory tasks, while the control group trained with three commercial computer games with a low working memory load. The participants trained thrice a week for five weeks, with one training session lasting about 45 minutes. Compared to the control group, the working memory training group showed strongest transfer to an n-back task, followed by working memory updating, which in turn was followed by active working memory capacity. Our results support the view that working memory training produces near transfer effects, and that the degree of transfer depends on the cognitive overlap between the training and transfer measures. PMID:26406319

Transfer after Working Memory Updating Training.

PubMed

Waris, Otto; Soveri, Anna; Laine, Matti

2015-01-01

During the past decade, working memory training has attracted much interest. However, the training outcomes have varied between studies and methodological problems have hampered the interpretation of results. The current study examined transfer after working memory updating training by employing an extensive battery of pre-post cognitive measures with a focus on near transfer. Thirty-one healthy Finnish young adults were randomized into either a working memory training group or an active control group. The working memory training group practiced with three working memory tasks, while the control group trained with three commercial computer games with a low working memory load. The participants trained thrice a week for five weeks, with one training session lasting about 45 minutes. Compared to the control group, the working memory training group showed strongest transfer to an n-back task, followed by working memory updating, which in turn was followed by active working memory capacity. Our results support the view that working memory training produces near transfer effects, and that the degree of transfer depends on the cognitive overlap between the training and transfer measures.

The effects of experimental pain and induced optimism on working memory task performance.

PubMed

Boselie, Jantine J L M; Vancleef, Linda M G; Peters, Madelon L

2016-07-01

Pain can interrupt and deteriorate executive task performance. We have previously shown that experimentally induced optimism can diminish the deteriorating effect of cold pressor pain on a subsequent working memory task (i.e., operation span task). In two successive experiments we sought further evidence for the protective role of optimism on pain-induced working memory impairments. We used another working memory task (i.e., 2-back task) that was performed either after or during pain induction. Study 1 employed a 2 (optimism vs. no-optimism)×2 (pain vs. no-pain)×2 (pre-score vs. post-score) mixed factorial design. In half of the participants optimism was induced by the Best Possible Self (BPS) manipulation, which required them to write and visualize about a life in the future where everything turned out for the best. In the control condition, participants wrote and visualized a typical day in their life (TD). Next, participants completed either the cold pressor task (CPT) or a warm water control task (WWCT). Before (baseline) and after the CPT or WWCT participants working memory performance was measured with the 2-back task. The 2-back task measures the ability to monitor and update working memory representation by asking participants to indicate whether the current stimulus corresponds to the stimulus that was presented 2 stimuli ago. Study 2 had a 2 (optimism vs. no-optimism)×2 (pain vs. no-pain) mixed factorial design. After receiving the BPS or control manipulation, participants completed the 2-back task twice: once with painful heat stimulation, and once without any stimulation (counter-balanced order). Continuous heat stimulation was used with temperatures oscillating around 1°C above and 1°C below the individual pain threshold. In study 1, the results did not show an effect of cold pressor pain on subsequent 2-back task performance. Results of study 2 indicated that heat pain impaired concurrent 2-back task performance. However, no evidence was found that optimism protected against this pain-induced performance deterioration. Experimentally induced pain impairs concurrent but not subsequent working memory task performance. Manipulated optimism did not counteract pain-induced deterioration of 2-back performance. It is important to explore factors that may diminish the negative impact of pain on the ability to function in daily life, as pain itself often cannot be remediated. We are planning to conduct future studies that should shed further light on the conditions, contexts and executive operations for which optimism can act as a protective factor. Copyright © 2016 Scandinavian Association for the Study of Pain. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Alzheimer biomarkers and clinical Alzheimer disease were not associated with increased cerebrovascular disease in a memory clinic population.

PubMed

Spies, Petra E; Verbeek, Marcel M; Sjogren, Magnus J C; de Leeuw, Frank-Erik; Claassen, Jurgen A H R

2014-01-01

Preclinical and post-mortem studies suggest that Alzheimer disease (AD) causes cerebrovascular dysfunction, and therefore may enhance susceptibility to cerebrovascular disease (CVD). The objective of this study was to investigate this association in a memory clinic population. The AD biomarkers CSF amyloid β42, amyloid β40 and APOE-ε4 status have all been linked to increased CVD risk in AD, and therefore the first aim of this study was to analyze the association between these biomarkers and CVD. In 92 memory clinic patients the cross-sectional association between AD biomarkersand the severity of CVD was investigated with linear regression analysis. Additionally, we studied whether AD biomarkers modified the relation between vascular risk factors and CVD. CVD was assessed on MRI through a visual rating scale.Analyses were adjusted for age. The second aim of this study was to investigate the association between clinical AD and CVD, where 'clinical AD' was defined as follows: impairment in episodic memory, hippocampal atrophy and an aberrant concentration of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers. 47 of the 92 patients had AD. No association between CSF amyloid β42, amyloid β40 or APOE-ε4 status and CVD severity was found, nor did these AD biomarkers modify the relation between vascular risk factors and CVD. Clinical AD was not associated with CVD severity (p=0.83). Patients with more vascular risk factors had more CVD, but this relationship was not convincingly modified by AD (p=0.06). In this memory clinic population, CVD in patients with AD was related to vascular risk factors and age, comparable to patients without AD. Therefore, in our study, the preclinical and post-mortem evidence that AD would predispose to CVD could not be translated clinically. Further work, including replication of this work in a different and larger sample, is warranted.

The Relationships of Working Memory, Secondary Memory, and General Fluid Intelligence: Working Memory Is Special

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shelton, Jill Talley; Elliott, Emily M.; Matthews, Russell A.; Hill, B. D.; Gouvier, Wm. Drew

2010-01-01

Recent efforts have been made to elucidate the commonly observed link between working memory and reasoning ability. The results have been inconsistent, with some work suggesting that the emphasis placed on retrieval from secondary memory by working memory tests is the driving force behind this association (Mogle, Lovett, Stawski, & Sliwinski,…

Olfactory memory in the old and very old: relations to episodic and semantic memory and APOE genotype.

PubMed

Larsson, Maria; Hedner, Margareta; Papenberg, Goran; Seubert, Janina; Bäckman, Lars; Laukka, Erika J

2016-02-01

The neuroanatomical organization that underlies olfactory memory is different from that of other memory types. The present work examines olfactory memory in an elderly population-based sample (Swedish National Study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen) aged 60-100 years (n = 2280). We used structural equation modeling to investigate whether olfactory memory in old age is best conceptualized as a distinct category, differentiated from episodic and semantic memory. Further, potential olfactory dedifferentiation and genetic associations (APOE) to olfactory function in late senescence were investigated. Results are in support of a 3-factor solution where olfactory memory, as indexed by episodic odor recognition and odor identification, is modeled separately from episodic and semantic memory for visual and verbal information. Increasing age was associated with poorer olfactory memory performance, and observed age-related deficits were further exacerbated for carriers of the APOE ε4 allele; these effects tended to be larger for olfactory memory compared to episodic and semantic memory pertaining to other sensory systems (vision, auditory). Finally, stronger correlations between olfactory and episodic memory, indicating dedifferentiation, were observed in the older age groups. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Age differences in autobiographical memory across the adult lifespan: older adults report stronger phenomenology.

PubMed

Luchetti, Martina; Sutin, Angelina R

2018-01-01

As an individual's life story evolves across adulthood, the subjective experience (phenomenology) of autobiographical memory likely changes. In addition to age at retrieval, both the recency of the memory and the age when a memory is formed may be particularly important to its phenomenology. The present work examines the effect of three temporal factors on phenomenology ratings: (a) age of the participant, (b) age at the event reported in the memory, and (c) memory age (recency). A large sample of Americans (N = 1120), stratified by chronological age, recalled and rated two meaningful memories, a Turning Point and an Early Childhood Memory. Ratings of phenomenology (e.g., vividness of turning points) were higher among older adults compared to younger adults. Memories of events from the reminiscence bump were more positive in valence than events from other time periods but did not differ on other phenomenological dimensions; recent memories had stronger phenomenology than remote memories. In contrast to phenomenology, narrative content was generally unrelated to participant age, age at the event, or memory age. Overall, the findings indicate age-related differences in how meaningful memories are re-experienced.

The effects of refreshing and elaboration on working memory performance, and their contributions to long-term memory formation.

PubMed

Bartsch, Lea M; Singmann, Henrik; Oberauer, Klaus

2018-03-19

Refreshing and elaboration are cognitive processes assumed to underlie verbal working-memory maintenance and assumed to support long-term memory formation. Whereas refreshing refers to the attentional focussing on representations, elaboration refers to linking representations in working memory into existing semantic networks. We measured the impact of instructed refreshing and elaboration on working and long-term memory separately, and investigated to what extent both processes are distinct in their contributions to working as well as long-term memory. Compared with a no-processing baseline, immediate memory was improved by repeating the items, but not by refreshing them. There was no credible effect of elaboration on working memory, except when items were repeated at the same time. Long-term memory benefited from elaboration, but not from refreshing the words. The results replicate the long-term memory benefit for elaboration, but do not support its beneficial role for working memory. Further, refreshing preserves immediate memory, but does not improve it beyond the level achieved without any processing.

Working memory and arithmetic calculation in children: the contributory roles of processing speed, short-term memory, and reading.

PubMed

Berg, Derek H

2008-04-01

The cognitive underpinnings of arithmetic calculation in children are noted to involve working memory; however, cognitive processes related to arithmetic calculation and working memory suggest that this relationship is more complex than stated previously. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the relative contributions of processing speed, short-term memory, working memory, and reading to arithmetic calculation in children. Results suggested four important findings. First, processing speed emerged as a significant contributor of arithmetic calculation only in relation to age-related differences in the general sample. Second, processing speed and short-term memory did not eliminate the contribution of working memory to arithmetic calculation. Third, individual working memory components--verbal working memory and visual-spatial working memory--each contributed unique variance to arithmetic calculation in the presence of all other variables. Fourth, a full model indicated that chronological age remained a significant contributor to arithmetic calculation in the presence of significant contributions from all other variables. Results are discussed in terms of directions for future research on working memory in arithmetic calculation.

Dissociation of long-term verbal memory and fronto-executive impairment in first-episode psychosis

PubMed Central

Leeson, V. C.; Robbins, T. W.; Franklin, C.; Harrison, M.; Harrison, I.; Ron, M. A.; Barnes, T. R. E.; Joyce, E. M.

2009-01-01

Background Verbal memory is frequently and severely affected in schizophrenia and has been implicated as a mediator of poor clinical outcome. Whereas encoding deficits are well demonstrated, it is unclear whether retention is impaired. This distinction is important because accelerated forgetting implies impaired consolidation attributable to medial temporal lobe (MTL) dysfunction whereas impaired encoding and retrieval implicates involvement of prefrontal cortex. Method We assessed a group of healthy volunteers (n=97) and pre-morbid IQ- and sex-matched first-episode psychosis patients (n=97), the majority of whom developed schizophrenia. We compared performance of verbal learning and recall with measures of visuospatial working memory, planning and attentional set-shifting, and also current IQ. Results All measures of performance, including verbal memory retention, a memory savings score that accounted for learning impairments, were significantly impaired in the schizophrenia group. The difference between groups for delayed recall remained even after the influence of learning and recall was accounted for. Factor analyses showed that, in patients, all variables except verbal memory retention loaded on a single factor, whereas in controls verbal memory and fronto-executive measures were separable. Conclusions The results suggest that IQ, executive function and verbal learning deficits in schizophrenia may reflect a common abnormality of information processing in prefrontal cortex rather than specific impairments in different cognitive domains. Verbal memory retention impairments, however, may have a different aetiology. PMID:19419594

Memory outcomes following cognitive interventions in children with neurological deficits: A review with a focus on under-studied populations.

PubMed

Schaffer, Yael; Geva, Ronny

2016-01-01

Given the primary role of memory in children's learning and well-being, the aim of this review was to examine the outcomes of memory remediation interventions in children with neurological deficits as a function of the affected memory system and intervention method. Fifty-seven studies that evaluated the outcome of memory interventions in children were identified. Thirty-four studies met the inclusion criteria, and were included in a systematic review. Diverse rehabilitation methods for improving explicit and implicit memory in children were reviewed. The analysis indicates that teaching restoration strategies may improve, and result in the generalisation of, semantic memory and working memory performance in children older than 7 years with mild to moderate memory deficits. Factors such as longer protocols, emotional support, and personal feedback contribute to intervention efficacy. In addition, the use of compensation aids seems to be highly effective in prospective memory tasks. Finally, the review unveiled a lack of studies with young children and the absence of group interventions. These findings point to the importance of future evidence-based intervention protocols in these areas.

Entorhinal volume, aerobic fitness, and recognition memory in healthy young adults: A voxel-based morphometry study.

PubMed

Whiteman, Andrew S; Young, Daniel E; Budson, Andrew E; Stern, Chantal E; Schon, Karin

2016-02-01

Converging evidence supports the hypothesis effects of aerobic exercise and environmental enrichment are beneficial for cognition, in particular for hippocampus-supported learning and memory. Recent work in humans suggests that exercise training induces changes in hippocampal volume, but it is not known if aerobic exercise and fitness also impact the entorhinal cortex. In animal models, aerobic exercise increases expression of growth factors, including brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). This exercise-enhanced expression of growth hormones may boost synaptic plasticity, and neuronal survival and differentiation, potentially supporting function and structure in brain areas including but not limited to the hippocampus. Here, using voxel based morphometry and a standard graded treadmill test to determine cardio-respiratory fitness (Bruce protocol; ·VO2 max), we examined if entorhinal and hippocampal volumes were associated with cardio-respiratory fitness in healthy young adults (N=33). In addition, we examined if volumes were modulated by recognition memory performance and by serum BDNF, a putative marker of synaptic plasticity. Our results show a positive association between volume in right entorhinal cortex and cardio-respiratory fitness. In addition, average gray matter volume in the entorhinal cortex, bilaterally, was positively associated with memory performance. These data extend prior work on the cerebral effects of aerobic exercise and fitness to the entorhinal cortex in healthy young adults thus providing compelling evidence for a relationship between aerobic fitness and structure of the medial temporal lobe memory system. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Visual Working Memory Capacity and Proactive Interference

PubMed Central

Hartshorne, Joshua K.

2008-01-01

Background Visual working memory capacity is extremely limited and appears to be relatively immune to practice effects or the use of explicit strategies. The recent discovery that visual working memory tasks, like verbal working memory tasks, are subject to proactive interference, coupled with the fact that typical visual working memory tasks are particularly conducive to proactive interference, suggests that visual working memory capacity may be systematically under-estimated. Methodology/Principal Findings Working memory capacity was probed behaviorally in adult humans both in laboratory settings and via the Internet. Several experiments show that although the effect of proactive interference on visual working memory is significant and can last over several trials, it only changes the capacity estimate by about 15%. Conclusions/Significance This study further confirms the sharp limitations on visual working memory capacity, both in absolute terms and relative to verbal working memory. It is suggested that future research take these limitations into account in understanding differences across a variety of tasks between human adults, prelinguistic infants and nonlinguistic animals. PMID:18648493

Visual working memory capacity and proactive interference.

PubMed

Hartshorne, Joshua K

2008-07-23

Visual working memory capacity is extremely limited and appears to be relatively immune to practice effects or the use of explicit strategies. The recent discovery that visual working memory tasks, like verbal working memory tasks, are subject to proactive interference, coupled with the fact that typical visual working memory tasks are particularly conducive to proactive interference, suggests that visual working memory capacity may be systematically under-estimated. Working memory capacity was probed behaviorally in adult humans both in laboratory settings and via the Internet. Several experiments show that although the effect of proactive interference on visual working memory is significant and can last over several trials, it only changes the capacity estimate by about 15%. This study further confirms the sharp limitations on visual working memory capacity, both in absolute terms and relative to verbal working memory. It is suggested that future research take these limitations into account in understanding differences across a variety of tasks between human adults, prelinguistic infants and nonlinguistic animals.

Executive Function and Temperamental Fear Concurrently Predict Deception in School-Aged Children

PubMed Central

Babkirk, Sarah; Saunders, Lauren V.; Solomon, Beylul; Kessel, Ellen M.; Crossman, Angela; Gokhan, Nurper; Dennis, Tracy A.

2015-01-01

The decision to intentionally withhold truthful information, or deception, is a key component of moral development and may be a precursor to more serious anti-social tendencies. Two factors, executive function and temperamental fear are each thought to influence childhood deception. Few studies, however, have explored deception in relation to both of these factors simultaneously. This was the goal of the present study. Executive function, as measured by a working memory task, and temperamental fear, as measured via maternal report were assessed in relation to observed deceptive behavior among 6 – 9-year-old children (N = 43). Results showed that children displaying high working memory capacity and high temperamental fear were more likely to exhibit deceptive behavior. Implications for predictors of childhood deception and applications for moral education are discussed. PMID:26880858

[Executive functions and stressful characteristics of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: influence on behavioral problems during adolescence].

PubMed

Colomer-Diago, Carla; Miranda-Casas, Ana; Herdoiza-Arroyo, Paulina; Presentación-Herrero, M Jesús

2012-02-29

The identification of possible factors that are influencing the course of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) will allow the development of more effective early intervention strategies. AIMS. This research, which used a longitudinal and correlational design, set out to examine the temporal consistency of the primary symptoms and ADHD associated problems. In addition, the relationships and predictive power of working memory, inhibition and stressful characteristics of children with ADHD on the disorder symptoms and behavioral problems in adolescence was analyzed. This study included 65 families with children diagnosed with ADHD. In phase 1 children performed verbal working memory, visuo-spatial and inhibition tests, and information from parents about stressful characteristics of children was collected. In phase 1 and in the follow-up phase, which took place three years later, parents and teachers reported on the primary symptoms of ADHD and behavioral problems. Inattention symptoms as well as most behavioral problems were stable over time, while hyperactivity/impulsivity symptoms decreased. Moreover, neither working memory nor inhibition showed power to predict the central manifestations of ADHD or behavioral problems, while stressful characteristics of demandingness, low adaptability and negative mood had a moderate predictive capacity. These results confirm the role of stressful child characteristics as a risk factor in the course of ADHD.

Dissociation of working memory impairments and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in the brain.

PubMed

Mattfeld, Aaron T; Whitfield-Gabrieli, Susan; Biederman, Joseph; Spencer, Thomas; Brown, Ariel; Fried, Ronna; Gabrieli, John D E

2016-01-01

Prevailing neuropsychological models of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) propose that ADHD arises from deficits in executive functions such as working memory, but accumulating clinical evidence suggests a dissociation between ADHD and executive dysfunctions. This study examined whether ADHD and working memory capacity are behaviorally and neurobiologically separable using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Participants diagnosed with ADHD in childhood who subsequently remitted or persisted in their diagnosis as adults were characterized at follow-up in adulthood as either impaired or unimpaired in spatial working memory relative to controls who never had ADHD. ADHD participants with impaired spatial working memory performed worse than controls and ADHD participants with unimpaired working memory during an n-back working memory task while being scanned. Both controls and ADHD participants with unimpaired working memory exhibited significant linearly increasing activation in the inferior frontal junction, precuneus, lingual gyrus, and cerebellum as a function of working-memory load, and these activations did not differ significantly between these groups. ADHD participants with impaired working memory exhibited significant hypoactivation in the same regions, which was significantly different than both control participants and ADHD participants with unimpaired working memory. These findings support both a behavioral and neurobiological dissociation between ADHD and working memory capacity.

Dissociation of working memory impairments and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in the brain

PubMed Central

Mattfeld, Aaron T.; Whitfield-Gabrieli, Susan; Biederman, Joseph; Spencer, Thomas; Brown, Ariel; Fried, Ronna; Gabrieli, John D.E.

2015-01-01

Prevailing neuropsychological models of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) propose that ADHD arises from deficits in executive functions such as working memory, but accumulating clinical evidence suggests a dissociation between ADHD and executive dysfunctions. This study examined whether ADHD and working memory capacity are behaviorally and neurobiologically separable using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Participants diagnosed with ADHD in childhood who subsequently remitted or persisted in their diagnosis as adults were characterized at follow-up in adulthood as either impaired or unimpaired in spatial working memory relative to controls who never had ADHD. ADHD participants with impaired spatial working memory performed worse than controls and ADHD participants with unimpaired working memory during an n-back working memory task while being scanned. Both controls and ADHD participants with unimpaired working memory exhibited significant linearly increasing activation in the inferior frontal junction, precuneus, lingual gyrus, and cerebellum as a function of working-memory load, and these activations did not differ significantly between these groups. ADHD participants with impaired working memory exhibited significant hypoactivation in the same regions, which was significantly different than both control participants and ADHD participants with unimpaired working memory. These findings support both a behavioral and neurobiological dissociation between ADHD and working memory capacity. PMID:26900567

Working, declarative and procedural memory in specific language impairment

PubMed Central

Lum, Jarrad A.G.; Conti-Ramsden, Gina; Page, Debra; Ullman, Michael T.

2012-01-01

According to the Procedural Deficit Hypothesis (PDH), abnormalities of brain structures underlying procedural memory largely explain the language deficits in children with specific language impairment (SLI). These abnormalities are posited to result in core deficits of procedural memory, which in turn explain the grammar problems in the disorder. The abnormalities are also likely to lead to problems with other, non-procedural functions, such as working memory, that rely at least partly on the affected brain structures. In contrast, declarative memory is expected to remain largely intact, and should play an important compensatory role for grammar. These claims were tested by examining measures of working, declarative and procedural memory in 51 children with SLI and 51 matched typically-developing (TD) children (mean age 10). Working memory was assessed with the Working Memory Test Battery for Children, declarative memory with the Children’s Memory Scale, and procedural memory with a visuo-spatial Serial Reaction Time task. As compared to the TD children, the children with SLI were impaired at procedural memory, even when holding working memory constant. In contrast, they were spared at declarative memory for visual information, and at declarative memory in the verbal domain after controlling for working memory and language. Visuo-spatial short-term memory was intact, whereas verbal working memory was impaired, even when language deficits were held constant. Correlation analyses showed neither visuo-spatial nor verbal working memory was associated with either lexical or grammatical abilities in either the SLI or TD children. Declarative memory correlated with lexical abilities in both groups of children. Finally, grammatical abilities were associated with procedural memory in the TD children, but with declarative memory in the children with SLI. These findings replicate and extend previous studies of working, declarative and procedural memory in SLI. Overall, we suggest that the evidence largely supports the predictions of the PDH. PMID:21774923

About the Distinction between Working Memory and Short-Term Memory.

PubMed

Aben, Bart; Stapert, Sven; Blokland, Arjan

2012-01-01

The theoretical concepts short-term memory (STM) and working memory (WM) have been used to refer to the maintenance and the maintenance plus manipulation of information, respectively. Although they are conceptually different, the use of the terms STM and WM in literature is not always strict. STM and WM are different theoretical concepts that are assumed to reflect different cognitive functions. However, correlational studies have not been able to separate both constructs consistently and there is evidence for a large or even complete overlap. The emerging view from neurobiological studies is partly different, although there are conceptual problems troubling the interpretation of findings. In this regard, there is a crucial role for the tasks that are used to measure STM or WM (simple and complex span tasks, respectively) and for the cognitive load reflected by factors like attention and processing speed that may covary between and within these tasks. These conceptual issues are discussed based on several abstract models for the relation between STM and WM.

Working memory capacity and recall from long-term memory: Examining the influences of encoding strategies, study time allocation, search efficiency, and monitoring abilities.

PubMed

Unsworth, Nash

2016-01-01

The relation between working memory capacity (WMC) and recall from long-term memory (LTM) was examined in the current study. Participants performed multiple measures of delayed free recall varying in presentation duration and self-reported their strategy usage after each task. Participants also performed multiple measures of WMC. The results suggested that WMC and LTM recall were related, and part of this relation was due to effective strategy use. However, adaptive changes in strategy use and study time allocation were not related to WMC. Examining multiple variables with structural equation modeling suggested that the relation between WMC and LTM recall was due to variation in effective strategy use, search efficiency, and monitoring abilities. Furthermore, all variables were shown to account for individual differences in LTM recall. These results suggest that the relation between WMC and recall from LTM is due to multiple strategic factors operating at both encoding and retrieval. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Spatial working memory load affects counting but not subitizing in enumeration.

PubMed

Shimomura, Tomonari; Kumada, Takatsune

2011-08-01

The present study investigated whether subitizing reflects capacity limitations associated with two types of working memory tasks. Under a dual-task situation, participants performed an enumeration task in conjunction with either a spatial (Experiment 1) or a nonspatial visual (Experiment 2) working memory task. Experiment 1 showed that spatial working memory load affected the slope of a counting function but did not affect subitizing performance or subitizing range. Experiment 2 showed that nonspatial visual working memory load affected neither enumeration efficiency nor subitizing range. Furthermore, in both spatial and nonspatial memory tasks, neither subitizing efficiency nor subitizing range was affected by amount of imposed memory load. In all the experiments, working memory load failed to influence slope, subitizing range, or overall reaction time. These findings suggest that subitizing is performed without either spatial or nonspatial working memory. A possible mechanism of subitizing with independent capacity of working memory is discussed.

Working memory involvement in stuttering: exploring the evidence and research implications.

PubMed

Bajaj, Amit

2007-01-01

Several studies of utterance planning and attention processes in stuttering have raised the prospect of working memory involvement in the disorder. In this paper, potential connections between stuttering and two elements of Baddeley's [Baddeley, A. D. (2003). Working memory: Looking back and looking forward. Neuroscience, 4, 829-839] working memory model, phonological memory and central executive, are posited. Empirical evidence is drawn from studies on phonological memory and dual-task performance among children and adults who stutter to examine support for the posited connections. Implications for research to examine working memory as one of the psycholinguistic bases of stuttering are presented. The reader will learn about and be able to: (1) appraise potential relationships between working memory and stuttering; (2) evaluate empirical evidence that suggests the possibility of working memory involvement in stuttering; and (3) identify research directions to explore the role of working memory in stuttering.

Changes in verbal and visuospatial working memory from Grade 1 to Grade 3 of primary school: Population longitudinal study.

PubMed

Nicolaou, E; Quach, J; Lum, J; Roberts, G; Spencer-Smith, M; Gathercole, S; Anderson, P J; Mensah, F K; Wake, M

2018-05-01

Adaptive working memory training is being implemented without an adequate understanding of developmental trajectories of working memory. We aimed to quantify from Grade 1 to Grade 3 of primary school (1) changes in verbal and visuospatial working memory and (2) whether low verbal and visuospatial working memory in Grade 1 predicts low working memory in Grade 3. The study design includes a population-based longitudinal study of 1,802 children (66% uptake from all 2,747 Grade 1 students) at 44 randomly selected primary schools in Melbourne, Australia. Backwards Digit Recall (verbal working memory) and Mister X (visuospatial working memory) screening measures from the Automated Working Memory Assessment (M = 100; SD = 15) were used to assess Grades 1 and 3 (ages 6-7 and 8-9 years) students. Low working memory was defined as ≥1 standard deviation below the standard score mean. Descriptive statistics addressed Aim 1, and predictive parameters addressed Aim 2. One thousand seventy (59%) of 1802 Grade 1 participants were reassessed in Grade 3. As expected for typically developing children, group mean standard scores were similar in Grades 1 and 3 for verbal, visuospatial, and overall working memory, but group mean raw scores increased markedly. Compared to "not low" children, those classified as having low working memory in Grade 1 showed much larger increases in both standard and raw scores across verbal, visuospatial, and overall working memory. Sensitivity was very low for Grade 1 low working memory predicting Grade 3 low classifications. Although mean changes in working memory standard scores between Grades 1 and 3 were minimal, we found that individual development varied widely, with marked natural resolution by Grade 3 in children who initially had low working memory. This may render brain-training interventions ineffective in the early school year ages, particularly if (as population-based programmes usually mandate) selection occurs within a screening paradigm. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Contribution of auditory working memory to speech understanding in mandarin-speaking cochlear implant users.

PubMed

Tao, Duoduo; Deng, Rui; Jiang, Ye; Galvin, John J; Fu, Qian-Jie; Chen, Bing

2014-01-01

To investigate how auditory working memory relates to speech perception performance by Mandarin-speaking cochlear implant (CI) users. Auditory working memory and speech perception was measured in Mandarin-speaking CI and normal-hearing (NH) participants. Working memory capacity was measured using forward digit span and backward digit span; working memory efficiency was measured using articulation rate. Speech perception was assessed with: (a) word-in-sentence recognition in quiet, (b) word-in-sentence recognition in speech-shaped steady noise at +5 dB signal-to-noise ratio, (c) Chinese disyllable recognition in quiet, (d) Chinese lexical tone recognition in quiet. Self-reported school rank was also collected regarding performance in schoolwork. There was large inter-subject variability in auditory working memory and speech performance for CI participants. Working memory and speech performance were significantly poorer for CI than for NH participants. All three working memory measures were strongly correlated with each other for both CI and NH participants. Partial correlation analyses were performed on the CI data while controlling for demographic variables. Working memory efficiency was significantly correlated only with sentence recognition in quiet when working memory capacity was partialled out. Working memory capacity was correlated with disyllable recognition and school rank when efficiency was partialled out. There was no correlation between working memory and lexical tone recognition in the present CI participants. Mandarin-speaking CI users experience significant deficits in auditory working memory and speech performance compared with NH listeners. The present data suggest that auditory working memory may contribute to CI users' difficulties in speech understanding. The present pattern of results with Mandarin-speaking CI users is consistent with previous auditory working memory studies with English-speaking CI users, suggesting that the lexical importance of voice pitch cues (albeit poorly coded by the CI) did not influence the relationship between working memory and speech perception.

Cognitive Factors Contributing to Chinese EFL Learners' L2 Writing Performance in Timed Essay Writing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lu, Yanbin

2010-01-01

This study investigated cognitive factors that might influence Chinese EFL learners' argumentative essay writing in English. The factors that were explored included English (L2) language proficiency, Chinese (L1) writing ability, genre knowledge, use of writing strategies, and working memory capacity in L1 and L2. Data were collected from 136…

Brain Networks for Working Memory and Factors of Intelligence Assessed in Males and Females with fMRI and DTI

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tang, C. Y.; Eaves, E. L.; Ng, J. C.; Carpenter, D. M.; Mai, X.; Schroeder, D. H.; Condon, C. A.; Colom, R.; Haier, R. J.

2010-01-01

Neuro-imaging studies of intelligence implicate the importance of a parietal-frontal network. One unresolved issue is whether this network underlies a general factor of intelligence ("g") or other specific cognitive factors. A second unresolved issue is whether males and females use different parts of this network. Here we obtained intelligence…

Cognitive hearing aids? Insights and possibilities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petersen, Eline Borch; Lunner, Thomas

2015-12-01

The working memory plays an important role in successfully overcoming adverse listening conditions and should consequently be considered when designing and testing hearing aids. A number of studies have established the relationship between hearing in noise and working memory involvement, but with the Sentence-final Word Identification and Recall (SWIRL) test, it is possible to show that working memory is also involved in listening under favorable conditions and that noise reduction has a positive influence in situation with very little noise. Although the capacity of the working memory is a finite individual size, its involvement can differ with fatigue and other factors and individualization of hearing aids should take this into account to obtain the best performance. A way of individually adapting hearing aids is based on changes in the electrical activity of the brain (EEG). Here we present the possibilities that arise from using EEG and show that ear-mounted electrodes is able to record useful EEG that can be explored for individualization of hearing aids. Such an adaptation could be done based on changes in the electrical activity of the brain (EEG). Here we present the possibilities that arise from using EEG and show that ear-mounted electrodes is able to record useful EEG that can be explored for individualization of hearing aids.

The effect of lexical factors on recall from working memory: Generalizing the neighborhood size effect.

PubMed

Derraugh, Lesley S; Neath, Ian; Surprenant, Aimée M; Beaudry, Olivia; Saint-Aubin, Jean

2017-03-01

The word-length effect, the finding that lists of short words are better recalled than lists of long words, is 1 of the 4 benchmark phenomena that guided development of the phonological loop component of working memory. However, previous work has noted a confound in word-length studies: The short words used had more orthographic neighbors (valid words that can be made by changing a single letter in the target word) than long words. The confound is that words with more neighbors are better recalled than otherwise comparable words with fewer neighbors. Two experiments are reported that address criticisms of the neighborhood-size account of the word-length effect by (1) testing 2 new stimulus sets, (2) using open rather than closed pools of words, and (3) using stimuli from a language other than English. In both experiments, words from large neighborhoods were better recalled than words from small neighborhoods. The results add to the growing number of studies demonstrating the substantial contribution of long-term memory to what have traditionally been identified as working memory tasks. The data are more easily explained by models incorporating the concept of redintegration rather than by frameworks such as the phonological loop that posit decay offset by rehearsal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Tetris and Word games lead to fewer intrusive memories when applied several days after analogue trauma.

PubMed

Hagenaars, Muriel A; Holmes, Emily A; Klaassen, Fayette; Elzinga, Bernet

2017-01-01

Background : Intrusive trauma memories are a key symptom of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), so disrupting their recurrence is highly important. Intrusion development was hindered by visuospatial interventions administered up to 24 hours after analogue trauma. It is unknown whether interventions can be applied later, and whether modality or working-memory load are crucial factors. Objectives : This study tested: (1) whether a visuospatial task would lead to fewer intrusions compared to a reactivation-only group when applied after memory reactivation four days after analogue trauma exposure (extended replication), (2) whether both tasks (i.e. one aimed to be visuospatial, one more verbal) would lead to fewer intrusions than the reactivation-only group (intervention effect), and (3) whether supposed task modality (visuospatial or verbal) is a critical component (modality effect). Method : Fifty-four participants were randomly assigned to reactivation+Tetris (visuospatial), reactivation+Word games (verbal), or reactivation-only (no task). They watched an aversive film (day 0) and recorded intrusive memories of the film in diary A. On day 4, memory was reactivated, after which participants played Tetris, Word games, or had no task for 10 minutes. They then kept a second diary (B). Informative hypotheses were evaluated using Bayes factors. Results : Reactivation+Tetris and reactivation+Word games resulted in relatively fewer intrusions from the last day of diary A to the first day of diary B than reactivation-only (objective 1 and 2). Thus, both tasks were effective even when applied days after analogue trauma. Reactivation-only was not effective. Reactivation+Word games appeared to result in fewer intrusions than reactivation+Tetris (objective 3; modality effect), but this evidence was weak. Explorative analyses showed that Word games were more difficult than Tetris. Conclusions : Applying a task four days after the trauma film (during memory reconsolidation) was effective. The modality versus working-memory load issue is inconclusive.

Distortions in memory for visual displays

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tversky, Barbara

1989-01-01

Systematic errors in perception and memory present a challenge to theories of perception and memory and to applied psychologists interested in overcoming them as well. A number of systematic errors in memory for maps and graphs are reviewed, and they are accounted for by an analysis of the perceptual processing presumed to occur in comprehension of maps and graphs. Visual stimuli, like verbal stimuli, are organized in comprehension and memory. For visual stimuli, the organization is a consequence of perceptual processing, which is bottom-up or data-driven in its earlier stages, but top-down and affected by conceptual knowledge later on. Segregation of figure from ground is an early process, and figure recognition later; for both, symmetry is a rapidly detected and ecologically valid cue. Once isolated, figures are organized relative to one another and relative to a frame of reference. Both perceptual (e.g., salience) and conceptual factors (e.g., significance) seem likely to affect selection of a reference frame. Consistent with the analysis, subjects perceived and remembered curves in graphs and rivers in maps as more symmetric than they actually were. Symmetry, useful for detecting and recognizing figures, distorts map and graph figures alike. Top-down processes also seem to operate in that calling attention to the symmetry vs. asymmetry of a slightly asymmetric curve yielded memory errors in the direction of the description. Conceptual frame of reference effects were demonstrated in memory for lines embedded in graphs. In earlier work, the orientation of map figures was distorted in memory toward horizontal or vertical. In recent work, graph lines, but not map lines, were remembered as closer to an imaginary 45 deg line than they had been. Reference frames are determined by both perceptual and conceptual factors, leading to selection of the canonical axes as a reference frame in maps, but selection of the imaginary 45 deg as a reference frame in graphs.

Quantifying cognition and behavior in normal aging, mild cognitive impairment, and Alzheimer's disease

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giraldo, Diana L.; Sijbers, Jan; Romero, Eduardo

2017-11-01

The diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is based on neuropsychological evaluation of the patient. Different cognitive and memory functions are assessed by a battery of tests that are composed of items devised to specifically evaluate such upper functions. This work aims to identify and quantify the factors that determine the performance in neuropsychological evaluation by conducting an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA). For this purpose, using data from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), EFA was applied to 67 item scores taken from the baseline neuropsychological battery of the three phases of ADNI study. The found factors are directly related to specific brain functions such as memory, behavior, orientation, or verbal fluency. The identification of factors is followed by the calculation of factor scores given by weighted linear combinations of the items scores.

The use of moderated mediated analysis to study the influence of hypo-hydration on working memory.

PubMed

Young, Hayley A; Benton, David

2016-07-13

To date, dehydration has been typically reported to infl uence psychological parameters when there has been at least a 2% loss of body mass, although there has been little examination of those going about their everyday lives, those who have lost less than 1% of body mass. In such situations factors such as the initial hydration status and individual differences in the response to a reduced fl uid intake are likely to be infl uential. Yet to study the complexity added by such additional variables novel methods of statistical analysis are required. The present study describes the use of moderated mediation, an approach that asks various questions: fi rstly, is drinking infl uential?; secondly, does a mediator (e.g.,thirst) sit between an independent and dependent variable?; and thirdly, does an effect only occur under certain conditions such as initial osmolality? In the study, 118 subjects were exposed to 30 °C for four hours during which they half drank 300 ml water. The serial sevens test of working memory was performed before and at the end of the procedure. A 0.6% loss of body mass reduced the effi ciency of working memory. Those who consumed water had better working memory; working memory was worse in participants who lost more body mass or became thirstier, but only in those with higher levels of baseline osmolality. Small variations in hydration status infl uenced cognitive functioning although there were individual differences in the response. The parameters that influence an adverse response to hypo-hydration need to be established to allow giving appropriate advice.

Prefrontal Neuronal Responses during Audiovisual Mnemonic Processing

PubMed Central

Hwang, Jaewon

2015-01-01

During communication we combine auditory and visual information. Neurophysiological research in nonhuman primates has shown that single neurons in ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) exhibit multisensory responses to faces and vocalizations presented simultaneously. However, whether VLPFC is also involved in maintaining those communication stimuli in working memory or combining stored information across different modalities is unknown, although its human homolog, the inferior frontal gyrus, is known to be important in integrating verbal information from auditory and visual working memory. To address this question, we recorded from VLPFC while rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) performed an audiovisual working memory task. Unlike traditional match-to-sample/nonmatch-to-sample paradigms, which use unimodal memoranda, our nonmatch-to-sample task used dynamic movies consisting of both facial gestures and the accompanying vocalizations. For the nonmatch conditions, a change in the auditory component (vocalization), the visual component (face), or both components was detected. Our results show that VLPFC neurons are activated by stimulus and task factors: while some neurons simply responded to a particular face or a vocalization regardless of the task period, others exhibited activity patterns typically related to working memory such as sustained delay activity and match enhancement/suppression. In addition, we found neurons that detected the component change during the nonmatch period. Interestingly, some of these neurons were sensitive to the change of both components and therefore combined information from auditory and visual working memory. These results suggest that VLPFC is not only involved in the perceptual processing of faces and vocalizations but also in their mnemonic processing. PMID:25609614

Can Interactive Working Memory Training Improve Learning?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alloway, Tracy

2012-01-01

Background: Working memory is linked to learning outcomes and there is emerging evidence that training working memory can yield gains in working memory and fluid intelligence. Aims: The aim of the present study was to investigate whether interactive working memory training would transfer to acquired cognitive skills, such as vocabulary and…

Working memory training may increase working memory capacity but not fluid intelligence.

PubMed

Harrison, Tyler L; Shipstead, Zach; Hicks, Kenny L; Hambrick, David Z; Redick, Thomas S; Engle, Randall W

2013-12-01

Working memory is a critical element of complex cognition, particularly under conditions of distraction and interference. Measures of working memory capacity correlate positively with many measures of real-world cognition, including fluid intelligence. There have been numerous attempts to use training procedures to increase working memory capacity and thereby performance on the real-world tasks that rely on working memory capacity. In the study reported here, we demonstrated that training on complex working memory span tasks leads to improvement on similar tasks with different materials but that such training does not generalize to measures of fluid intelligence.

Spatial attention interacts with serial-order retrieval from verbal working memory.

PubMed

van Dijck, Jean-Philippe; Abrahamse, Elger L; Majerus, Steve; Fias, Wim

2013-09-01

The ability to maintain the serial order of events is recognized as a major function of working memory. Although general models of working memory postulate a close link between working memory and attention, such a link has so far not been proposed specifically for serial-order working memory. The present study provided the first empirical demonstration of a direct link between serial order in verbal working memory and spatial selective attention. We show that the retrieval of later items of a sequence stored in working memory-compared with that of earlier items-produces covert attentional shifts toward the right. This observation suggests the conceptually surprising notion that serial-order working memory, even for nonspatially defined verbal items, draws on spatial attention.

Working Memory Underpins Cognitive Development, Learning, and Education

PubMed Central

Cowan, Nelson

2014-01-01

Working memory is the retention of a small amount of information in a readily accessible form. It facilitates planning, comprehension, reasoning, and problem-solving. I examine the historical roots and conceptual development of the concept and the theoretical and practical implications of current debates about working memory mechanisms. Then I explore the nature of cognitive developmental improvements in working memory, the role of working memory in learning, and some potential implications of working memory and its development for the education of children and adults. The use of working memory is quite ubiquitous in human thought, but the best way to improve education using what we know about working memory is still controversial. I hope to provide some directions for research and educational practice. PMID:25346585

Working Memory Differences Between Children Living in Rural and Urban Poverty

PubMed Central

Tine, Michele

2014-01-01

This study was designed to investigate if the working memory profiles of children living in rural poverty are distinct from the working memory profiles of children living in urban poverty. Verbal and visuospatial working memory tasks were administered to sixth-grade students living in low-income rural, low-income urban, high-income rural, and high-income urban developmental contexts. Both low-income rural and low-income urban children showed working memory deficits compared with their high-income counterparts, but their deficits were distinct. Low-income urban children exhibited symmetrical verbal and visuospatial working memory deficits compared with their high-income urban counterparts. Meanwhile, low-income rural children exhibited asymmetrical deficits when compared with their high-income rural counterparts, with more extreme visuospatial working memory deficits than verbal working memory deficits. These results suggest that different types of poverty are associated with different working memory abilities. PMID:25554726

Working Memory Differences Between Children Living in Rural and Urban Poverty.

PubMed

Tine, Michele

2014-10-02

This study was designed to investigate if the working memory profiles of children living in rural poverty are distinct from the working memory profiles of children living in urban poverty. Verbal and visuospatial working memory tasks were administered to sixth-grade students living in low-income rural, low-income urban, high-income rural, and high-income urban developmental contexts. Both low-income rural and low-income urban children showed working memory deficits compared with their high-income counterparts, but their deficits were distinct. Low-income urban children exhibited symmetrical verbal and visuospatial working memory deficits compared with their high-income urban counterparts. Meanwhile, low-income rural children exhibited asymmetrical deficits when compared with their high-income rural counterparts, with more extreme visuospatial working memory deficits than verbal working memory deficits. These results suggest that different types of poverty are associated with different working memory abilities.

Do TRPC channels support working memory? Comparing modulations of TRPC channels and working memory through G-protein coupled receptors and neuromodulators.

PubMed

Reboreda, Antonio; Theissen, Frederik M; Valero-Aracama, Maria J; Arboit, Alberto; Corbu, Mihaela A; Yoshida, Motoharu

2018-03-01

Working memory is a crucial ability we use in daily life. However, the cellular mechanisms supporting working memory still remain largely unclear. A key component of working memory is persistent neural firing which is believed to serve short-term (hundreds of milliseconds up to tens of seconds) maintenance of necessary information. In this review, we will focus on the role of transient receptor potential canonical (TRPC) channels as a mechanism underlying persistent firing. Many years of in vitro work have been suggesting a crucial role of TRPC channels in working memory and temporal association tasks. If TRPC channels are indeed a central mechanism for working memory, manipulations which impair or facilitate working memory should have a similar effect on TRPC channel modulation. However, modulations of working memory and TRPC channels were never systematically compared, and it remains unanswered whether TRPC channels indeed contribute to working memory in vivo or not. In this article, we review the effects of G-protein coupled receptors (GPCR) and neuromodulators, including acetylcholine, noradrenalin, serotonin and dopamine, on working memory and TRPC channels. Based on comparisons, we argue that GPCR and downstream signaling pathways that activate TRPC, generally support working memory, while those that suppress TRPC channels impair it. However, depending on the channel types, areas, and systems tested, this is not the case in all studies. Further work to clarify involvement of specific TRPC channels in working memory tasks and how they are affected by neuromodulators is still necessary in the future. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Perinatal Medical Variables Predict Executive Function within a Sample of Preschoolers Born Very Low Birth Weight

PubMed Central

Duvall, Susanne W.; Erickson, Sarah J.; MacLean, Peggy; Lowe, Jean R.

2014-01-01

The goal was to identify perinatal predictors of early executive dysfunction in preschoolers born very low birth weight. Fifty-seven preschoolers completed three executive function tasks (Dimensional Change Card Sort-Separated (inhibition, working memory and cognitive flexibility), Bear Dragon (inhibition and working memory) and Gift Delay Open (inhibition)). Relationships between executive function and perinatal medical severity factors (gestational age, days on ventilation, size for gestational age, maternal steroids and number of surgeries), and chronological age were investigated by multiple linear regression and logistic regression. Different perinatal medical severity factors were predictive of executive function tasks, with gestational age predicting Bear Dragon and Gift Open; and number of surgeries and maternal steroids predicting performance on Dimensional Change Card Sort-Separated. By understanding the relationship between perinatal medical severity factors and preschool executive outcomes, we may be able to identify children at highest risk for future executive dysfunction, thereby focusing targeted early intervention services. PMID:25117418

Predictors of change in life skills in schizophrenia after cognitive remediation.

PubMed

Kurtz, Matthew M; Seltzer, James C; Fujimoto, Marco; Shagan, Dana S; Wexler, Bruce E

2009-02-01

Few studies have investigated predictors of response to cognitive remediation interventions in patients with schizophrenia. Predictor studies to date have selected treatment outcome measures that were either part of the remediation intervention itself or closely linked to the intervention with few studies investigating factors that predict generalization to measures of everyday life-skills as an index of treatment-related improvement. In the current study we investigated the relationship between four measures of neurocognitive function, crystallized verbal ability, auditory sustained attention and working memory, verbal learning and memory, and problem-solving, two measures of symptoms, total positive and negative symptoms, and the process variables of treatment intensity and duration, to change on a performance-based measure of everyday life-skills after a year of computer-assisted cognitive remediation offered as part of intensive outpatient rehabilitation treatment. Thirty-six patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were studied. Results of a linear regression model revealed that auditory attention and working memory predicted a significant amount of the variance in change in performance-based measures of everyday life skills after cognitive remediation, even when variance for all other neurocognitive variables in the model was controlled. Stepwise regression revealed that auditory attention and working memory predicted change in everyday life-skills across the trial even when baseline life-skill scores, symptoms and treatment process variables were controlled. These findings emphasize the importance of sustained auditory attention and working memory for benefiting from extended programs of cognitive remediation.

Effects of cognitive appraisal and mental workload factors on performance in an arithmetic task.

PubMed

Galy, Edith; Mélan, Claudine

2015-12-01

We showed in a previous study an additive interaction between intrinsic and extraneous cognitive loads and of participants' alertness in an 1-back working memory task. The interaction between intrinsic and extraneous cognitive loads was only observed when participants' alertness was low (i.e. in the morning). As alertness is known to reflect an individual's general functional state, we suggested that the working memory capacity available for germane cognitive load depends on a participant's functional state, in addition to intrinsic and extraneous loads induced by the task and task conditions. The relationships between the different load types and their assessment by specific load measures gave rise to a modified cognitive load model. The aim of the present study was to complete the model by determining to what extent and at what processing level an individual's characteristics intervene in order to implement efficient strategies in a working memory task. Therefore, the study explored participants' cognitive appraisal of the situation in addition to the load factors considered previously-task difficulty, time pressure and alertness. Each participant performed a mental arithmetic task in four different cognitive load conditions (crossover of two task difficulty conditions and of two time pressure conditions), both while their alertness was low (9 a.m.) and high (4 p.m.). Results confirmed an additive effect of task difficulty and time pressure, previously reported in the 1-back memory task, thereby lending further support to the modified cognitive load model. Further, in the high intrinsic and extraneous load condition, performance was reduced on the morning session (i.e. when alertness was low) on one hand, and in those participants' having a threat appraisal of the situation on the other hand. When these factors were included into the analysis, a performance drop occurred in the morning irrespective of cognitive appraisal, and with threat appraisal in the afternoon (i.e. high alertness). Taken together, these findings indicate that mental overload can be the result of a combination of subject-related characteristics, including alertness and cognitive appraisal, in addition to well-documented task-related components (intrinsic and extraneous load). As the factors investigated in the study are known to be critically involved in a number of real job-activities, the findings suggest that solutions designed to reduce incidents and accidents at work should consider the situation from a global perspective, including individual characteristics, task parameters, and work organization, rather than dealing with each factor separately.

Learning to echolocate in sighted people: a correlational study on attention, working memory and spatial abilities.

PubMed

Ekkel, M R; van Lier, R; Steenbergen, B

2017-03-01

Echolocation can be beneficial for the orientation and mobility of visually impaired people. Research has shown considerable individual differences for acquiring this skill. However, individual characteristics that affect the learning of echolocation are largely unknown. In the present study, we examined individual factors that are likely to affect learning to echolocate: sustained and divided attention, working memory, and spatial abilities. To that aim, sighted participants with normal hearing performed an echolocation task that was adapted from a previously reported size-discrimination task. In line with existing studies, we found large individual differences in echolocation ability. We also found indications that participants were able to improve their echolocation ability. Furthermore, we found a significant positive correlation between improvement in echolocation and sustained and divided attention, as measured in the PASAT. No significant correlations were found with our tests regarding working memory and spatial abilities. These findings may have implications for the development of guidelines for training echolocation that are tailored to the individual with a visual impairment.

Regulation of Cognitive Resources During an N-Back Task in Youth-Onset Psychosis and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

PubMed Central

Karatekin, Canan; Bingham, Christopher; White, Tonya

2009-01-01

The goals of the current study were to use behavioral and pupillary measures to examine working memory on a spatial n-back task in 8-20-year-olds with youth-onset psychosis or ADHD (Combined subtype) and healthy controls to determine the contribution of different attentional factors to spatial working memory impairments, and to examine if age-related changes in performance differed across groups. Although both clinical groups had lower perceptual sensitivity on both 0- and 1-back, there was no evidence of an impairment in spatial working memory or differential order effects on the 0-back. Instead, results suggest that both clinical groups had difficulty encoding the stimuli. They also appeared to have difficulty maintaining attention and/or readiness to respond, and, to a lesser extent, recruiting resources on a trial-to-trial basis. It is likely that these attentional problems prevented the clinical groups from encoding the stimuli effectively and contributed to their general performance deficits. PMID:19427339

Does adult ADHD interact with COMT val (158) met genotype to influence working memory performance?

PubMed

Biehl, Stefanie C; Gschwendtner, Kathrin M; Guhn, Anne; Müller, Laura D; Reichert, Susanne; Heupel, Julia; Reif, Andreas; Deckert, Jürgen; Herrmann, Martin J; Jacob, Christian P

2015-03-01

Both attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) genotype have been linked to altered dopaminergic transmission and possible impairment in frontal lobe functioning. This study offers an investigation of a possible interaction between ADHD diagnosis and COMT genotype on measures of working memory and executive function. Thirty-five adults with ADHD, who were recruited from the ADHD outpatient clinic at the Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University of Würzburg, and thirty-five matched healthy controls completed the Digit Span test and the Stroop Color Word Test. While there were no main effects of ADHD or COMT, the two factors interacted on both Digit Span subtests with the two groups' met/met carriers showing significantly different performance on the Digit Span Forward subtest and the val/val carriers showing significantly different performance on the Digit Span Backward subtest. Findings provide preliminary support for a differential impact of COMT genotype on working memory measures in adult patients with ADHD compared to healthy controls.

Cognitive Risk Factors for Specific Learning Disorder: Processing Speed, Temporal Processing, and Working Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moll, Kristina; Göbel, Silke M.; Gooch, Debbie; Landerl, Karin; Snowling, Margaret J.

2016-01-01

High comorbidity rates between reading disorder (RD) and mathematics disorder (MD) indicate that, although the cognitive core deficits underlying these disorders are distinct, additional domain-general risk factors might be shared between the disorders. Three domain-general cognitive abilities were investigated in children with RD and MD:…

Conceptualizing and Measuring Working Memory and its Relationship to Aphasia

PubMed Central

Wright, Heather Harris; Fergadiotis, Gerasimos

2011-01-01

Background General agreement exists in the literature that individuals with aphasia can exhibit a working memory deficit that contributes to their language processing impairments. Though conceptualized within different working memory frameworks, researchers have suggested that individuals with aphasia have limited working memory capacity, impaired attention-control processes as well as impaired inhibitory mechanisms. However, across studies investigating working memory ability in individuals with aphasia, different measures have been used to quantify their working memory ability and identify the relationship between working memory and language performance. Aims The primary objectives of this article are to (1) review current working memory theoretical frameworks, (2) review tasks used to measure working memory, and (3) discuss findings from studies that have investigated working memory as they relate to language processing in aphasia. Main Contribution Though findings have been consistent across studies investigating working memory ability in individuals with aphasia, discussion of how working memory is conceptualized and defined is often missing, as is discussion of results within a theoretical framework. This is critical, as working memory is conceptualized differently across the different theoretical frameworks. They differ in explaining what limits capacity and the source of individual differences as well as how information is encoded, maintained, and retrieved. When test methods are considered within a theoretical framework, specific hypotheses can be tested and stronger conclusions that are less susceptible to different interpretations can be made. Conclusions Working memory ability has been investigated in numerous studies with individuals with aphasia. To better understand the underlying cognitive constructs that contribute to the language deficits exhibited by individuals with aphasia, future investigations should operationally define the cognitive constructs of interest and discuss findings within theoretical frameworks. PMID:22639480

Growth in literacy, cognition, and working memory in English language learners.

PubMed

Lee Swanson, H; Orosco, Michael J; Lussier, Catherine M

2015-04-01

This cohort sequential study explored the components of working memory that underlie English reading and language acquisition in elementary school children whose first language is Spanish. To this end, children (N=410) in Grades 1, 2, and 3 at Wave 1 were administered a battery of cognitive (short-term memory [STM], working memory [WM], rapid naming, phonological processing, and random letter and number generation), vocabulary, and reading measures in both Spanish and English. These same measures were administered 1 and 2 years later. The results showed that (a) a three-factor structure (phonological STM, visual-spatial WM, and verbal WM) captured the data within both language systems, (b) growth in both the executive and STM storage components was uniquely related to growth in second language (L2) reading and language acquisition, and (c) the contribution of growth in the executive component of WM to growth in L2 processing was independent of growth in storage, phonological knowledge, inhibition, and rapid naming speed. The results suggested that growth in the phonological storage system does not supersede growth of the executive component of WM as a major contributor to growth in children's L2 reading and language. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Changes in Brain Network Efficiency and Working Memory Performance in Aging

PubMed Central

Stanley, Matthew L.; Simpson, Sean L.; Dagenbach, Dale; Lyday, Robert G.; Burdette, Jonathan H.; Laurienti, Paul J.

2015-01-01

Working memory is a complex psychological construct referring to the temporary storage and active processing of information. We used functional connectivity brain network metrics quantifying local and global efficiency of information transfer for predicting individual variability in working memory performance on an n-back task in both young (n = 14) and older (n = 15) adults. Individual differences in both local and global efficiency during the working memory task were significant predictors of working memory performance in addition to age (and an interaction between age and global efficiency). Decreases in local efficiency during the working memory task were associated with better working memory performance in both age cohorts. In contrast, increases in global efficiency were associated with much better working performance for young participants; however, increases in global efficiency were associated with a slight decrease in working memory performance for older participants. Individual differences in local and global efficiency during resting-state sessions were not significant predictors of working memory performance. Significant group whole-brain functional network decreases in local efficiency also were observed during the working memory task compared to rest, whereas no significant differences were observed in network global efficiency. These results are discussed in relation to recently developed models of age-related differences in working memory. PMID:25875001

Changes in brain network efficiency and working memory performance in aging.

PubMed

Stanley, Matthew L; Simpson, Sean L; Dagenbach, Dale; Lyday, Robert G; Burdette, Jonathan H; Laurienti, Paul J

2015-01-01

Working memory is a complex psychological construct referring to the temporary storage and active processing of information. We used functional connectivity brain network metrics quantifying local and global efficiency of information transfer for predicting individual variability in working memory performance on an n-back task in both young (n = 14) and older (n = 15) adults. Individual differences in both local and global efficiency during the working memory task were significant predictors of working memory performance in addition to age (and an interaction between age and global efficiency). Decreases in local efficiency during the working memory task were associated with better working memory performance in both age cohorts. In contrast, increases in global efficiency were associated with much better working performance for young participants; however, increases in global efficiency were associated with a slight decrease in working memory performance for older participants. Individual differences in local and global efficiency during resting-state sessions were not significant predictors of working memory performance. Significant group whole-brain functional network decreases in local efficiency also were observed during the working memory task compared to rest, whereas no significant differences were observed in network global efficiency. These results are discussed in relation to recently developed models of age-related differences in working memory.

Working Memory Systems in the Rat.

PubMed

Bratch, Alexander; Kann, Spencer; Cain, Joshua A; Wu, Jie-En; Rivera-Reyes, Nilda; Dalecki, Stefan; Arman, Diana; Dunn, Austin; Cooper, Shiloh; Corbin, Hannah E; Doyle, Amanda R; Pizzo, Matthew J; Smith, Alexandra E; Crystal, Jonathon D

2016-02-08

A fundamental feature of memory in humans is the ability to simultaneously work with multiple types of information using independent memory systems. Working memory is conceptualized as two independent memory systems under executive control [1, 2]. Although there is a long history of using the term "working memory" to describe short-term memory in animals, it is not known whether multiple, independent memory systems exist in nonhumans. Here, we used two established short-term memory approaches to test the hypothesis that spatial and olfactory memory operate as independent working memory resources in the rat. In the olfactory memory task, rats chose a novel odor from a gradually incrementing set of old odors [3]. In the spatial memory task, rats searched for a depleting food source at multiple locations [4]. We presented rats with information to hold in memory in one domain (e.g., olfactory) while adding a memory load in the other domain (e.g., spatial). Control conditions equated the retention interval delay without adding a second memory load. In a further experiment, we used proactive interference [5-7] in the spatial domain to compromise spatial memory and evaluated the impact of adding an olfactory memory load. Olfactory and spatial memory are resistant to interference from the addition of a memory load in the other domain. Our data suggest that olfactory and spatial memory draw on independent working memory systems in the rat. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of working memory contents and perceptual load on distractor processing: When a response-related distractor is held in working memory.

PubMed

Koshino, Hideya

2017-01-01

Working memory and attention are closely related. Recent research has shown that working memory can be viewed as internally directed attention. Working memory can affect attention in at least two ways. One is the effect of working memory load on attention, and the other is the effect of working memory contents on attention. In the present study, an interaction between working memory contents and perceptual load in distractor processing was investigated. Participants performed a perceptual load task in a standard form in one condition (Single task). In the other condition, a response-related distractor was maintained in working memory, rather than presented in the same stimulus display as a target (Dual task). For the Dual task condition, a significant compatibility effect was found under high perceptual load; however, there was no compatibility effect under low perceptual load. These results suggest that the way the contents of working memory affect visual search depends on perceptual load. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Motor learning and working memory in children born preterm: a systematic review.

PubMed

Jongbloed-Pereboom, Marjolein; Janssen, Anjo J W M; Steenbergen, Bert; Nijhuis-van der Sanden, Maria W G

2012-04-01

Children born preterm have a higher risk for developing motor, cognitive, and behavioral problems. Motor problems can occur in combination with working memory problems, and working memory is important for explicit learning of motor skills. The relation between motor learning and working memory has never been reviewed. The goal of this review was to provide an overview of motor learning, visual working memory and the role of working memory on motor learning in preterm children. A systematic review conducted in four databases identified 38 relevant articles, which were evaluated for methodological quality. Only 4 of 38 articles discussed motor learning in preterm children. Thirty-four studies reported on visual working memory; preterm birth affected performance on visual working memory tests. Information regarding motor learning and the role of working memory on the different components of motor learning was not available. Future research should address this issue. Insight in the relation between motor learning and visual working memory may contribute to the development of evidence based intervention programs for children born preterm. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Continuing the search for the engram: examining the mechanism of fear memories.

PubMed

Josselyn, Sheena A

2010-07-01

The goal of my research is to gain insight using rodent models into the fundamental molecular, cellular and systems that make up the base of memory formation. My work focuses on fear memories. Aberrant fear and/or anxiety may be at the heart of many psychiatric disorders. In this article, I review the results of my research group; these results show that particular neurons in the lateral amygdala, a brain region important for fear, are specifically involved in particular fear memories. We started by showing that the transcription factor CREB (cAMP/Ca(2+) response element binding protein) plays a key role in the formation of fear memories. Next, we used viral vectors to overexpress CREB in a subset of lateral amygdala neurons. This not only facilitated fear memory formation but also "drove" the memory into the neurons with relatively increased CREB function. Finally, we showed that selective ablation of the neurons overexpressing CREB in the lateral amygdala selectively erased the fear memory. These findings are the first to show disruption of a specific memory by disrupting select neurons within a distributed network.

Manipulations of attention dissociate fragile visual short-term memory from visual working memory.

PubMed

Vandenbroucke, Annelinde R E; Sligte, Ilja G; Lamme, Victor A F

2011-05-01

People often rely on information that is no longer in view, but maintained in visual short-term memory (VSTM). Traditionally, VSTM is thought to operate on either a short time-scale with high capacity - iconic memory - or a long time scale with small capacity - visual working memory. Recent research suggests that in addition, an intermediate stage of memory in between iconic memory and visual working memory exists. This intermediate stage has a large capacity and a lifetime of several seconds, but is easily overwritten by new stimulation. We therefore termed it fragile VSTM. In previous studies, fragile VSTM has been dissociated from iconic memory by the characteristics of the memory trace. In the present study, we dissociated fragile VSTM from visual working memory by showing a differentiation in their dependency on attention. A decrease in attention during presentation of the stimulus array greatly reduced the capacity of visual working memory, while this had only a small effect on the capacity of fragile VSTM. We conclude that fragile VSTM is a separate memory store from visual working memory. Thus, a tripartite division of VSTM appears to be in place, comprising iconic memory, fragile VSTM and visual working memory. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Working memory consolidation: insights from studies on attention and working memory.

PubMed

Ricker, Timothy J; Nieuwenstein, Mark R; Bayliss, Donna M; Barrouillet, Pierre

2018-04-10

Working memory, the system that maintains a limited set of representations for immediate use in cognition, is a central part of human cognition. Three processes have recently been proposed to govern information storage in working memory: consolidation, refreshing, and removal. Here, we discuss in detail the theoretical construct of working memory consolidation, a process critical to the creation of a stable working memory representation. We present a brief overview of the research that indicated the need for a construct such as working memory consolidation and the subsequent research that has helped to define the parameters of the construct. We then move on to explicitly state the points of agreement as to what processes are involved in working memory consolidation. © 2018 New York Academy of Sciences.

Visuospatial Working Memory Capacity Predicts Physiological Arousal in a Narrative Task.

PubMed

Smithson, Lisa; Nicoladis, Elena

2016-06-01

Physiological arousal that occurs during narrative production is thought to reflect emotional processing and cognitive effort (Bar-Haim et al. in Dev Psychobiol 44:238-249, 2004). The purpose of this study was to determine whether individual differences in visuospatial working memory and/or verbal working memory capacity predict physiological arousal in a narrative task. Visuospatial working memory was a significant predictor of skin conductance level (SCL); verbal working memory was not. When visuospatial working memory interference was imposed, visuospatial working memory was no longer a significant predictor of SCL. Visuospatial interference also resulted in a significant reduction in SCL. Furthermore, listener ratings of narrative quality were contingent upon the visuospatial working memory resources of the narrator. Potential implications for educators and clinical practitioners are discussed.

The impact of intelligence on memory and executive functions of children with temporal lobe epilepsy: Methodological concerns with clinical relevance.

PubMed

Rzezak, Patricia; Guimarães, Catarina A; Guerreiro, Marilisa M; Valente, Kette D

2017-05-01

Patients with TLE are prone to have lower IQ scores than healthy controls. Nevertheless, the impact of IQ differences is not usually considered in studies that compared the cognitive functioning of children with and without epilepsy. This study aimed to determine the effect of using IQ as a covariate on memory and attentional/executive functions of children with TLE. Thirty-eight children and adolescents with TLE and 28 healthy controls paired as to age, gender, and sociodemographic factors were evaluated with a comprehensive neuropsychological battery for memory and executive functions. The authors conducted three analyses to verify the impact of IQ scores on the other cognitive domains. First, we compared performance on cognitive tests without controlling for IQ differences between groups. Second, we performed the same analyses, but we included IQ as a confounding factor. Finally, we evaluated the predictive value of IQ on cognitive functioning. Although patients had IQ score in the normal range, they showed lower IQ scores than controls (p = 0.001). When we did not consider IQ in the analyses, patients had worse performance in verbal and visual memory (short and long-term), semantic memory, sustained, divided and selective attention, mental flexibility and mental tracking for semantic information. By using IQ as a covariate, patients showed worse performance only in verbal memory (long-term), semantic memory, sustained and divided attention and in mental flexibility. IQ was a predictor factor of verbal and visual memory (immediate and delayed), working memory, mental flexibility and mental tracking for semantic information. Intelligence level had a significant impact on memory and executive functioning of children and adolescents with TLE without intellectual disability. This finding opens the discussion of whether IQ scores should be considered when interpreting the results of differences in cognitive performance of patients with epilepsy compared to healthy volunteers. Copyright © 2017 European Paediatric Neurology Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effective visual working memory capacity: an emergent effect from the neural dynamics in an attractor network.

PubMed

Dempere-Marco, Laura; Melcher, David P; Deco, Gustavo

2012-01-01

The study of working memory capacity is of outmost importance in cognitive psychology as working memory is at the basis of general cognitive function. Although the working memory capacity limit has been thoroughly studied, its origin still remains a matter of strong debate. Only recently has the role of visual saliency in modulating working memory storage capacity been assessed experimentally and proved to provide valuable insights into working memory function. In the computational arena, attractor networks have successfully accounted for psychophysical and neurophysiological data in numerous working memory tasks given their ability to produce a sustained elevated firing rate during a delay period. Here we investigate the mechanisms underlying working memory capacity by means of a biophysically-realistic attractor network with spiking neurons while accounting for two recent experimental observations: 1) the presence of a visually salient item reduces the number of items that can be held in working memory, and 2) visually salient items are commonly kept in memory at the cost of not keeping as many non-salient items. Our model suggests that working memory capacity is determined by two fundamental processes: encoding of visual items into working memory and maintenance of the encoded items upon their removal from the visual display. While maintenance critically depends on the constraints that lateral inhibition imposes to the mnemonic activity, encoding is limited by the ability of the stimulated neural assemblies to reach a sufficiently high level of excitation, a process governed by the dynamics of competition and cooperation among neuronal pools. Encoding is therefore contingent upon the visual working memory task and has led us to introduce the concept of effective working memory capacity (eWMC) in contrast to the maximal upper capacity limit only reached under ideal conditions.

Effective Visual Working Memory Capacity: An Emergent Effect from the Neural Dynamics in an Attractor Network

PubMed Central

Dempere-Marco, Laura; Melcher, David P.; Deco, Gustavo

2012-01-01

The study of working memory capacity is of outmost importance in cognitive psychology as working memory is at the basis of general cognitive function. Although the working memory capacity limit has been thoroughly studied, its origin still remains a matter of strong debate. Only recently has the role of visual saliency in modulating working memory storage capacity been assessed experimentally and proved to provide valuable insights into working memory function. In the computational arena, attractor networks have successfully accounted for psychophysical and neurophysiological data in numerous working memory tasks given their ability to produce a sustained elevated firing rate during a delay period. Here we investigate the mechanisms underlying working memory capacity by means of a biophysically-realistic attractor network with spiking neurons while accounting for two recent experimental observations: 1) the presence of a visually salient item reduces the number of items that can be held in working memory, and 2) visually salient items are commonly kept in memory at the cost of not keeping as many non-salient items. Our model suggests that working memory capacity is determined by two fundamental processes: encoding of visual items into working memory and maintenance of the encoded items upon their removal from the visual display. While maintenance critically depends on the constraints that lateral inhibition imposes to the mnemonic activity, encoding is limited by the ability of the stimulated neural assemblies to reach a sufficiently high level of excitation, a process governed by the dynamics of competition and cooperation among neuronal pools. Encoding is therefore contingent upon the visual working memory task and has led us to introduce the concept of effective working memory capacity (eWMC) in contrast to the maximal upper capacity limit only reached under ideal conditions. PMID:22952608

Epigenetic regulation of estrogen-dependent memory

PubMed Central

Fortress, Ashley M.; Frick, Karyn M.

2014-01-01

Hippocampal memory formation is highly regulated by post-translational histone modifications and DNA methylation. Accordingly, these epigenetic processes play a major role in the effects of modulatory factors, such as sex steroid hormones, on hippocampal memory. Our laboratory recently demonstrated that the ability of the potent estrogen 17β-estradiol (E2) to enhance hippocampal-dependent novel object recognition memory in ovariectomized female mice requires ERK-dependent histone H3 acetylation and DNA methylation in the dorsal hippocampus. Although these data provide valuable insight into the chromatin modifications that mediate the memory-enhancing effects of E2, epigenetic regulation of gene expression is enormously complex. Therefore, more research is needed to fully understand how E2 and other hormones employ epigenetic alterations to shape behavior. This review discusses the epigenetic alterations shown thus far to regulate hippocampal memory, briefly reviews the effects of E2 on hippocampal function, and describes in detail our work on epigenetic regulation of estrogenic memory enhancement. PMID:24878494

Epigenetic regulation of estrogen-dependent memory.

PubMed

Fortress, Ashley M; Frick, Karyn M

2014-10-01

Hippocampal memory formation is highly regulated by post-translational histone modifications and DNA methylation. Accordingly, these epigenetic processes play a major role in the effects of modulatory factors, such as sex steroid hormones, on hippocampal memory. Our laboratory recently demonstrated that the ability of the potent estrogen 17β-estradiol (E2) to enhance hippocampal-dependent novel object recognition memory in ovariectomized female mice requires ERK-dependent histone H3 acetylation and DNA methylation in the dorsal hippocampus. Although these data provide valuable insight into the chromatin modifications that mediate the memory-enhancing effects of E2, epigenetic regulation of gene expression is enormously complex. Therefore, more research is needed to fully understand how E2 and other hormones employ epigenetic alterations to shape behavior. This review discusses the epigenetic alterations shown thus far to regulate hippocampal memory, briefly reviews the effects of E2 on hippocampal function, and describes in detail our work on epigenetic regulation of estrogenic memory enhancement. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Working memory, short-term memory and reading proficiency in school-age children with cochlear implants.

PubMed

Bharadwaj, Sneha V; Maricle, Denise; Green, Laura; Allman, Tamby

2015-10-01

The objective of the study was to examine short-term memory and working memory through both visual and auditory tasks in school-age children with cochlear implants. The relationship between the performance on these cognitive skills and reading as well as language outcomes were examined in these children. Ten children between the ages of 7 and 11 years with early-onset bilateral severe-profound hearing loss participated in the study. Auditory and visual short-term memory, auditory and visual working memory subtests and verbal knowledge measures were assessed using the Woodcock Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities, the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-IV Integrated and the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children II. Reading outcomes were assessed using the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test III. Performance on visual short-term memory and visual working memory measures in children with cochlear implants was within the average range when compared to the normative mean. However, auditory short-term memory and auditory working memory measures were below average when compared to the normative mean. Performance was also below average on all verbal knowledge measures. Regarding reading outcomes, children with cochlear implants scored below average for listening and passage comprehension tasks and these measures were positively correlated to visual short-term memory, visual working memory and auditory short-term memory. Performance on auditory working memory subtests was not related to reading or language outcomes. The children with cochlear implants in this study demonstrated better performance in visual (spatial) working memory and short-term memory skills than in auditory working memory and auditory short-term memory skills. Significant positive relationships were found between visual working memory and reading outcomes. The results of the study provide support for the idea that WM capacity is modality specific in children with hearing loss. Based on these findings, reading instruction that capitalizes on the strengths in visual short-term memory and working memory is suggested for young children with early-onset hearing loss. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Higher HDL cholesterol is associated with better cognitive function: the Maine-Syracuse study.

PubMed

Crichton, Georgina E; Elias, Merrill F; Davey, Adam; Sullivan, Kevin J; Robbins, Michael A

2014-11-01

Few studies have examined associations between different subcategories of cholesterol and cognitive function. We examined relationships between total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), triglyceride levels and cognitive performance in the Maine-Syracuse Longitudinal Study, a community-based study of cardiovascular risk factors. Cross-sectional analyses were undertaken on data from 540 participants, aged 60 to 98 years, free of dementia and stroke. TC, HDL, LDL, and triglyceride levels were obtained. Cognitive function was assessed using a thorough neuropsychological test battery, including domains of cognitive function indexed by multiple cognitive tests. The cognitive outcomes studied were as follows: Visual-Spatial Memory and Organization, Verbal and Working Memory, Scanning and Tracking, Abstract Reasoning, a Global Composite score, and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Significant positive associations were observed between HDL-cholesterol and the Global Composite score, Working Memory, and the MMSE after adjustment for demographic and cardiovascular risk factors. Participants with desirable levels of HDL (≥60 mg/dL) had the highest scores on all cognitive outcomes. There were no significant associations observed between TC, LDL, or triglyceride concentrations and cognition. In older individuals, HDL-cholesterol was related to a composite of Working Memory tests and for general measures of cognitive ability when adjusted for cardiovascular variables. We speculate that persons over 60 are survivors and thus less likely to show cognitive deficit in relation to TC, LDL-cholesterol, and triglycerides. Longitudinal studies are needed to examine relations between specific cognitive abilities and the different subcategories of cholesterol.

Lexical-Access Ability and Cognitive Predictors of Speech Recognition in Noise in Adult Cochlear Implant Users

PubMed Central

Smits, Cas; Merkus, Paul; Festen, Joost M.; Goverts, S. Theo

2017-01-01

Not all of the variance in speech-recognition performance of cochlear implant (CI) users can be explained by biographic and auditory factors. In normal-hearing listeners, linguistic and cognitive factors determine most of speech-in-noise performance. The current study explored specifically the influence of visually measured lexical-access ability compared with other cognitive factors on speech recognition of 24 postlingually deafened CI users. Speech-recognition performance was measured with monosyllables in quiet (consonant-vowel-consonant [CVC]), sentences-in-noise (SIN), and digit-triplets in noise (DIN). In addition to a composite variable of lexical-access ability (LA), measured with a lexical-decision test (LDT) and word-naming task, vocabulary size, working-memory capacity (Reading Span test [RSpan]), and a visual analogue of the SIN test (text reception threshold test) were measured. The DIN test was used to correct for auditory factors in SIN thresholds by taking the difference between SIN and DIN: SRTdiff. Correlation analyses revealed that duration of hearing loss (dHL) was related to SIN thresholds. Better working-memory capacity was related to SIN and SRTdiff scores. LDT reaction time was positively correlated with SRTdiff scores. No significant relationships were found for CVC or DIN scores with the predictor variables. Regression analyses showed that together with dHL, RSpan explained 55% of the variance in SIN thresholds. When controlling for auditory performance, LA, LDT, and RSpan separately explained, together with dHL, respectively 37%, 36%, and 46% of the variance in SRTdiff outcome. The results suggest that poor verbal working-memory capacity and to a lesser extent poor lexical-access ability limit speech-recognition ability in listeners with a CI. PMID:29205095

Examining procedural working memory processing in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

PubMed

Shahar, Nitzan; Teodorescu, Andrei R; Anholt, Gideon E; Karmon-Presser, Anat; Meiran, Nachshon

2017-07-01

Previous research has suggested that a deficit in working memory might underlie the difficulty of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients to control their thoughts and actions. However, a recent meta-analyses found only small effect sizes for working memory deficits in OCD. Recently, a distinction has been made between declarative and procedural working memory. Working memory in OCD was tested mostly using declarative measurements. However, OCD symptoms typically concerns actions, making procedural working-memory more relevant. Here, we tested the operation of procedural working memory in OCD. Participants with OCD and healthy controls performed a battery of choice reaction tasks under high and low procedural working memory demands. Reaction-times (RT) were estimated using ex-Gaussian distribution fitting, revealing no group differences in the size of the RT distribution tail (i.e., τ parameter), known to be sensitive to procedural working memory manipulations. Group differences, unrelated to working memory manipulations, were found in the leading-edge of the RT distribution and analyzed using a two-stage evidence accumulation model. Modeling results suggested that perceptual difficulties might underlie the current group differences. In conclusion, our results suggest that procedural working-memory processing is most likely intact in OCD, and raise a novel, yet untested assumption regarding perceptual deficits in OCD. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Components of working memory and visual selective attention.

PubMed

Burnham, Bryan R; Sabia, Matthew; Langan, Catherine

2014-02-01

Load theory (Lavie, N., Hirst, A., De Fockert, J. W., & Viding, E. [2004]. Load theory of selective attention and cognitive control. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 133, 339-354.) proposes that control of attention depends on the amount and type of load that is imposed by current processing. Specifically, perceptual load should lead to efficient distractor rejection, whereas working memory load (dual-task coordination) should hinder distractor rejection. Studies support load theory's prediction that working memory load will lead to larger distractor effects; however, these studies used secondary tasks that required only verbal working memory and the central executive. The present study examined which other working memory components (visual, spatial, and phonological) influence visual selective attention. Subjects completed an attentional capture task alone (single-task) or while engaged in a working memory task (dual-task). Results showed that along with the central executive, visual and spatial working memory influenced selective attention, but phonological working memory did not. Specifically, attentional capture was larger when visual or spatial working memory was loaded, but phonological working memory load did not affect attentional capture. The results are consistent with load theory and suggest specific components of working memory influence visual selective attention. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Effectiveness of Working Memory Training among Subjects Currently on Sick Leave Due to Complex Symptoms.

PubMed

Aasvik, Julie K; Woodhouse, Astrid; Stiles, Tore C; Jacobsen, Henrik B; Landmark, Tormod; Glette, Mari; Borchgrevink, Petter C; Landrø, Nils I

2016-01-01

Introduction: The current study examined if adaptive working memory training (Cogmed QM) has the potential to improve inhibitory control, working memory capacity, and perceptions of memory functioning in a group of patients currently on sick leave due to symptoms of pain, insomnia, fatigue, depression and anxiety. Participants who were referred to a vocational rehabilitation center volunteered to take part in the study. Methods: Participants were randomly assigned to either a training condition ( N = 25) or a control condition ( N = 29). Participants in the training condition received working memory training in addition to the clinical intervention offered as part of the rehabilitation program, while participants in the control condition received treatment as usual i.e., the rehabilitation program only. Inhibitory control was measured by The Stop Signal Task, working memory was assessed by the Spatial Working Memory Test, while perceptions of memory functioning were assessed by The Everyday Memory Questionnaire-Revised. Results: Participants in the training group showed a significant improvement on the post-tests of inhibitory control when compared with the comparison group ( p = 0.025). The groups did not differ on the post-tests of working memory. Both groups reported less memory problems at post-testing, but there was no sizeable difference between the two groups. Conclusions: Results indicate that working memory training does not improve general working memory capacity per se . Nor does it seem to give any added effects in terms of targeting and improving self-perceived memory functioning. Results do, however, provide evidence to suggest that inhibitory control is accessible and susceptible to modification by adaptive working memory training.

Working Memory and Reasoning: The Processing Loads Imposed by Analogies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Halford, Graeme S.

The proposals concerning working memory outlined in this paper involve the architecture of working memory, the reasoning mechanisms that draw on it, and the ways in which working memory may develop with age. Ways of assessing task demands and children's working memory capacities are also considered. It is noted that there is long-standing evidence…

Executive Functions and Working Memory Behaviours in Children with a Poor Working Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

St. Clair-Thompson, Helen L.

2011-01-01

Previous research has suggested that working memory difficulties play an integral role in children's underachievement at school. However, working memory is just one of several executive functions. The extent to which problems in working memory extend to other executive functions is not well understood. In the current study 38 children with a poor…

Initial Feasibility and Validity of a Prospective Memory Training Program in a Substance Use Treatment Population

PubMed Central

Sweeney, Mary M.; Rass, Olga; Johnson, Patrick S.; Strain, Eric C.; Berry, Meredith S.; Vo, Hoa T.; Fishman, Marc J.; Munro, Cynthia A.; Rebok, George W.; Mintzer, Miriam Z.; Johnson, Matthew W.

2016-01-01

Individuals with substance use disorders have shown deficits in the ability to implement future intentions, called prospective memory. Deficits in prospective memory and working memory, a critical underlying component of prospective memory, likely contribute to substance use treatment failures. Thus, improvement of prospective memory and working memory in substance use patients is an innovative target for intervention. We sought to develop a feasible and valid prospective memory training program that incorporates working memory training and may serve as a useful adjunct to substance use disorder treatment. We administered a single session of the novel prospective memory and working memory training program to participants (n = 22; 13 male; 9 female) enrolled in outpatient substance use disorder treatment and correlated performance to existing measures of prospective memory and working memory. Generally accurate prospective memory performance in a single session suggests feasibility in a substance use treatment population. However, training difficulty should be increased to avoid ceiling effects across repeated sessions. Consistent with existing literature, we observed superior performance on event-based relative to time-based prospective memory tasks. Performance on the prospective memory and working memory training components correlated with validated assessments of prospective memory and working memory, respectively. Correlations between novel memory training program performance and established measures suggest that our training engages appropriate cognitive processes. Further, differential event- and time-based prospective memory task performance suggests internal validity of our training. These data support development of this intervention as an adjunctive therapy for substance use disorders. PMID:27690506

Initial feasibility and validity of a prospective memory training program in a substance use treatment population.

PubMed

Sweeney, Mary M; Rass, Olga; Johnson, Patrick S; Strain, Eric C; Berry, Meredith S; Vo, Hoa T; Fishman, Marc J; Munro, Cynthia A; Rebok, George W; Mintzer, Miriam Z; Johnson, Matthew W

2016-10-01

Individuals with substance use disorders have shown deficits in the ability to implement future intentions, called prospective memory. Deficits in prospective memory and working memory, a critical underlying component of prospective memory, likely contribute to substance use treatment failures. Thus, improvement of prospective memory and working memory in substance use patients is an innovative target for intervention. We sought to develop a feasible and valid prospective memory training program that incorporates working memory training and may serve as a useful adjunct to substance use disorder treatment. We administered a single session of the novel prospective memory and working memory training program to participants (n = 22; 13 men, 9 women) enrolled in outpatient substance use disorder treatment and correlated performance to existing measures of prospective memory and working memory. Generally accurate prospective memory performance in a single session suggests feasibility in a substance use treatment population. However, training difficulty should be increased to avoid ceiling effects across repeated sessions. Consistent with existing literature, we observed superior performance on event-based relative to time-based prospective memory tasks. Performance on the prospective memory and working memory training components correlated with validated assessments of prospective memory and working memory, respectively. Correlations between novel memory training program performance and established measures suggest that our training engages appropriate cognitive processes. Further, differential event- and time-based prospective memory task performance suggests internal validity of our training. These data support the development of this intervention as an adjunctive therapy for substance use disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Effects of a Saturated Fat and High Cholesterol Diet on Memory and Hippocampal Morphology in the Middle-Aged Rat

PubMed Central

Granholm, Ann-Charlotte; Bimonte-Nelson, Heather A.; Moore, Alfred B.; Nelson, Matthew E.; Freeman, Linnea R.; Sambamurti, Kumar

2009-01-01

Diets rich in cholesterol and/or saturated fats have been shown to be detrimental to cognitive performance. Therefore, we fed a cholesterol (2%) and saturated fat (hydrogenated coconut oil, Sat Fat 10%) diet to 16-month old rats for 8 weeks to explore the effects on the working memory performance of middle-aged rats. Lipid profiles revealed elevated plasma triglycerides, total cholesterol, HDL, and LDL for the Sat-Fat group as compared to an iso-caloric control diet (12% soybean oil). Weight gain and food consumption were similar in both groups. Sat-Fat treated rats committed more working memory errors in the water radial arm maze, especially at higher memory loads. Cholesterol, amyloid-β peptide of 40 (Aβ40) or 42 (Aβ42) residues, and nerve growth factor in cortical regions was unaffected, but hippocampal Map-2 staining was reduced in rats fed a Sat-Fat diet, indicating a loss of dendritic integrity. Map-2 reduction correlated with memory errors. Microglial activation, indicating inflammation and/or gliosis, was also observed in the hippocampus of Sat-Fat fed rats. These data suggest that saturated fat, hydrogenated fat and cholesterol can profoundly impair memory and hippocampal morphology. PMID:18560126

PRESCHOOL SPEECH ARTICULATION AND NONWORD REPETITION ABILITIES MAY HELP PREDICT EVENTUAL RECOVERY OR PERSISTENCE OF STUTTERING

PubMed Central

Spencer, Caroline; Weber-Fox, Christine

2014-01-01

Purpose In preschool children, we investigated whether expressive and receptive language, phonological, articulatory, and/or verbal working memory proficiencies aid in predicting eventual recovery or persistence of stuttering. Methods Participants included 65 children, including 25 children who do not stutter (CWNS) and 40 who stutter (CWS) recruited at age 3;9–5;8. At initial testing, participants were administered the Test of Auditory Comprehension of Language, 3rd edition (TACL-3), Structured Photographic Expressive Language Test, 3rd edition (SPELT-3), Bankson-Bernthal Test of Phonology-Consonant Inventory subtest (BBTOP-CI), Nonword Repetition Test (NRT; Dollaghan & Campbell, 1998), and Test of Auditory Perceptual Skills-Revised (TAPS-R) auditory number memory and auditory word memory subtests. Stuttering behaviors of CWS were assessed in subsequent years, forming groups whose stuttering eventually persisted (CWS-Per; n=19) or recovered (CWS-Rec; n=21). Proficiency scores in morphosyntactic skills, consonant production, verbal working memory for known words, and phonological working memory and speech production for novel nonwords obtained at the initial testing were analyzed for each group. Results CWS-Per were less proficient than CWNS and CWS-Rec in measures of consonant production (BBTOP-CI) and repetition of novel phonological sequences (NRT). In contrast, receptive language, expressive language, and verbal working memory abilities did not distinguish CWS-Rec from CWS-Per. Binary logistic regression analysis indicated that preschool BBTOP-CI scores and overall NRT proficiency significantly predicted future recovery status. Conclusion Results suggest that phonological and speech articulation abilities in the preschool years should be considered with other predictive factors as part of a comprehensive risk assessment for the development of chronic stuttering. PMID:25173455

Mental Imagery and Visual Working Memory

PubMed Central

Keogh, Rebecca; Pearson, Joel

2011-01-01

Visual working memory provides an essential link between past and future events. Despite recent efforts, capacity limits, their genesis and the underlying neural structures of visual working memory remain unclear. Here we show that performance in visual working memory - but not iconic visual memory - can be predicted by the strength of mental imagery as assessed with binocular rivalry in a given individual. In addition, for individuals with strong imagery, modulating the background luminance diminished performance on visual working memory and imagery tasks, but not working memory for number strings. This suggests that luminance signals were disrupting sensory-based imagery mechanisms and not a general working memory system. Individuals with poor imagery still performed above chance in the visual working memory task, but their performance was not affected by the background luminance, suggesting a dichotomy in strategies for visual working memory: individuals with strong mental imagery rely on sensory-based imagery to support mnemonic performance, while those with poor imagery rely on different strategies. These findings could help reconcile current controversy regarding the mechanism and location of visual mnemonic storage. PMID:22195024

Mental imagery and visual working memory.

PubMed

Keogh, Rebecca; Pearson, Joel

2011-01-01

Visual working memory provides an essential link between past and future events. Despite recent efforts, capacity limits, their genesis and the underlying neural structures of visual working memory remain unclear. Here we show that performance in visual working memory--but not iconic visual memory--can be predicted by the strength of mental imagery as assessed with binocular rivalry in a given individual. In addition, for individuals with strong imagery, modulating the background luminance diminished performance on visual working memory and imagery tasks, but not working memory for number strings. This suggests that luminance signals were disrupting sensory-based imagery mechanisms and not a general working memory system. Individuals with poor imagery still performed above chance in the visual working memory task, but their performance was not affected by the background luminance, suggesting a dichotomy in strategies for visual working memory: individuals with strong mental imagery rely on sensory-based imagery to support mnemonic performance, while those with poor imagery rely on different strategies. These findings could help reconcile current controversy regarding the mechanism and location of visual mnemonic storage.

The two faces of selective memory retrieval: recall specificity of the detrimental but not the beneficial effect.

PubMed

Bäuml, Karl-Heinz T; Dobler, Ina M

2015-01-01

Depending on the degree to which the original study context is accessible, selective memory retrieval can be detrimental or beneficial for the recall of other memories (Bäuml & Samenieh, 2012). Prior work has shown that the detrimental effect of memory retrieval is typically recall specific and does not arise after restudy trials, whereas recall specificity of the beneficial effect has not been examined to date. Addressing the issue, we compared in 2 experiments the effects of retrieval and restudy on recall of other items, when access to the study context was (largely) maintained and when access to the study context was impaired (in Experiment 1 by using the listwise directed-forgetting task, in Experiment 2 by using a prolonged retention interval). In both experiments, selective retrieval but not restudy induced forgetting of other items when context access was maintained, which replicates prior work. In contrast, when context access was impaired, both selective retrieval and restudy induced beneficial effects on other memories. These findings suggest that the detrimental but not the beneficial effect of selective memory retrieval is recall specific. The results are consistent with a recent 2-factor account of selective memory retrieval that attributes the detrimental effect to inhibition or blocking but the beneficial effect to context reactivation processes. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

A Comparison of Computation Span and Reading Span Working Memory Measures' Relations With Problem-Solving Criteria.

PubMed

Perlow, Richard; Jattuso, Mia

2018-06-01

Researchers have operationalized working memory in different ways and although working memory-performance relationships are well documented, there has been relatively less attention devoted to determining whether seemingly similar measures yield comparable relations with performance outcomes. Our objective is to assess whether two working memory measures deploying the same processes but different item content yield different relations with two problem-solving criteria. Participants completed a computation-based working memory measure and a reading-based measure prior to performing a computerized simulation. Results reveal differential relations with one of the two criteria and support the notion that the two working memory measures tap working memory capacity and other cognitive abilities. One implication for theory development is that researchers should consider incorporating other cognitive abilities in their working memory models and that the selection of those abilities should correspond to the criterion of interest. One practical implication is that researchers and practitioners shouldn't automatically assume that different phonological loop-based working memory scales are interchangeable.

Exploring the Effects of Working Memory on Time Perception in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

PubMed

Lee, Hom-Yi; Yang, En-Lin

2018-01-01

Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are often reported to have deficits of time perception. However, there is a strong relation between performance on tasks of working memory and time perception. Thus, it is possible that the poor performance of children with ADHD on time perception results from their deficit of working memory. In this study, the working memory of participants was separately assessed; therefore, we could explore the relationship between working memory and time perception of children with ADHD. Fifty-six children with ADHD and those of healthy controls completed tasks measuring working memory and time perception. The results showed that the time discrimination ability of children with ADHD was poorer than that of controls. However, there was a strong association between time perception and working memory. After controlling working memory and intelligence, the time discrimination ability of children with ADHD was not significantly poorer than that of controls. We suggest that there is an interdependent relationship between time perception and working memory for children with ADHD.

Working memory is not fixed-capacity: More active storage capacity for real-world objects than for simple stimuli

PubMed Central

Brady, Timothy F.; Störmer, Viola S.; Alvarez, George A.

2016-01-01

Visual working memory is the cognitive system that holds visual information active to make it resistant to interference from new perceptual input. Information about simple stimuli—colors and orientations—is encoded into working memory rapidly: In under 100 ms, working memory ‟fills up,” revealing a stark capacity limit. However, for real-world objects, the same behavioral limits do not hold: With increasing encoding time, people store more real-world objects and do so with more detail. This boost in performance for real-world objects is generally assumed to reflect the use of a separate episodic long-term memory system, rather than working memory. Here we show that this behavioral increase in capacity with real-world objects is not solely due to the use of separate episodic long-term memory systems. In particular, we show that this increase is a result of active storage in working memory, as shown by directly measuring neural activity during the delay period of a working memory task using EEG. These data challenge fixed-capacity working memory models and demonstrate that working memory and its capacity limitations are dependent upon our existing knowledge. PMID:27325767

Working memory is not fixed-capacity: More active storage capacity for real-world objects than for simple stimuli.

PubMed

Brady, Timothy F; Störmer, Viola S; Alvarez, George A

2016-07-05

Visual working memory is the cognitive system that holds visual information active to make it resistant to interference from new perceptual input. Information about simple stimuli-colors and orientations-is encoded into working memory rapidly: In under 100 ms, working memory ‟fills up," revealing a stark capacity limit. However, for real-world objects, the same behavioral limits do not hold: With increasing encoding time, people store more real-world objects and do so with more detail. This boost in performance for real-world objects is generally assumed to reflect the use of a separate episodic long-term memory system, rather than working memory. Here we show that this behavioral increase in capacity with real-world objects is not solely due to the use of separate episodic long-term memory systems. In particular, we show that this increase is a result of active storage in working memory, as shown by directly measuring neural activity during the delay period of a working memory task using EEG. These data challenge fixed-capacity working memory models and demonstrate that working memory and its capacity limitations are dependent upon our existing knowledge.

Context controls access to working and reference memory in the pigeon (Columba livia).

PubMed

Roberts, William A; Macpherson, Krista; Strang, Caroline

2016-01-01

The interaction between working and reference memory systems was examined under conditions in which salient contextual cues were presented during memory retrieval. Ambient colored lights (red or green) bathed the operant chamber during the presentation of comparison stimuli in delayed matching-to-sample training (working memory) and during the presentation of the comparison stimuli as S+ and S- cues in discrimination training (reference memory). Strong competition between memory systems appeared when the same contextual cue appeared during working and reference memory training. When different contextual cues were used, however, working memory was completely protected from reference memory interference. © 2016 Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

Working memory and organizational skills problems in ADHD.

PubMed

Kofler, Michael J; Sarver, Dustin E; Harmon, Sherelle L; Moltisanti, Allison; Aduen, Paula A; Soto, Elia F; Ferretti, Nicole

2018-01-01

This study tested model-driven predictions regarding working memory's role in the organizational problems associated with ADHD. Children aged 8-13 (M = 10.33, SD = 1.42) with and without ADHD (N = 103; 39 girls; 73% Caucasian/Non-Hispanic) were assessed on multiple, counterbalanced working memory tasks. Parents and teachers completed norm-referenced measures of organizational problems (Children's Organizational Skills Scale; COSS). Results confirmed large magnitude working memory deficits (d = 1.24) and organizational problems in ADHD (d = 0.85). Bias-corrected, bootstrapped conditional effects models linked impaired working memory with greater parent- and teacher-reported inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity, and organizational problems. Working memory predicted organization problems across all parent and teacher COSS subscales (R 2  = .19-.23). Approximately 38%-57% of working memory's effect on organization problems was conveyed by working memory's association with inattentive behavior. Unique effects of working memory remained significant for both parent- and teacher-reported task planning, as well as for teacher-reported memory/materials management and overall organization problems. Attention problems uniquely predicted worse organizational skills. Hyperactivity was unrelated to parent-reported organizational skills, but predicted better teacher-reported task planning. Children with ADHD exhibit multisetting, broad-based organizational impairment. These impaired organizational skills are attributable in part to performance deficits secondary to working memory dysfunction, both directly and indirectly via working memory's role in regulating attention. Impaired working memory in ADHD renders it extraordinarily difficult for these children to consistently anticipate, plan, enact, and maintain goal-directed actions. © 2017 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

The effects of autobiographical memory and visual perspective on working memory.

PubMed

Cheng, Zenghu; She, Yugui

2018-08-01

The present research aims to explore whether recalling and writing about autobiographical memory from different perspectives (first-person perspective vs. third-person perspective) could affect cognitive function. The participants first performed a working memory task to evaluate their working memory capacity as a baseline and then were instructed to recall (Study 1) or write about (Study 2) personal events (failures vs. successes) from the first-person perspective or the third-person perspective. Finally, they performed the working memory task again. The results suggested that autobiographical memory and perspective influence working memory interactively. When recalling a success, the participants who recalled from the third-person perspective performed better than those who recalled from the first-person perspective on the working memory capacity task; when recalling a failure, the opposite was true.

Working memory dependence of spatial contextual cueing for visual search.

PubMed

Pollmann, Stefan

2018-05-10

When spatial stimulus configurations repeat in visual search, a search facilitation, resulting in shorter search times, can be observed that is due to incidental learning. This contextual cueing effect appears to be rather implicit, uncorrelated with observers' explicit memory of display configurations. Nevertheless, as I review here, this search facilitation due to contextual cueing depends on visuospatial working memory resources, and it disappears when visuospatial working memory is loaded by a concurrent delayed match to sample task. However, the search facilitation immediately recovers for displays learnt under visuospatial working memory load when this load is removed in a subsequent test phase. Thus, latent learning of visuospatial configurations does not depend on visuospatial working memory, but the expression of learning, as memory-guided search in repeated displays, does. This working memory dependence has also consequences for visual search with foveal vision loss, where top-down controlled visual exploration strategies pose high demands on visuospatial working memory, in this way interfering with memory-guided search in repeated displays. Converging evidence for the contribution of working memory to contextual cueing comes from neuroimaging data demonstrating that distinct cortical areas along the intraparietal sulcus as well as more ventral parieto-occipital cortex are jointly activated by visual working memory and contextual cueing. © 2018 The British Psychological Society.

Verbal working memory performance correlates with regional white matter structures in the frontoparietal regions.

PubMed

Takeuchi, Hikaru; Taki, Yasuyuki; Sassa, Yuko; Hashizume, Hiroshi; Sekiguchi, Atsushi; Fukushima, Ai; Kawashima, Ryuta

2011-10-01

Working memory is the limited capacity storage system involved in the maintenance and manipulation of information over short periods of time. Previous imaging studies have suggested that the frontoparietal regions are activated during working memory tasks; a putative association between the structure of the frontoparietal regions and working memory performance has been suggested based on the analysis of individuals with varying pathologies. This study aimed to identify correlations between white matter and individual differences in verbal working memory performance in normal young subjects. We performed voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analyses using T1-weighted structural images as well as voxel-based analyses of fractional anisotropy (FA) using diffusion tensor imaging. Using the letter span task, we measured verbal working memory performance in normal young adult men and women (mean age, 21.7 years, SD=1.44; 42 men and 13 women). We observed positive correlations between working memory performance and regional white matter volume (rWMV) in the frontoparietal regions. In addition, FA was found to be positively correlated with verbal working memory performance in a white matter region adjacent to the right precuneus. These regions are consistently recruited by working memory. Our findings suggest that, among normal young subjects, verbal working memory performance is associated with various regions that are recruited during working memory tasks, and this association is not limited to specific parts of the working memory network. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Working memory span in mild cognitive impairment. Influence of processing speed and cognitive reserve.

PubMed

Facal, David; Juncos-Rabadán, Onésimo; Pereiro, Arturo X; Lojo-Seoane, Cristina

2014-04-01

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) often includes episodic memory impairment, but can also involve other types of cognitive decline. Although previous studies have shown poorer performance of MCI patients in working memory (WM) span tasks, different MCI subgroups were not studied. In the present exploratory study, 145 participants underwent extensive cognitive evaluation, which included three different WM span tasks, and were classified into the following groups: multiple-domain amnestic MCI (mda-MCI), single-domain amnestic MCI (sda-MCI), and controls. General linear model was conducted by considering the WM span tasks as the within-subject factor; the group (mda-MCI, sda-MCI, and controls) as the inter-subject factor; and processing speed, vocabulary and age as covariates. Multiple linear regression models were also used to test the influence of processing speed, vocabulary, and other cognitive reserve (CR) proxies. Results indicate different levels of impairment of WM, with more severe impairment in mda-MCI patients. The differences were still present when processing resources and CR were controlled. Between-group differences can be understood as a manifestation of the greater severity and widespread memory impairment in mda-MCI patients and may contribute to a better understanding of continuum from normal controls to mda-MCI patients. Processing speed and CR have a limited influence on WM scores, reducing but not removing differences between groups.

Short-term and working memory impairments in aphasia.

PubMed

Potagas, Constantin; Kasselimis, Dimitrios; Evdokimidis, Ioannis

2011-08-01

The aim of the present study is to investigate short-term memory and working memory deficits in aphasics in relation to the severity of their language impairment. Fifty-eight aphasic patients participated in this study. Based on language assessment, an aphasia score was calculated for each patient. Memory was assessed in two modalities, verbal and spatial. Mean scores for all memory tasks were lower than normal. Aphasia score was significantly correlated with performance on all memory tasks. Correlation coefficients for short-term memory and working memory were approximately of the same magnitude. According to our findings, severity of aphasia is related with both verbal and spatial memory deficits. Moreover, while aphasia score correlated with lower scores in both short-term memory and working memory tasks, the lack of substantial difference between corresponding correlation coefficients suggests a possible primary deficit in information retention rather than impairment in working memory. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Executive functioning in preschool children: performance on A-not-B and other delayed response format tasks.

PubMed

Espy, K A; Kaufmann, P M; McDiarmid, M D; Glisky, M L

1999-11-01

The A-not-B (AB) task has been hypothesized to measure executive/frontal lobe function; however, the developmental and measurement characteristics of this task have not been investigated. Performances on AB and comparison tasks adapted from developmental and neuroscience literature was examined in 117 preschool children (ages 23-66 months). Age significantly predicted performance on AB, Delayed Alternation, Spatial Reversal, Color Reversal, and Self-Control tasks. A four-factor analytic model best fit task performance data. AB task indices loaded on two factors with measures from the Self-Control and Delayed Alternation tasks, respectively. AB indices did not load with those from the reversal tasks despite similarities in task administration and presumed cognitive demand (working memory). These results indicate that AB is sensitive to individual differences in age-related performance in preschool children and suggest that AB performance is related to both working memory and inhibition processes in this age range.

Working Memory in Children With Neurocognitive Effects From Sickle Cell Disease: Contributions of the Central Executive and Processing Speed

PubMed Central

Smith, Kelsey E.; Schatz, Jeffrey

2017-01-01

Children with sickle cell disease (SCD) are at risk for working memory deficits due to multiple disease processes. We assessed working memory abilities and related functions in 32 school-age children with SCD and 85 matched comparison children using Baddeley’s working memory model as a framework. Children with SCD performed worse than controls for working memory, central executive function, and processing/rehearsal speed. Central executive function was found to mediate the relationship between SCD status and working memory, but processing speed did not. Cognitive remediation strategies that focus on central executive processes may be important for remediating working memory deficits in SCD. PMID:27759435

A multidisciplinary approach of workload assessment in real-job situations: investigation in the field of aerospace activities.

PubMed

Mélan, Claudine; Cascino, Nadine

2014-01-01

The present contribution presents two field studies combining tools and methods from cognitive psychology and from occupational psychology in order to perform a thorough investigation of workload in employees. Cognitive load theory proposes to distinguish different load categories of working memory, in a context of instruction. Intrinsic load is inherent to the task, extraneous load refers to components of a learning environment that may be modified to reduce total load, and germane load enables schemas construction and thus efficient learning. We showed previously that this theoretical framework may be successfully extended to working memory tasks in non-instructional designs. Other theoretical models, issued from the field of occupational psychology, account for an individual's perception of work demands or requirements in the context of different psychosocial features of the (work) environment. Combining these approaches is difficult as workload assessment by job-perception questionnaires explore an individual's overall job-perception over a large time-period, whereas cognitive load investigations in working memory tasks are typically performed within short time-periods. We proposed an original methodology enabling investigation of workload and load factors in a comparable time-frame. We report two field studies investigating workload on different shift-phases and between work-shifts, with two custom-made tools. The first one enabled workload assessment by manipulating intrinsic load (task difficulty) and extraneous load (time pressure) in a working-memory task. The second tool was a questionnaire based on the theoretical concepts of work-demands, control, and psychosocial support. Two additional dimensions suspected to contribute to job-perception, i.e., work-family conflicts and availability of human and technical resources were also explored. Results of workload assessments were discussed in light of operators' alertness and job-performance.

Enhanced dimension-specific visual working memory in grapheme–color synesthesia☆

PubMed Central

Terhune, Devin Blair; Wudarczyk, Olga Anna; Kochuparampil, Priya; Cohen Kadosh, Roi

2013-01-01

There is emerging evidence that the encoding of visual information and the maintenance of this information in a temporarily accessible state in working memory rely on the same neural mechanisms. A consequence of this overlap is that atypical forms of perception should influence working memory. We examined this by investigating whether having grapheme–color synesthesia, a condition characterized by the involuntary experience of color photisms when reading or representing graphemes, would confer benefits on working memory. Two competing hypotheses propose that superior memory in synesthesia results from information being coded in two information channels (dual-coding) or from superior dimension-specific visual processing (enhanced processing). We discriminated between these hypotheses in three n-back experiments in which controls and synesthetes viewed inducer and non-inducer graphemes and maintained color or grapheme information in working memory. Synesthetes displayed superior color working memory than controls for both grapheme types, whereas the two groups did not differ in grapheme working memory. Further analyses excluded the possibilities of enhanced working memory among synesthetes being due to greater color discrimination, stimulus color familiarity, or bidirectionality. These results reveal enhanced dimension-specific visual working memory in this population and supply further evidence for a close relationship between sensory processing and the maintenance of sensory information in working memory. PMID:23892185

Behavioral Performance and Neural Areas Associated with Memory Processes Contribute to Math and Reading Achievement in 6-year-old Children.

PubMed

Blankenship, Tashauna L; Keith, Kayla; Calkins, Susan D; Bell, Martha Ann

2018-01-01

Associations between working memory and academic achievement (math and reading) are well documented. Surprisingly, little is known of the contributions of episodic memory, segmented into temporal memory (recollection proxy) and item recognition (familiarity proxy), to academic achievement. This is the first study to observe these associations in typically developing 6-year old children. Overlap in neural correlates exists between working memory, episodic memory, and math and reading achievement. We attempted to tease apart the neural contributions of working memory, temporal memory, and item recognition to math and reading achievement. Results suggest that working memory and temporal memory, but not item recognition, are important contributors to both math and reading achievement, and that EEG power during a working memory task contributes to performance on tests of academic achievement.

Selective attention on representations in working memory: cognitive and neural mechanisms.

PubMed

Ku, Yixuan

2018-01-01

Selective attention and working memory are inter-dependent core cognitive functions. It is critical to allocate attention on selected targets during the capacity-limited working memory processes to fulfill the goal-directed behavior. The trends of research on both topics are increasing exponentially in recent years, and it is considered that selective attention and working memory share similar underlying neural mechanisms. Different types of attention orientation in working memory are introduced by distinctive cues, and the means using retrospective cues are strengthened currently as it is manipulating the representation in memory, instead of the perceptual representation. The cognitive and neural mechanisms of the retro-cue effects are further reviewed, as well as the potential molecular mechanism. The frontal-parietal network that is involved in both attention and working memory is also the neural candidate for attention orientation during working memory. Neural oscillations in the gamma and alpha/beta oscillations may respectively be employed for the feedforward and feedback information transfer between the sensory cortices and the association cortices. Dopamine and serotonin systems might interact with each other subserving the communication between memory and attention. In conclusion, representations which attention shifts towards are strengthened, while representations which attention moves away from are degraded. Studies on attention orientation during working memory indicates the flexibility of the processes of working memory, and the beneficial way that overcome the limited capacity of working memory.

Selective attention on representations in working memory: cognitive and neural mechanisms

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

Selective attention and working memory are inter-dependent core cognitive functions. It is critical to allocate attention on selected targets during the capacity-limited working memory processes to fulfill the goal-directed behavior. The trends of research on both topics are increasing exponentially in recent years, and it is considered that selective attention and working memory share similar underlying neural mechanisms. Different types of attention orientation in working memory are introduced by distinctive cues, and the means using retrospective cues are strengthened currently as it is manipulating the representation in memory, instead of the perceptual representation. The cognitive and neural mechanisms of the retro-cue effects are further reviewed, as well as the potential molecular mechanism. The frontal-parietal network that is involved in both attention and working memory is also the neural candidate for attention orientation during working memory. Neural oscillations in the gamma and alpha/beta oscillations may respectively be employed for the feedforward and feedback information transfer between the sensory cortices and the association cortices. Dopamine and serotonin systems might interact with each other subserving the communication between memory and attention. In conclusion, representations which attention shifts towards are strengthened, while representations which attention moves away from are degraded. Studies on attention orientation during working memory indicates the flexibility of the processes of working memory, and the beneficial way that overcome the limited capacity of working memory. PMID:29629245

Differential relationships between language skills and working memory in Turkish-Dutch and native-Dutch first-graders from low-income families.

PubMed

Bosman, Anna M T; Janssen, Marije

2017-01-01

In the Netherlands, Turkish-Dutch children constitute a substantial group of children who learn to speak Dutch at the age of four after they learned to speak Turkish. These children are generally academically less successful. Academic success appears to be affected by both language proficiency and working memory skill. The goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between language skills and working memory in Turkish-Dutch and native-Dutch children from low-income families. The findings revealed reduced Dutch language and Dutch working-memory skills for Turkish-Dutch children compared to native-Dutch children. Working memory in native-Dutch children was unrelated to their language skills, whereas in Turkish-Dutch children strong correlations were found both between Turkish language skills and Turkish working-memory performance and between Dutch language skills and Dutch working-memory performance. Reduced language proficiencies and reduced working-memory skills appear to manifest itself in strong relationships between working memory and language skills in Turkish-Dutch children. The findings seem to indicate that limited verbal working-memory and language deficiencies in bilingual children may have reciprocal effects that strongly warrants adequate language education.

Effects of load on the guidance of visual attention from working memory.

PubMed

Zhang, Bao; Zhang, John X; Huang, Sai; Kong, Lingyue; Wang, Suiping

2011-12-08

An active recent line of research on working memory and attention has shown that the visual attention can be top-down guided by working memory contents. The present study examined whether the guidance effect is modulated by memory load, i.e., the amount of information maintained in working memory. In a set of three experiments, participants were asked to perform a visual search task while maintaining several objects in working memory. The memory-driven attentional guidance effect was observed in all experiments when there were spare working memory resources. When memory load was increased from one item to two items, there was no sign that the guidance effect was attenuated. When load was further increased to four items, the guidance effect disappeared completely, indicating a clear impact of memory load on attentional guidance. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Working memory capacity and the spacing effect in cued recall.

PubMed

Delaney, Peter F; Godbole, Namrata R; Holden, Latasha R; Chang, Yoojin

2018-07-01

Spacing repetitions typically improves memory (the spacing effect). In three cued recall experiments, we explored the relationship between working memory capacity and the spacing effect. People with higher working memory capacity are more accurate on memory tasks that require retrieval relative to people with lower working memory capacity. The experiments used different retention intervals and lags between repetitions, but were otherwise similar. Working memory capacity and spacing of repetitions both improved memory in most of conditions, but they did not interact, suggesting additive effects. The results are consistent with the ACT-R model's predictions, and with a study-phase recognition process underpinning the spacing effect in cued recall.

Sleep-dependent memory consolidation in healthy aging and mild cognitive impairment.

PubMed

Pace-Schott, Edward F; Spencer, Rebecca M C

2015-01-01

Sleep quality and architecture as well as sleep's homeostatic and circadian controls change with healthy aging. Changes include reductions in slow-wave sleep's (SWS) percent and spectral power in the sleep electroencephalogram (EEG), number and amplitude of sleep spindles, rapid eye movement (REM) density and the amplitude of circadian rhythms, as well as a phase advance (moved earlier in time) of the brain's circadian clock. With mild cognitive impairment (MCI) there are further reductions of sleep quality, SWS, spindles, and percent REM, all of which further diminish, along with a profound disruption of circadian rhythmicity, with the conversion to Alzheimer's disease (AD). Sleep disorders may represent risk factors for dementias (e.g., REM Behavior Disorder presages Parkinson's disease) and sleep disorders are themselves extremely prevalent in neurodegenerative diseases. Working memory , formation of new episodic memories, and processing speed all decline with healthy aging whereas semantic, recognition, and emotional declarative memory are spared. In MCI, episodic and working memory further decline along with declines in semantic memory. In young adults, sleep-dependent memory consolidation (SDC) is widely observed for both declarative and procedural memory tasks. However, with healthy aging, although SDC for declarative memory is preserved, certain procedural tasks, such as motor-sequence learning, do not show SDC. In younger adults, fragmentation of sleep can reduce SDC, and a normative increase in sleep fragmentation may account for reduced SDC with healthy aging. Whereas sleep disorders such as insomnia, obstructive sleep apnea, and narcolepsy can impair SDC in the absence of neurodegenerative changes, the incidence of sleep disorders increases both with normal aging and, further, with neurodegenerative disease. Specific features of sleep architecture, such as sleep spindles and SWS are strongly linked to SDC. Diminution of these features with healthy aging and their further decline with MCI may account for concomitant declines in SDC. Notably these same sleep features further markedly decline, in concert with declining cognitive function, with the progression to AD. Therefore, progressive changes in sleep quality, architecture, and neural regulation may constitute a contributing factor to cognitive decline that is seen both with healthy aging and, to a much greater extent, with neurodegenerative disease.

Attention, Working Memory, and Long-Term Memory in Multimedia Learning: An Integrated Perspective Based on Process Models of Working Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schweppe, Judith; Rummer, Ralf

2014-01-01

Cognitive models of multimedia learning such as the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (Mayer 2009) or the Cognitive Load Theory (Sweller 1999) are based on different cognitive models of working memory (e.g., Baddeley 1986) and long-term memory. The current paper describes a working memory model that has recently gained popularity in basic…

Neurocognitive architecture of working memory

PubMed Central

Eriksson, Johan; Vogel, Edward K.; Lansner, Anders; Bergström, Fredrik; Nyberg, Lars

2015-01-01

The crucial role of working memory for temporary information processing and guidance of complex behavior has been recognized for many decades. There is emerging consensus that working memory maintenance results from the interactions among long-term memory representations and basic processes, including attention, that are instantiated as reentrant loops between frontal and posterior cortical areas, as well as subcortical structures. The nature of such interactions can account for capacity limitations, lifespan changes, and restricted transfer after working-memory training. Recent data and models indicate that working memory may also be based on synaptic plasticity, and that working memory can operate on non-consciously perceived information. PMID:26447571

Dietary Levels of Pure Flavonoids Improve Spatial Memory Performance and Increase Hippocampal Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor

PubMed Central

Rendeiro, Catarina; Vauzour, David; Rattray, Marcus; Waffo-Téguo, Pierre; Mérillon, Jean Michel; Butler, Laurie T.; Williams, Claire M.; Spencer, Jeremy P. E.

2013-01-01

Evidence suggests that flavonoid-rich foods are capable of inducing improvements in memory and cognition in animals and humans. However, there is a lack of clarity concerning whether flavonoids are the causal agents in inducing such behavioral responses. Here we show that supplementation with pure anthocyanins or pure flavanols for 6 weeks, at levels similar to that found in blueberry (2% w/w), results in an enhancement of spatial memory in 18 month old rats. Pure flavanols and pure anthocyanins were observed to induce significant improvements in spatial working memory (p = 0.002 and p = 0.006 respectively), to a similar extent to that following blueberry supplementation (p = 0.002). These behavioral changes were paralleled by increases in hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor (R = 0.46, p<0.01), suggesting a common mechanism for the enhancement of memory. However, unlike protein levels of BDNF, the regional enhancement of BDNF mRNA expression in the hippocampus appeared to be predominantly enhanced by anthocyanins. Our data support the claim that flavonoids are likely causal agents in mediating the cognitive effects of flavonoid-rich foods. PMID:23723987

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor into adult neocortex strengthens a taste aversion memory.

PubMed

Martínez-Moreno, Araceli; Rodríguez-Durán, Luis F; Escobar, Martha L

2016-01-15

Nowadays, it is known that brain derived neurotrophic-factor (BDNF) is a protein critically involved in regulating long-term memory related mechanisms. Previous studies from our group in the insular cortex (IC), a brain structure of the temporal lobe implicated in acquisition, consolidation and retention of conditioned taste aversion (CTA), demonstrated that BDNF is essential for CTA consolidation. Recent studies show that BDNF-TrkB signaling is able to mediate the enhancement of memory. However, whether BDNF into neocortex is able to enhance aversive memories remains unexplored. In the present work, we administrated BDNF in a concentration capable of inducing in vivo neocortical LTP, into the IC immediately after CTA acquisition in two different conditions: a "strong-CTA" induced by 0.2M lithium chloride i.p. as unconditioned stimulus, and a "weak-CTA" induced by 0.1M lithium chloride i.p. Our results show that infusion of BDNF into the IC converts a weak CTA into a strong one, in a TrkB receptor-dependent manner. The present data suggest that BDNF into the adult insular cortex is sufficient to increase an aversive memory-trace. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Non-Algorithmic Quantitative Problem Solving in University Physical Chemistry: A Correlation Study of the Role of Selective Cognitive Factors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tsaparlis, Georgios

2005-01-01

This work provides a correlation study of the role of the following cognitive variables on problem solving in elementary physical chemistry: scientific reasoning (level of intellectual development/developmental level), working-memory capacity, functional mental ("M") capacity, and disembedding ability (i.e., degree of perceptual field…

The sensory strength of voluntary visual imagery predicts visual working memory capacity.

PubMed

Keogh, Rebecca; Pearson, Joel

2014-10-09

How much we can actively hold in mind is severely limited and differs greatly from one person to the next. Why some individuals have greater capacities than others is largely unknown. Here, we investigated why such large variations in visual working memory (VWM) capacity might occur, by examining the relationship between visual working memory and visual mental imagery. To assess visual working memory capacity participants were required to remember the orientation of a number of Gabor patches and make subsequent judgments about relative changes in orientation. The sensory strength of voluntary imagery was measured using a previously documented binocular rivalry paradigm. Participants with greater imagery strength also had greater visual working memory capacity. However, they were no better on a verbal number working memory task. Introducing a uniform luminous background during the retention interval of the visual working memory task reduced memory capacity, but only for those with strong imagery. Likewise, for the good imagers increasing background luminance during imagery generation reduced its effect on subsequent binocular rivalry. Luminance increases did not affect any of the subgroups on the verbal number working memory task. Together, these results suggest that luminance was disrupting sensory mechanisms common to both visual working memory and imagery, and not a general working memory system. The disruptive selectivity of background luminance suggests that good imagers, unlike moderate or poor imagers, may use imagery as a mnemonic strategy to perform the visual working memory task. © 2014 ARVO.

Selective transfer of visual working memory training on Chinese character learning.

PubMed

Opitz, Bertram; Schneiders, Julia A; Krick, Christoph M; Mecklinger, Axel

2014-01-01

Previous research has shown a systematic relationship between phonological working memory capacity and second language proficiency for alphabetic languages. However, little is known about the impact of working memory processes on second language learning in a non-alphabetic language such as Mandarin Chinese. Due to the greater complexity of the Chinese writing system we expect that visual working memory rather than phonological working memory exerts a unique influence on learning Chinese characters. This issue was explored in the present experiment by comparing visual working memory training with an active (auditory working memory training) control condition and a passive, no training control condition. Training induced modulations in language-related brain networks were additionally examined using functional magnetic resonance imaging in a pretest-training-posttest design. As revealed by pre- to posttest comparisons and analyses of individual differences in working memory training gains, visual working memory training led to positive transfer effects on visual Chinese vocabulary learning compared to both control conditions. In addition, we found sustained activation after visual working memory training in the (predominantly visual) left infero-temporal cortex that was associated with behavioral transfer. In the control conditions, activation either increased (active control condition) or decreased (passive control condition) without reliable behavioral transfer effects. This suggests that visual working memory training leads to more efficient processing and more refined responses in brain regions involved in visual processing. Furthermore, visual working memory training boosted additional activation in the precuneus, presumably reflecting mental image generation of the learned characters. We, therefore, suggest that the conjoint activity of the mid-fusiform gyrus and the precuneus after visual working memory training reflects an interaction of working memory and imagery processes with complex visual stimuli that fosters the coherent synthesis of a percept from a complex visual input in service of enhanced Chinese character learning. © 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Interference control in working memory: comparing groups of children with atypical development.

PubMed

Palladino, Paola; Ferrari, Marcella

2013-01-01

The study aimed to test whether working memory deficits in children at risk of Learning Disabilities (LD) and/or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can be attributed to deficits in interference control, thereby implicating prefrontal systems. Two groups of children known for showing poor working memory (i.e., children with poor comprehension and children with ADHD) were compared to a group of children with specific reading decoding problems (i.e., having severe problems in phonological rather than working memory) and to a control group. All children were tested with a verbal working memory task. Interference control of irrelevant items was examined by a lexical decision task presented immediately after the final recall in about half the trials, selected at random. The interference control measure was therefore directly related to working memory performance. Results confirmed deficient working memory performance in poor comprehenders and children at risk of ADHD + LD. More interestingly, this working memory deficit was associated with greater activation of irrelevant information than in the control group. Poor decoders showed more efficient interference control, in contrast to poor comprehenders and ADHD + LD children. These results indicated that interfering items were still highly accessible to working memory in children who fail the working memory task. In turn, these findings strengthen and clarify the role of interference control, one of the most critical prefrontal functions, in working memory.

Memory systems in schizophrenia: Modularity is preserved but deficits are generalized.

PubMed

Haut, Kristen M; Karlsgodt, Katherine H; Bilder, Robert M; Congdon, Eliza; Freimer, Nelson B; London, Edythe D; Sabb, Fred W; Ventura, Joseph; Cannon, Tyrone D

2015-10-01

Schizophrenia patients exhibit impaired working and episodic memory, but this may represent generalized impairment across memory modalities or performance deficits restricted to particular memory systems in subgroups of patients. Furthermore, it is unclear whether deficits are unique from those associated with other disorders. Healthy controls (n=1101) and patients with schizophrenia (n=58), bipolar disorder (n=49) and attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder (n=46) performed 18 tasks addressing primarily verbal and spatial episodic and working memory. Effect sizes for group contrasts were compared across tasks and the consistency of subjects' distributional positions across memory domains was measured. Schizophrenia patients performed poorly relative to the other groups on every test. While low to moderate correlation was found between memory domains (r=.320), supporting modularity of these systems, there was limited agreement between measures regarding each individual's task performance (ICC=.292) and in identifying those individuals falling into the lowest quintile (kappa=0.259). A general ability factor accounted for nearly all of the group differences in performance and agreement across measures in classifying low performers. Pathophysiological processes involved in schizophrenia appear to act primarily on general abilities required in all tasks rather than on specific abilities within different memory domains and modalities. These effects represent a general shift in the overall distribution of general ability (i.e., each case functioning at a lower level than they would have if not for the illness), rather than presence of a generally low-performing subgroup of patients. There is little evidence that memory impairments in schizophrenia are shared with bipolar disorder and ADHD. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Memory systems in schizophrenia: Modularity is preserved but deficits are generalized

PubMed Central

Haut, Kristen M.; Karlsgodt, Katherine H.; Bilder, Robert M.; Congdon, Eliza; Freimer, Nelson; London, Edythe D.; Sabb, Fred W.; Ventura, Joseph; Cannon, Tyrone D.

2015-01-01

Objective Schizophrenia patients exhibit impaired working and episodic memory, but this may represent generalized impairment across memory modalities or performance deficits restricted to particular memory systems in subgroups of patients. Furthermore, it is unclear whether deficits are unique from those associated with other disorders. Method Healthy controls (n=1101) and patients with schizophrenia (n=58), bipolar disorder (n=49) and attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder (n=46) performed 18 tasks addressing primarily verbal and spatial episodic and working memory. Effect sizes for group contrasts were compared across tasks and the consistency of subjects’ distributional positions across memory domains was measured. Results Schizophrenia patients performed poorly relative to the other groups on every test. While low to moderate correlation was found between memory domains (r=.320), supporting modularity of these systems, there was limited agreement between measures regarding each individual’s task performance (ICC=.292) and in identifying those individuals falling into the lowest quintile (kappa=0.259). A general ability factor accounted for nearly all of the group differences in performance and agreement across measures in classifying low performers. Conclusions Pathophysiological processes involved in schizophrenia appear to act primarily on general abilities required in all tasks rather than on specific abilities within different memory domains and modalities. These effects represent a general shift in the overall distribution of general ability (i.e., each case functioning at a lower level than they would have if not for the illness), rather than presence of a generally low-performing subgroup of patients. There is little evidence that memory impairments in schizophrenia are shared with bipolar disorder and ADHD. PMID:26299707

Poor comprehenders in the classroom: teacher ratings of behavior in children with poor reading comprehension and its relationship with individual differences in working memory.

PubMed

Pimperton, Hannah; Nation, Kate

2014-01-01

Differing etiological explanations have been proposed to account for poor comprehenders' difficulties with reading comprehension, with some researchers emphasizing working memory deficits and others arguing for oral language weaknesses playing a key causal role. The authors contrasted these two theoretical accounts using data obtained from direct measures of working memory and from teacher ratings of poor comprehenders' behavior in the classroom. At the group level, poor comprehenders showed weaknesses on verbal but not nonverbal working memory tasks, in keeping with the "language account." However, they also showed evidence of elevated levels of problem behaviors specifically associated with working memory deficits. Further analysis revealed that these group differences in working-memory-related problem behaviors were carried by a small subgroup of poor comprehenders who also displayed domain-general (verbal and nonverbal) working memory problems, argued to be reflective of "genuine" underlying working memory deficits.

A multisensory perspective of working memory

PubMed Central

Quak, Michel; London, Raquel Elea; Talsma, Durk

2015-01-01

Although our sensory experience is mostly multisensory in nature, research on working memory representations has focused mainly on examining the senses in isolation. Results from the multisensory processing literature make it clear that the senses interact on a more intimate manner than previously assumed. These interactions raise questions regarding the manner in which multisensory information is maintained in working memory. We discuss the current status of research on multisensory processing and the implications of these findings on our theoretical understanding of working memory. To do so, we focus on reviewing working memory research conducted from a multisensory perspective, and discuss the relation between working memory, attention, and multisensory processing in the context of the predictive coding framework. We argue that a multisensory approach to the study of working memory is indispensable to achieve a realistic understanding of how working memory processes maintain and manipulate information. PMID:25954176

Working memory training and semantic structuring improves remembering future events, not past events.

PubMed

Richter, Kim Merle; Mödden, Claudia; Eling, Paul; Hildebrandt, Helmut

2015-01-01

Objectives. Memory training in combination with practice in semantic structuring and word fluency has been shown to improve memory performance. This study investigated the efficacy of a working memory training combined with exercises in semantic structuring and word fluency and examined whether training effects generalize to other cognitive tasks. Methods. In this double-blind randomized control study, 36 patients with memory impairments following brain damage were allocated to either the experimental or the active control condition, with both groups receiving 9 hours of therapy. The experimental group received a computer-based working memory training and exercises in word fluency and semantic structuring. The control group received the standard memory therapy provided in the rehabilitation center. Patients were tested on a neuropsychological test battery before and after therapy, resulting in composite scores for working memory; immediate, delayed, and prospective memory; word fluency; and attention. Results. The experimental group improved significantly in working memory and word fluency. The training effects also generalized to prospective memory tasks. No specific effect on episodic memory could be demonstrated. Conclusion. Combined treatment of working memory training with exercises in semantic structuring is an effective method for cognitive rehabilitation of organic memory impairment. © The Author(s) 2014.

Working memory contents revive the neglected, but suppress the inhibited.

PubMed

Han, Suk Won

2015-12-01

It is well known that attention is biased toward a stimulus matching working memory contents. However, it remains unknown whether the maintenance of information in working memory by itself is sufficient to create memory-driven attentional capture. Notably, in many previous studies showing the memory-driven attentional capture, the task settings might have explicitly or implicitly incentivized participants to strategically attend to a memory-matching stimulus. By innovating an experimental paradigm, the present study overcame this challenge and directly tested whether working memory contents capture attention in the absence of task-level attentional bias toward a memory-matching stimulus. I found that a stimulus that is usually outside the focus of attention, powerfully captured attention when it matched working memory contents, whereas a match between working memory and an inhibited stimulus suppressed attentional allocation toward the memory-matching stimulus. These findings suggest that in the absence of any task-level attentional bias toward memory-matching stimuli, attention is biased toward a memory-matching stimulus, but this memory-driven attentional capture is diminished when top-down inhibition is imposed on the stimulus. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effects of Age and Working Memory Capacity on Speech Recognition Performance in Noise Among Listeners With Normal Hearing.

PubMed

Gordon-Salant, Sandra; Cole, Stacey Samuels

2016-01-01

This study aimed to determine if younger and older listeners with normal hearing who differ on working memory span perform differently on speech recognition tests in noise. Older adults typically exhibit poorer speech recognition scores in noise than younger adults, which is attributed primarily to poorer hearing sensitivity and more limited working memory capacity in older than younger adults. Previous studies typically tested older listeners with poorer hearing sensitivity and shorter working memory spans than younger listeners, making it difficult to discern the importance of working memory capacity on speech recognition. This investigation controlled for hearing sensitivity and compared speech recognition performance in noise by younger and older listeners who were subdivided into high and low working memory groups. Performance patterns were compared for different speech materials to assess whether or not the effect of working memory capacity varies with the demands of the specific speech test. The authors hypothesized that (1) normal-hearing listeners with low working memory span would exhibit poorer speech recognition performance in noise than those with high working memory span; (2) older listeners with normal hearing would show poorer speech recognition scores than younger listeners with normal hearing, when the two age groups were matched for working memory span; and (3) an interaction between age and working memory would be observed for speech materials that provide contextual cues. Twenty-eight older (61 to 75 years) and 25 younger (18 to 25 years) normal-hearing listeners were assigned to groups based on age and working memory status. Northwestern University Auditory Test No. 6 words and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers sentences were presented in noise using an adaptive procedure to measure the signal-to-noise ratio corresponding to 50% correct performance. Cognitive ability was evaluated with two tests of working memory (Listening Span Test and Reading Span Test) and two tests of processing speed (Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test and The Letter Digit Substitution Test). Significant effects of age and working memory capacity were observed on the speech recognition measures in noise, but these effects were mediated somewhat by the speech signal. Specifically, main effects of age and working memory were revealed for both words and sentences, but the interaction between the two was significant for sentences only. For these materials, effects of age were observed for listeners in the low working memory groups only. Although all cognitive measures were significantly correlated with speech recognition in noise, working memory span was the most important variable accounting for speech recognition performance. The results indicate that older adults with high working memory capacity are able to capitalize on contextual cues and perform as well as young listeners with high working memory capacity for sentence recognition. The data also suggest that listeners with normal hearing and low working memory capacity are less able to adapt to distortion of speech signals caused by background noise, which requires the allocation of more processing resources to earlier processing stages. These results indicate that both younger and older adults with low working memory capacity and normal hearing are at a disadvantage for recognizing speech in noise.

Episodic and working memory deficits in alcoholic Korsakoff patients: the continuity theory revisited.

PubMed

Pitel, Anne Lise; Beaunieux, Hélène; Witkowski, Thomas; Vabret, François; de la Sayette, Vincent; Viader, Fausto; Desgranges, Béatrice; Eustache, Francis

2008-07-01

The exact nature of episodic and working memory impairments in alcoholic Korsakoff patients (KS) remains unclear, as does the specificity of these neuropsychological deficits compared with those of non-Korsakoff alcoholics (AL). The goals of the present study were therefore to (1) specify the nature of episodic and working memory impairments in KS, (2) determine the specificity of the KS neuropsychological profile compared with the AL profile, and (3) observe the distribution of individual performances within the 2 patient groups. We investigated episodic memory (encoding and retrieval abilities, contextual memory and state of consciousness associated with memories), the slave systems of working memory (phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad and episodic buffer) and executive functions (inhibition, flexibility, updating and integration abilities) in 14 strictly selected KS, 40 AL and 55 control subjects (CS). Compared with CS, KS displayed impairments of episodic memory encoding and retrieval, contextual memory, recollection, the slave systems of working memory and executive functions. Although episodic memory was more severely impaired in KS than in AL, the single specificity of the KS profile was a disproportionately large encoding deficit. Apart from organizational and updating abilities, the slave systems of working memory and inhibition, flexibility and integration abilities were impaired to the same extent in both alcoholic groups. However, some KS were unable to complete the most difficult executive tasks. There was only a partial overlap of individual performances by KS and AL for episodic memory and a total mixture of the 2 groups for working memory. Korsakoff's syndrome encompasses impairments of the different episodic and working memory components. AL and KS displayed similar profiles of episodic and working memory deficits, in accordance with neuroimaging investigations showing similar patterns of brain damage in both alcoholic groups.

Chocolate intake is associated with better cognitive function: The Maine-Syracuse Longitudinal Study.

PubMed

Crichton, Georgina E; Elias, Merrill F; Alkerwi, Ala'a

2016-05-01

Chocolate and cocoa flavanols have been associated with improvements in a range of health complaints dating from ancient times, and has established cardiovascular benefits. Less is known about the effects of chocolate on neurocognition and behaviour. The aim of this study was to investigate whether chocolate intake was associated with cognitive function, with adjustment for cardiovascular, lifestyle and dietary factors. Cross-sectional analyses were undertaken on 968 community-dwelling participants, aged 23-98 years, from the Maine-Syracuse Longitudinal Study (MSLS). Habitual chocolate intake was related to cognitive performance, measured with an extensive battery of neuropsychological tests. More frequent chocolate consumption was significantly associated with better performance on the Global Composite score, Visual-Spatial Memory and Organization, Working Memory, Scanning and Tracking, Abstract Reasoning, and the Mini-Mental State Examination. With the exception of Working Memory, these relations were not attenuated with statistical control for cardiovascular, lifestyle and dietary factors. Prospective analyses revealed no association between cognitive function and chocolate intake measured up to 18 years later. Further intervention trials and longitudinal studies are needed to explore relations between chocolate, cocoa flavanols and cognition, and the underlying causal mechanisms. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

NR2A-Containing NMDARs in the Prefrontal Cortex Are Required for Working Memory and Associated with Age-Related Cognitive Decline.

PubMed

McQuail, Joseph A; Beas, B Sofia; Kelly, Kyle B; Simpson, Kailey L; Frazier, Charles J; Setlow, Barry; Bizon, Jennifer L

2016-12-14

Working memory, the ability to temporarily maintain representational knowledge, is a foundational cognitive process that can become compromised in aging and neuropsychiatric disease. NMDA receptor (NMDAR) activation in prefrontal cortex (PFC) is necessary for the pyramidal neuron activity believed to enable working memory; however, the distinct biophysical properties and localization of NMDARs containing NR2A and NR2B subunits suggest unique roles for NMDAR subtypes in PFC neural activity and working memory. Experiments herein show that working memory depends on NR2A- but not NR2B-NMDARs in PFC of rats and that NR2A-NMDARs mediate the majority of evoked NMDAR currents on layer 2/3 PFC pyramidal neurons. Moreover, attenuated expression of the NR2A but not the NR2B subunit in PFC associates with naturally occurring working memory impairment in aged rats. Finally, NMDAR currents and working memory are enhanced in aged rats by promoting activation of the NR2A-enriched synaptic pool of PFC NMDARs. These results implicate NR2A-NMDARs in normal working memory and suggest novel treatment strategies for improving working memory in cognitive disorders. Working memory, the ability to hold information "in mind," requires persistent activity of pyramidal neurons in prefrontal cortex (PFC) mediated by NMDA receptor (NMDAR) activation. NMDAR loss in PFC may account for working memory impairments in aging and psychiatric disease. Our studies demonstrate that NMDARs containing the NR2A subunit, but not the NR2B subunit, are required for working memory and that loss of NR2A predicts severity of age-related working memory impairment. The importance of NR2A to working memory is likely due its abundant contribution to pyramidal neuron activity and location at synaptic sites in PFC. This information is useful in designing new therapies to treat working memory impairments by enhancing the function of NR2A-containing NMDARs. Copyright © 2016 the authors 0270-6474/16/3612537-12$15.00/0.

Obesity and unhealthy lifestyle associated with poor executive function among Malaysian adolescents.

PubMed

Tee, Joyce Ying Hui; Gan, Wan Ying; Tan, Kit-Aun; Chin, Yit Siew

2018-01-01

The understanding on the roles of obesity and lifestyle behaviors in predicting executive function of adolescents has been limited. Low executive function proficiency may have adverse effects on adolescents' school academic performance. This cross-sectional study aimed to examine the relationship between BMI-for-age and multiple lifestyle behaviors (operationalized as meal consumption, physical activity, and sleep quality) with executive function (operationalized as inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility) on a sample of Malaysian adolescents aged between 12 and 16 years (N = 513). Participants were recruited from two randomly selected schools in the state of Selangor in Malaysia. Using a self-administered questionnaire, parent participants provided information concerning their sociodemographic data, whereas adolescent participants provided information regarding their meal consumptions, physical activity, and sleep quality. The modified Harvard step test was used to assess adolescents' aerobic fitness, while Stroop color-word, digit span, and trail-making tests were used to assess adolescents' inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility, respectively. Three separate hierarchical regression analyses were conducted for each outcome namely, inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. After adjusted for sociodemographic factors and BMI-for-age, differential predictors of inhibition and working memory were found. Habitual sleep efficiency significantly and positively predicted inhibition. Regular dinner intakes, physical activity levels, and sleep quality significantly and positively predicted working memory. Household income emerged as a consistent predictor for all executive function domains. In conclusion, an increased trend of obesity and unhealthy lifestyles among adolescents were found to be associated with poorer executive function. Regular dinner intakes, higher physical activity levels and better sleep quality predicted better executive function despite the inverse relationship between obesity and executive function. Future studies may explore how lifestyle modifications can optimize the development of executive function in adolescents as well as relieve the burden of obesity.

The external-internal loop of interference: Two types of attention and their influence on the learning abilities of mice

PubMed Central

Sauce, Bruno; Wass, Christopher; Smith, Andrew; Kwan, Stephanie; Matzel, Louis D.

2016-01-01

Attention is a component of the working memory system, and as such, is responsible for protecting task-relevant information from interference. Cognitive performance (particularly outside of the laboratory) is often plagued by interference, and the source of this interference, either external or internal, might influence the expression of individual differences in attentional ability. By definition, external attention (also described as “selective attention”) protects working memory against sensorial distractors of all kinds, while internal attention (also called “inhibition”) protects working memory against emotional impulses, irrelevant information from memory, and automatically-generated responses. At present, it is unclear if these two types of attention are expressed independently in non-human animals, and how they might differentially impact performance on other cognitive processes, such as learning. By using a diverse battery of four attention tests (with varying levels of internal and external sources of interference), here we aimed both to explore this issue, and to obtain a robust and general (less task-specific) measure of attention in mice. Exploratory factor analyses revealed two factors (external and internal attention) that in total, accounted for 73% of the variance in attentional performance. Confirmatory factor analyses found an excellent fit with the data of the model of attention that assumed an external and internal distinction (with a resulting correlation of 0.43). In contrast, a model of attention that assumed one source of variance (i.e., “general attention”) exhibited a poor fit with the data. Regarding the relationship between attention and learning, higher resistance against external sources of interference promoted better new learning, but tended to impair performance when cognitive flexibility was required, such as during the reversal of a previously instantiated response. The present results suggest that there can be (at least) two types of attention that contribute to the common variance in attentional performance in mice, and that external and internal attentions might have opposing influences on the rate at which animals learn. PMID:25452087

Lower Working Memory Performance in Overweight and Obese Adolescents Is Mediated by White Matter Microstructure

PubMed Central

Alarcón, Gabriela; Ray, Siddharth; Nagel, Bonnie J.

2017-01-01

Objectives Elevated body mass index (BMI) is associated with deficits in working memory, reduced gray matter volume in frontal and parietal lobes, as well as changes in white matter (WM) microstructure. The current study examined whether BMI was related to working memory performance and blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) activity, as well as WM microstructure during adolescence. Methods Linear regressions with BMI and (1) verbal working memory BOLD signal, (2) spatial working memory BOLD signal, and (3) fractional anisotropy (FA), a measure of WM microstructure, were conducted in a sample of 152 healthy adolescents ranging in BMI. Results BMI was inversely related to IQ and verbal and spatial working memory accuracy; however, there was no significant relationship between BMI and BOLD response for either verbal or spatial working memory. Furthermore, BMI was negatively correlated with FA in the left superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) and left inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF). ILF FA and IQ significantly mediated the relationship between BMI and verbal working memory performance, whereas SLF FA, but not IQ, significantly mediated the relationship between BMI and accuracy of both verbal and spatial working memory. Conclusions These findings indicate that higher BMI is associated with decreased FA in WM fibers connecting brain regions that support working memory, and that WM microstructural deficits may underlie inferior working memory performance in youth with higher BMI. Of interest, BMI did not show the same relationship with working memory BOLD activity, which may indicate that changes in brain structure precede changes in function. PMID:26708324

GABA level, gamma oscillation, and working memory performance in schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Chen, Chi-Ming A.; Stanford, Arielle D.; Mao, Xiangling; Abi-Dargham, Anissa; Shungu, Dikoma C.; Lisanby, Sarah H.; Schroeder, Charles E.; Kegeles, Lawrence S.

2014-01-01

A relationship between working memory impairment, disordered neuronal oscillations, and abnormal prefrontal GABA function has been hypothesized in schizophrenia; however, in vivo GABA measurements and gamma band neural synchrony have not yet been compared in schizophrenia. This case–control pilot study (N = 24) compared baseline and working memory task-induced neuronal oscillations acquired with high-density electroencephalograms (EEGs) to GABA levels measured in vivo with magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Working memory performance, baseline GABA level in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), and measures of gamma oscillations from EEGs at baseline and during a working memory task were obtained. A major limitation of this study is a relatively small sample size for several analyses due to the integration of diverse methodologies and participant compliance. Working memory performance was significantly lower for patients than for controls. During the working memory task, patients (n = 7) had significantly lower amplitudes in gamma oscillations than controls (n = 9). However, both at rest and across working memory stages, there were significant correlations between gamma oscillation amplitude and left DLPFC GABA level. Peak gamma frequency during the encoding stage of the working memory task (n = 16) significantly correlated with GABA level and working memory performance. Despite gamma band amplitude deficits in patients across working memory stages, both baseline and working memory-induced gamma oscillations showed strong dependence on baseline GABA levels in patients and controls. These findings suggest a critical role for GABA function in gamma band oscillations, even under conditions of system and cognitive impairments as seen in schizophrenia. PMID:24749063

GABA level, gamma oscillation, and working memory performance in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Chen, Chi-Ming A; Stanford, Arielle D; Mao, Xiangling; Abi-Dargham, Anissa; Shungu, Dikoma C; Lisanby, Sarah H; Schroeder, Charles E; Kegeles, Lawrence S

2014-01-01

A relationship between working memory impairment, disordered neuronal oscillations, and abnormal prefrontal GABA function has been hypothesized in schizophrenia; however, in vivo GABA measurements and gamma band neural synchrony have not yet been compared in schizophrenia. This case-control pilot study (N = 24) compared baseline and working memory task-induced neuronal oscillations acquired with high-density electroencephalograms (EEGs) to GABA levels measured in vivo with magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Working memory performance, baseline GABA level in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), and measures of gamma oscillations from EEGs at baseline and during a working memory task were obtained. A major limitation of this study is a relatively small sample size for several analyses due to the integration of diverse methodologies and participant compliance. Working memory performance was significantly lower for patients than for controls. During the working memory task, patients (n = 7) had significantly lower amplitudes in gamma oscillations than controls (n = 9). However, both at rest and across working memory stages, there were significant correlations between gamma oscillation amplitude and left DLPFC GABA level. Peak gamma frequency during the encoding stage of the working memory task (n = 16) significantly correlated with GABA level and working memory performance. Despite gamma band amplitude deficits in patients across working memory stages, both baseline and working memory-induced gamma oscillations showed strong dependence on baseline GABA levels in patients and controls. These findings suggest a critical role for GABA function in gamma band oscillations, even under conditions of system and cognitive impairments as seen in schizophrenia.

Selective attention supports working memory maintenance by modulating perceptual processing of distractors.

PubMed

Sreenivasan, Kartik K; Jha, Amishi P

2007-01-01

Selective attention has been shown to bias sensory processing in favor of relevant stimuli and against irrelevant or distracting stimuli in perceptual tasks. Increasing evidence suggests that selective attention plays an important role during working memory maintenance, possibly by biasing sensory processing in favor of to-be-remembered items. In the current study, we investigated whether selective attention may also support working memory by biasing processing against irrelevant and potentially distracting information. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while subjects (n = 22) performed a delayed-recognition task for faces and shoes. The delay period was filled with face or shoe distractors. Behavioral performance was impaired when distractors were congruent with the working memory domain (e.g., face distractor during working memory for faces) relative to when distractors were incongruent with the working memory domain (e.g., face distractor during shoe working memory). If attentional biasing against distractor processing is indeed functionally relevant in supporting working memory maintenance, perceptual processing of distractors is predicted to be attenuated when distractors are more behaviorally intrusive relative to when they are nonintrusive. As such, we predicted that perceptual processing of distracting faces, as measured by the face-sensitive N170 ERP component, would be reduced in the context of congruent (face) working memory relative to incongruent (shoe) working memory. The N170 elicited by distracting faces demonstrated reduced amplitude during congruent versus incongruent working memory. These results suggest that perceptual processing of distracting faces may be attenuated due to attentional biasing against sensory processing of distractors that are most behaviorally intrusive during working memory maintenance.

Cognitive Control of Eating: the Role of Memory in Appetite and Weight Gain.

PubMed

Higgs, Suzanne; Spetter, Maartje S

2018-03-01

The present review organises the recent literature on the role of memory in eating behaviours and provides an overview of the current evidence relating to the associations between memory and weight gain. Research over the last few years has highlighted working memory as an important cognitive process that underpins many aspects of appetite control. Recent work on episodic memory and appetite has replicated work showing that manipulating memory for recent eating affects later consumption and extended this work to examine associations between individual differences in memory and eating behaviours. Poorer episodic memory ability is related to a reduced sensitivity to internal states of hunger and satiety and a tendency towards uncontrolled eating. There is also recent evidence to suggest that working memory and episodic memory impairments are related to weight gain and high BMI. Working memory and episodic memory are core cognitive processes that are critical for food-related decision-making, and disruption to these processes contributes to problems with appetite control and weight gain, which suggests that weight loss programmes might be improved by the addition of cognitive training.

Investigating Memory Development in Children and Infantile Amnesia in Adults

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kazemi Tari, Somayeh

2008-01-01

Although many researchers have worked on memory development, still little is known about what develops in memory development. When one reviews the literature about memory, she encounters many types of memories such as short term vs. long term memory, working memory, explicit vs. implicit memory, trans-saccadic memory, autobiographical memory,…

The Development of Attention Systems and Working Memory in Infancy

PubMed Central

Reynolds, Greg D.; Romano, Alexandra C.

2016-01-01

In this article, we review research and theory on the development of attention and working memory in infancy using a developmental cognitive neuroscience framework. We begin with a review of studies examining the influence of attention on neural and behavioral correlates of an earlier developing and closely related form of memory (i.e., recognition memory). Findings from studies measuring attention utilizing looking measures, heart rate, and event-related potentials (ERPs) indicate significant developmental change in sustained and selective attention across the infancy period. For example, infants show gains in the magnitude of the attention related response and spend a greater proportion of time engaged in attention with increasing age (Richards and Turner, 2001). Throughout infancy, attention has a significant impact on infant performance on a variety of tasks tapping into recognition memory; however, this approach to examining the influence of infant attention on memory performance has yet to be utilized in research on working memory. In the second half of the article, we review research on working memory in infancy focusing on studies that provide insight into the developmental timing of significant gains in working memory as well as research and theory related to neural systems potentially involved in working memory in early development. We also examine issues related to measuring and distinguishing between working memory and recognition memory in infancy. To conclude, we discuss relations between the development of attention systems and working memory. PMID:26973473

The Development of Attention Systems and Working Memory in Infancy.

PubMed

Reynolds, Greg D; Romano, Alexandra C

2016-01-01

In this article, we review research and theory on the development of attention and working memory in infancy using a developmental cognitive neuroscience framework. We begin with a review of studies examining the influence of attention on neural and behavioral correlates of an earlier developing and closely related form of memory (i.e., recognition memory). Findings from studies measuring attention utilizing looking measures, heart rate, and event-related potentials (ERPs) indicate significant developmental change in sustained and selective attention across the infancy period. For example, infants show gains in the magnitude of the attention related response and spend a greater proportion of time engaged in attention with increasing age (Richards and Turner, 2001). Throughout infancy, attention has a significant impact on infant performance on a variety of tasks tapping into recognition memory; however, this approach to examining the influence of infant attention on memory performance has yet to be utilized in research on working memory. In the second half of the article, we review research on working memory in infancy focusing on studies that provide insight into the developmental timing of significant gains in working memory as well as research and theory related to neural systems potentially involved in working memory in early development. We also examine issues related to measuring and distinguishing between working memory and recognition memory in infancy. To conclude, we discuss relations between the development of attention systems and working memory.

Effects of Working Memory Capacity and Domain Knowledge on Recall for Grocery Prices.

PubMed

Bermingham, Douglas; Gardner, Michael K; Woltz, Dan J

2016-01-01

Hambrick and Engle (2002) proposed 3 models of how domain knowledge and working memory capacity may work together to influence episodic memory: a "rich-get-richer" model, a "building blocks" model, and a "compensatory" model. Their results supported the rich-get-richer model, although later work by Hambrick and Oswald (2005) found support for a building blocks model. We investigated the effects of domain knowledge and working memory on recall of studied grocery prices. Working memory was measured with 3 simple span tasks. A contrast of realistic versus fictitious foods in the episodic memory task served as our manipulation of domain knowledge, because participants could not have domain knowledge of fictitious food prices. There was a strong effect for domain knowledge (realistic food-price pairs were easier to remember) and a moderate effect for working memory capacity (higher working memory capacity produced better recall). Furthermore, the interaction between domain knowledge and working memory produced a small but significant interaction in 1 measure of price recall. This supported the compensatory model and stands in contrast to previous research.

Working memory training to improve speech perception in noise across languages

PubMed Central

Ingvalson, Erin M.; Dhar, Sumitrajit; Wong, Patrick C. M.; Liu, Hanjun

2015-01-01

Working memory capacity has been linked to performance on many higher cognitive tasks, including the ability to perceive speech in noise. Current efforts to train working memory have demonstrated that working memory performance can be improved, suggesting that working memory training may lead to improved speech perception in noise. A further advantage of working memory training to improve speech perception in noise is that working memory training materials are often simple, such as letters or digits, making them easily translatable across languages. The current effort tested the hypothesis that working memory training would be associated with improved speech perception in noise and that materials would easily translate across languages. Native Mandarin Chinese and native English speakers completed ten days of reversed digit span training. Reading span and speech perception in noise both significantly improved following training, whereas untrained controls showed no gains. These data suggest that working memory training may be used to improve listeners' speech perception in noise and that the materials may be quickly adapted to a wide variety of listeners. PMID:26093435

Working memory training to improve speech perception in noise across languages.

PubMed

Ingvalson, Erin M; Dhar, Sumitrajit; Wong, Patrick C M; Liu, Hanjun

2015-06-01

Working memory capacity has been linked to performance on many higher cognitive tasks, including the ability to perceive speech in noise. Current efforts to train working memory have demonstrated that working memory performance can be improved, suggesting that working memory training may lead to improved speech perception in noise. A further advantage of working memory training to improve speech perception in noise is that working memory training materials are often simple, such as letters or digits, making them easily translatable across languages. The current effort tested the hypothesis that working memory training would be associated with improved speech perception in noise and that materials would easily translate across languages. Native Mandarin Chinese and native English speakers completed ten days of reversed digit span training. Reading span and speech perception in noise both significantly improved following training, whereas untrained controls showed no gains. These data suggest that working memory training may be used to improve listeners' speech perception in noise and that the materials may be quickly adapted to a wide variety of listeners.

Spatial working memory interferes with explicit, but not probabilistic cuing of spatial attention.

PubMed

Won, Bo-Yeong; Jiang, Yuhong V

2015-05-01

Recent empirical and theoretical work has depicted a close relationship between visual attention and visual working memory. For example, rehearsal in spatial working memory depends on spatial attention, whereas adding a secondary spatial working memory task impairs attentional deployment in visual search. These findings have led to the proposal that working memory is attention directed toward internal representations. Here, we show that the close relationship between these 2 constructs is limited to some but not all forms of spatial attention. In 5 experiments, participants held color arrays, dot locations, or a sequence of dots in working memory. During the memory retention interval, they performed a T-among-L visual search task. Crucially, the probable target location was cued either implicitly through location probability learning or explicitly with a central arrow or verbal instruction. Our results showed that whereas imposing a visual working memory load diminished the effectiveness of explicit cuing, it did not interfere with probability cuing. We conclude that spatial working memory shares similar mechanisms with explicit, goal-driven attention but is dissociated from implicitly learned attention. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Spatial working memory interferes with explicit, but not probabilistic cuing of spatial attention

PubMed Central

Won, Bo-Yeong; Jiang, Yuhong V.

2014-01-01

Recent empirical and theoretical work has depicted a close relationship between visual attention and visual working memory. For example, rehearsal in spatial working memory depends on spatial attention, whereas adding a secondary spatial working memory task impairs attentional deployment in visual search. These findings have led to the proposal that working memory is attention directed toward internal representations. Here we show that the close relationship between these two constructs is limited to some but not all forms of spatial attention. In five experiments, participants held color arrays, dot locations, or a sequence of dots in working memory. During the memory retention interval they performed a T-among-L visual search task. Crucially, the probable target location was cued either implicitly through location probability learning, or explicitly with a central arrow or verbal instruction. Our results showed that whereas imposing a visual working memory load diminished the effectiveness of explicit cuing, it did not interfere with probability cuing. We conclude that spatial working memory shares similar mechanisms with explicit, goal-driven attention but is dissociated from implicitly learned attention. PMID:25401460

The Effect of Noise on the Relationship Between Auditory Working Memory and Comprehension in School-Age Children.

PubMed

Sullivan, Jessica R; Osman, Homira; Schafer, Erin C

2015-06-01

The objectives of the current study were to examine the effect of noise (-5 dB SNR) on auditory comprehension and to examine its relationship with working memory. It was hypothesized that noise has a negative impact on information processing, auditory working memory, and comprehension. Children with normal hearing between the ages of 8 and 10 years were administered working memory and comprehension tasks in quiet and noise. The comprehension measure comprised 5 domains: main idea, details, reasoning, vocabulary, and understanding messages. Performance on auditory working memory and comprehension tasks were significantly poorer in noise than in quiet. The reasoning, details, understanding, and vocabulary subtests were particularly affected in noise (p < .05). The relationship between auditory working memory and comprehension was stronger in noise than in quiet, suggesting an increased contribution of working memory. These data suggest that school-age children's auditory working memory and comprehension are negatively affected by noise. Performance on comprehension tasks in noise is strongly related to demands placed on working memory, supporting the theory that degrading listening conditions draws resources away from the primary task.

Accuracy and confidence of visual short-term memory do not go hand-in-hand: behavioral and neural dissociations.

PubMed

Bona, Silvia; Silvanto, Juha

2014-01-01

Currently influential models of working memory posit that memory content is highly accessible to conscious inspection. These models predict that metacognition of memory performance should go hand-in-hand with the accuracy of the underlying memory representation. To test this view, we investigated how visual information presented during the maintenance period affects VSTM accuracy and confidence. We used a delayed cue-target orientation discrimination task in which participants were asked to hold in memory a grating, and during the maintenance period a second memory cue could be presented. VSTM accuracy of the first memory cue was impaired when the orientation of the second memory cue was sufficiently different. However, participants' response confidence was reduced whenever the second memory cue was presented; thus VSTM accuracy and confidence were dissociated. In a second experiment, we applied transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) to investigate the causal role of this region in VSTM metacognition. Relative to the sham condition, anodal tDCS induced a general reduction in confidence ratings but did not affect VSTM accuracy. Overall, these results indicate that our metacognition of memory performance is influenced by factors other than the accuracy of the underlying memory representation.

Accuracy and Confidence of Visual Short-Term Memory Do Not Go Hand-In-Hand: Behavioral and Neural Dissociations

PubMed Central

Bona, Silvia; Silvanto, Juha

2014-01-01

Currently influential models of working memory posit that memory content is highly accessible to conscious inspection. These models predict that metacognition of memory performance should go hand-in-hand with the accuracy of the underlying memory representation. To test this view, we investigated how visual information presented during the maintenance period affects VSTM accuracy and confidence. We used a delayed cue–target orientation discrimination task in which participants were asked to hold in memory a grating, and during the maintenance period a second memory cue could be presented. VSTM accuracy of the first memory cue was impaired when the orientation of the second memory cue was sufficiently different. However, participants' response confidence was reduced whenever the second memory cue was presented; thus VSTM accuracy and confidence were dissociated. In a second experiment, we applied transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) to investigate the causal role of this region in VSTM metacognition. Relative to the sham condition, anodal tDCS induced a general reduction in confidence ratings but did not affect VSTM accuracy. Overall, these results indicate that our metacognition of memory performance is influenced by factors other than the accuracy of the underlying memory representation. PMID:24663094

Heterozygous deletion of the LRFN2 gene is associated with working memory deficits

PubMed Central

Thevenon, Julien; Souchay, Céline; Seabold, Gail K; Dygai-Cochet, Inna; Callier, Patrick; Gay, Sébastien; Corbin, Lucie; Duplomb, Laurence; Thauvin-Robinet, Christel; Masurel-Paulet, Alice; El Chehadeh, Salima; Avila, Magali; Minot, Delphine; Guedj, Eric; Chancenotte, Sophie; Bonnet, Marlène; Lehalle, Daphne; Wang, Ya-Xian; Kuentz, Paul; Huet, Frédéric; Mosca-Boidron, Anne-Laure; Marle, Nathalie; Petralia, Ronald S; Faivre, Laurence

2016-01-01

Learning disabilities (LDs) are a clinically and genetically heterogeneous group of diseases. Array-CGH and high-throughput sequencing have dramatically expanded the number of genes implicated in isolated intellectual disabilities and LDs, highlighting the implication of neuron-specific post-mitotic transcription factors and synaptic proteins as candidate genes. We report a unique family diagnosed with autosomal dominant learning disability and a 6p21 microdeletion segregating in three patients. The 870 kb microdeletion encompassed the brain-expressed gene LRFN2, which encodes for a synaptic cell adhesion molecule. Neuropsychological assessment identified selective working memory deficits, with borderline intellectual functioning. Further investigations identified a defect in executive function, and auditory-verbal processes. These data were consistent with brain MRI and FDG-PET functional brain imaging, which, when compared with controls, revealed abnormal brain volume and hypometabolism of gray matter structures implicated in working memory. We performed electron microscopy immunogold labeling demonstrating the localization of LRFN2 at synapses of cerebellar and hippocampal rat neurons, often associated with the NR1 subunit of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs). Altogether, the combined approaches imply a role for LRFN2 in LD, specifically for working memory processes and executive function. In conclusion, the identification of familial cases of clinically homogeneous endophenotypes of LD might help in both the management of patients and genetic counseling for families. PMID:26486473

Factorial Comparison of Working Memory Models

PubMed Central

van den Berg, Ronald; Awh, Edward; Ma, Wei Ji

2014-01-01

Three questions have been prominent in the study of visual working memory limitations: (a) What is the nature of mnemonic precision (e.g., quantized or continuous)? (b) How many items are remembered? (c) To what extent do spatial binding errors account for working memory failures? Modeling studies have typically focused on comparing possible answers to a single one of these questions, even though the result of such a comparison might depend on the assumed answers to both others. Here, we consider every possible combination of previously proposed answers to the individual questions. Each model is then a point in a 3-factor model space containing a total of 32 models, of which only 6 have been tested previously. We compare all models on data from 10 delayed-estimation experiments from 6 laboratories (for a total of 164 subjects and 131,452 trials). Consistently across experiments, we find that (a) mnemonic precision is not quantized but continuous and not equal but variable across items and trials; (b) the number of remembered items is likely to be variable across trials, with a mean of 6.4 in the best model (median across subjects); (c) spatial binding errors occur but explain only a small fraction of responses (16.5% at set size 8 in the best model). We find strong evidence against all 6 documented models. Our results demonstrate the value of factorial model comparison in working memory. PMID:24490791

Connectomic markers of disease expression, genetic risk and resilience in bipolar disorder

PubMed Central

Dima, D; Roberts, R E; Frangou, S

2016-01-01

Bipolar disorder (BD) is characterized by emotional dysregulation and cognitive deficits associated with abnormal connectivity between subcortical—primarily emotional processing regions—and prefrontal regulatory areas. Given the significant contribution of genetic factors to BD, studies in unaffected first-degree relatives can identify neural mechanisms of genetic risk but also resilience, thus paving the way for preventive interventions. Dynamic causal modeling (DCM) and random-effects Bayesian model selection were used to define and assess connectomic phenotypes linked to facial affect processing and working memory in a demographically matched sample of first-degree relatives carefully selected for resilience (n=25), euthymic patients with BD (n=41) and unrelated healthy controls (n=46). During facial affect processing, patients and relatives showed similarly increased frontolimbic connectivity; resilient relatives, however, evidenced additional adaptive hyperconnectivity within the ventral visual stream. During working memory processing, patients displayed widespread hypoconnectivity within the corresponding network. In contrast, working memory network connectivity in resilient relatives was comparable to that of controls. Our results indicate that frontolimbic dysfunction during affect processing could represent a marker of genetic risk to BD, and diffuse hypoconnectivity within the working memory network a marker of disease expression. The association of hyperconnectivity within the affect-processing network with resilience to BD suggests adaptive plasticity that allows for compensatory changes and encourages further investigation of this phenotype in genetic and early intervention studies. PMID:26731443

Connectomic markers of disease expression, genetic risk and resilience in bipolar disorder.

PubMed

Dima, D; Roberts, R E; Frangou, S

2016-01-05

Bipolar disorder (BD) is characterized by emotional dysregulation and cognitive deficits associated with abnormal connectivity between subcortical-primarily emotional processing regions-and prefrontal regulatory areas. Given the significant contribution of genetic factors to BD, studies in unaffected first-degree relatives can identify neural mechanisms of genetic risk but also resilience, thus paving the way for preventive interventions. Dynamic causal modeling (DCM) and random-effects Bayesian model selection were used to define and assess connectomic phenotypes linked to facial affect processing and working memory in a demographically matched sample of first-degree relatives carefully selected for resilience (n=25), euthymic patients with BD (n=41) and unrelated healthy controls (n=46). During facial affect processing, patients and relatives showed similarly increased frontolimbic connectivity; resilient relatives, however, evidenced additional adaptive hyperconnectivity within the ventral visual stream. During working memory processing, patients displayed widespread hypoconnectivity within the corresponding network. In contrast, working memory network connectivity in resilient relatives was comparable to that of controls. Our results indicate that frontolimbic dysfunction during affect processing could represent a marker of genetic risk to BD, and diffuse hypoconnectivity within the working memory network a marker of disease expression. The association of hyperconnectivity within the affect-processing network with resilience to BD suggests adaptive plasticity that allows for compensatory changes and encourages further investigation of this phenotype in genetic and early intervention studies.

The Impact of Sex Differences on Odor Identification and Facial Affect Recognition in Patients with Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders.

PubMed

Mossaheb, Nilufar; Kaufmann, Rainer M; Schlögelhofer, Monika; Aninilkumparambil, Thushara; Himmelbauer, Claudia; Gold, Anna; Zehetmayer, Sonja; Hoffmann, Holger; Traue, Harald C; Aschauer, Harald

2018-01-01

Social interactive functions such as facial emotion recognition and smell identification have been shown to differ between women and men. However, little is known about how these differences are mirrored in patients with schizophrenia and how these abilities interact with each other and with other clinical variables in patients vs. healthy controls. Standardized instruments were used to assess facial emotion recognition [Facially Expressed Emotion Labelling (FEEL)] and smell identification [University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT)] in 51 patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and 79 healthy controls; furthermore, working memory functions and clinical variables were assessed. In both the univariate and the multivariate results, illness showed a significant influence on UPSIT and FEEL. The inclusion of age and working memory in the MANOVA resulted in a differential effect with sex and working memory as remaining significant factors. Duration of illness was correlated with both emotion recognition and smell identification in men only, whereas immediate general psychopathology and negative symptoms were associated with emotion recognition only in women. Being affected by schizophrenia spectrum disorder impacts one's ability to correctly recognize facial affects and identify odors. Converging evidence suggests a link between the investigated basic and social cognitive abilities in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders with a strong contribution of working memory and differential effects of modulators in women vs. men.

Neurocognitive development of the ability to manipulate information in working memory.

PubMed

Crone, Eveline A; Wendelken, Carter; Donohue, Sarah; van Leijenhorst, Linda; Bunge, Silvia A

2006-06-13

The ability to manipulate information in working memory is a key factor in cognitive development. Here, we used event-related functional MRI to test the hypothesis that developmental improvements in manipulation, relative to pure maintenance, are associated with increased recruitment of dorsolateral (DL) prefrontal cortex (PFC) and superior parietal cortex. Three age groups (8-12 years old, 13-17 years old, and 18-25 years old) performed an object-working memory task with separate maintenance and manipulation conditions. We found that 8- to 12-year-olds did not perform the task as well as adolescents or adults, particularly on trials requiring manipulation in addition to maintenance. In this study, no age differences were observed in the activation profile of ventrolateral PFC, a region associated with online maintenance. In contrast, unlike the older participants, 8- to 12-year-olds failed to recruit right DL PFC and bilateral superior parietal cortex during the delay period for manipulation relative to maintenance. This group difference was observed specifically during the delay period, while participants reordered items in working memory, and could not be accounted for by group differences in performance. Across participants, activation levels in right DL PFC and superior parietal cortex, but not ventrolateral PFC, were positively correlated with performance on manipulation trials. These results indicate that increased recruitment of right DL PFC and bilateral parietal cortex during adolescence is associated with improvements in the ability to work with object representations.

Endogenous-cue prospective memory involving incremental updating of working memory: an fMRI study.

PubMed

Halahalli, Harsha N; John, John P; Lukose, Ammu; Jain, Sanjeev; Kutty, Bindu M

2015-11-01

Prospective memory paradigms are conventionally classified on the basis of event-, time-, or activity-based intention retrieval. In the vast majority of such paradigms, intention retrieval is provoked by some kind of external event. However, prospective memory retrieval cues that prompt intention retrieval in everyday life are commonly endogenous, i.e., linked to a specific imagined retrieval context. We describe herein a novel prospective memory paradigm wherein the endogenous cue is generated by incremental updating of working memory, and investigated the hemodynamic correlates of this task. Eighteen healthy adult volunteers underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while they performed a prospective memory task where the delayed intention was triggered by an endogenous cue generated by incremental updating of working memory. Working memory and ongoing task control conditions were also administered. The 'endogenous-cue prospective memory condition' with incremental working memory updating was associated with maximum activations in the right rostral prefrontal cortex, and additional activations in the brain regions that constitute the bilateral fronto-parietal network, central and dorsal salience networks as well as cerebellum. In the working memory control condition, maximal activations were noted in the left dorsal anterior insula. Activation of the bilateral dorsal anterior insula, a component of the central salience network, was found to be unique to this 'endogenous-cue prospective memory task' in comparison to previously reported exogenous- and endogenous-cue prospective memory tasks without incremental working memory updating. Thus, the findings of the present study highlight the important role played by the dorsal anterior insula in incremental working memory updating that is integral to our endogenous-cue prospective memory task.

A multidisciplinary approach of workload assessment in real-job situations: investigation in the field of aerospace activities

PubMed Central

Mélan, Claudine; Cascino, Nadine

2014-01-01

The present contribution presents two field studies combining tools and methods from cognitive psychology and from occupational psychology in order to perform a thorough investigation of workload in employees. Cognitive load theory proposes to distinguish different load categories of working memory, in a context of instruction. Intrinsic load is inherent to the task, extraneous load refers to components of a learning environment that may be modified to reduce total load, and germane load enables schemas construction and thus efficient learning. We showed previously that this theoretical framework may be successfully extended to working memory tasks in non-instructional designs. Other theoretical models, issued from the field of occupational psychology, account for an individual’s perception of work demands or requirements in the context of different psychosocial features of the (work) environment. Combining these approaches is difficult as workload assessment by job-perception questionnaires explore an individual’s overall job-perception over a large time-period, whereas cognitive load investigations in working memory tasks are typically performed within short time-periods. We proposed an original methodology enabling investigation of workload and load factors in a comparable time-frame. We report two field studies investigating workload on different shift-phases and between work-shifts, with two custom-made tools. The first one enabled workload assessment by manipulating intrinsic load (task difficulty) and extraneous load (time pressure) in a working-memory task. The second tool was a questionnaire based on the theoretical concepts of work-demands, control, and psychosocial support. Two additional dimensions suspected to contribute to job-perception, i.e., work–family conflicts and availability of human and technical resources were also explored. Results of workload assessments were discussed in light of operators’ alertness and job-performance. PMID:25232346

Differences between Presentation Methods in Working Memory Procedures: A Matter of Working Memory Consolidation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ricker, Timothy J.; Cowan, Nelson

2014-01-01

Understanding forgetting from working memory, the memory used in ongoing cognitive processing, is critical to understanding human cognition. In the past decade, a number of conflicting findings have been reported regarding the role of time in forgetting from working memory. This has led to a debate concerning whether longer retention intervals…

Enhanced dimension-specific visual working memory in grapheme-color synesthesia.

PubMed

Terhune, Devin Blair; Wudarczyk, Olga Anna; Kochuparampil, Priya; Cohen Kadosh, Roi

2013-10-01

There is emerging evidence that the encoding of visual information and the maintenance of this information in a temporarily accessible state in working memory rely on the same neural mechanisms. A consequence of this overlap is that atypical forms of perception should influence working memory. We examined this by investigating whether having grapheme-color synesthesia, a condition characterized by the involuntary experience of color photisms when reading or representing graphemes, would confer benefits on working memory. Two competing hypotheses propose that superior memory in synesthesia results from information being coded in two information channels (dual-coding) or from superior dimension-specific visual processing (enhanced processing). We discriminated between these hypotheses in three n-back experiments in which controls and synesthetes viewed inducer and non-inducer graphemes and maintained color or grapheme information in working memory. Synesthetes displayed superior color working memory than controls for both grapheme types, whereas the two groups did not differ in grapheme working memory. Further analyses excluded the possibilities of enhanced working memory among synesthetes being due to greater color discrimination, stimulus color familiarity, or bidirectionality. These results reveal enhanced dimension-specific visual working memory in this population and supply further evidence for a close relationship between sensory processing and the maintenance of sensory information in working memory. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Allocentric but not egocentric visual memory difficulties in adults with ADHD may represent cognitive inefficiency.

PubMed

Brown, Franklin C; Roth, Robert M; Katz, Lynda J

2015-08-30

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has often been conceptualized as arising executive dysfunctions (e.g., inattention, defective inhibition). However, recent studies suggested that cognitive inefficiency may underlie many ADHD symptoms, according to reaction time and processing speed abnormalities. This study explored whether a non-timed measure of cognitive inefficiency would also be abnormal. A sample of 23 ADHD subjects was compared to 23 controls on a test that included both egocentric and allocentric visual memory subtests. A factor analysis was used to determine which cognitive variables contributed to allocentric visual memory. The ADHD sample performed significantly lower on the allocentric but not egocentric conditions. Allocentric visual memory was not associated with timed, working memory, visual perception, or mental rotation variables. This paper concluded by discussing how these results supported a cognitive inefficiency explanation for some ADHD symptoms, and discussed future research directions. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contribution of underlying processes to improved visuospatial working memory associated with physical activity.

PubMed

Ji, Qingchun; Wang, Yingying; Guo, Wei; Zhou, Chenglin

2017-01-01

Working memory is critical for various cognitive processes and can be separated into two stages: short-term memory storage and manipulation processing. Although previous studies have demonstrated that increased physical activity (PA) improves working memory and that males outperform females on visuospatial working memory tasks, few studies have determined the contribution of the two underlying stages to the visuospatial working memory improvement associated with PA. Thus, the aims of the present study were to verify the relationship between physical activity and visuospatial working memory, determine whether one or both stages were affected by PA, and investigate any sex differences. A total of 56 undergraduate students were recruited for this study. Their scores on the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) were used to separate them into either a lower PA ( n  = 26; IPAQ score ≤3,000 metabolic equivalent [MET]-min/week) or higher PA ( n  = 30; IPAQ score >3,000 MET-min/week) group. Participants were required to complete three tasks: a visuospatial working memory task, a task that examines the short-term memory storage stage, and a mental rotation task that examines the active manipulation stage. Participants in the higher PA group maintained similar accuracy but displayed significantly faster reaction times (RT) than those in the lower PA group on the visuospatial working memory and manipulation tasks. By contrast, no difference was observed between groups on the short-term memory storage task. In addition, no effects of sex were detected. Our results confirm that PA was positively to visuospatial working memory and that this positive relationship was associated with more rapid cognitive processing during the manipulation stage, with little or no relationship between PA and the memory storage stage of visuospatial working memory.

Working Memory Training Does Not Improve Performance on Measures of Intelligence or Other Measures of “Far Transfer”

PubMed Central

Melby-Lervåg, Monica; Redick, Thomas S.; Hulme, Charles

2016-01-01

It has been claimed that working memory training programs produce diverse beneficial effects. This article presents a meta-analysis of working memory training studies (with a pretest-posttest design and a control group) that have examined transfer to other measures (nonverbal ability, verbal ability, word decoding, reading comprehension, or arithmetic; 87 publications with 145 experimental comparisons). Immediately following training there were reliable improvements on measures of intermediate transfer (verbal and visuospatial working memory). For measures of far transfer (nonverbal ability, verbal ability, word decoding, reading comprehension, arithmetic) there was no convincing evidence of any reliable improvements when working memory training was compared with a treated control condition. Furthermore, mediation analyses indicated that across studies, the degree of improvement on working memory measures was not related to the magnitude of far-transfer effects found. Finally, analysis of publication bias shows that there is no evidential value from the studies of working memory training using treated controls. The authors conclude that working memory training programs appear to produce short-term, specific training effects that do not generalize to measures of “real-world” cognitive skills. These results seriously question the practical and theoretical importance of current computerized working memory programs as methods of training working memory skills. PMID:27474138

Visuospatial working memory in very preterm and term born children--impact of age and performance.

PubMed

Mürner-Lavanchy, I; Ritter, B C; Spencer-Smith, M M; Perrig, W J; Schroth, G; Steinlin, M; Everts, R

2014-07-01

Working memory is crucial for meeting the challenges of daily life and performing academic tasks, such as reading or arithmetic. Very preterm born children are at risk of low working memory capacity. The aim of this study was to examine the visuospatial working memory network of school-aged preterm children and to determine the effect of age and performance on the neural working memory network. Working memory was assessed in 41 very preterm born children and 36 term born controls (aged 7-12 years) using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and neuropsychological assessment. While preterm children and controls showed equal working memory performance, preterm children showed less involvement of the right middle frontal gyrus, but higher fMRI activation in superior frontal regions than controls. The younger and low-performing preterm children presented an atypical working memory network whereas the older high-performing preterm children recruited a working memory network similar to the controls. Results suggest that younger and low-performing preterm children show signs of less neural efficiency in frontal brain areas. With increasing age and performance, compensational mechanisms seem to occur, so that in preterm children, the typical visuospatial working memory network is established by the age of 12 years. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Working memory and the memory distortion component of hindsight bias.

PubMed

Calvillo, Dustin P

2012-01-01

One component of hindsight bias is memory distortion: Individuals' recollections of their predictions are biased towards known outcomes. The present study examined the role of working memory in the memory distortion component of hindsight bias. Participants answered almanac-like questions, completed a measure of working memory capacity, were provided with the correct answers, and attempted to recollect their original judgements in two conditions: with and without a concurrent working memory load. Participants' recalled judgements were more biased by feedback when they recalled these judgements with a concurrent memory load and working memory capacity was negatively correlated with memory distortion. These findings are consistent with reconstruction accounts of the memory distortion component of hindsight bias and, more generally, with dual process theories of cognition. These results also relate the memory distortion component of hindsight bias with other cognitive errors, such as source monitoring errors, the belief bias in syllogistic reasoning and anchoring effects. Implications for the separate components view of hindsight bias are discussed.

Isolating Age-Group Differences in Working Memory Load-Related Neural Activity: Assessing the Contribution of Working Memory Capacity Using a Partial-Trial fMRI Method

PubMed Central

Bennett, Ilana J.; Rivera, Hannah G.; Rypma, Bart

2013-01-01

Previous studies examining age-group differences in working memory load-related neural activity have yielded mixed results. When present, age-group differences in working memory capacity are frequently proposed to underlie these neural effects. However, direct relationships between working memory capacity and working memory load-related activity have only been observed in younger adults. These relationships remain untested in healthy aging. Therefore, the present study examined patterns of working memory load-related activity in 22 younger and 20 older adults and assessed the contribution of working memory capacity to these load-related effects. Participants performed a partial-trial delayed response item recognition task during functional magnetic resonance imaging. In this task, participants encoded either 2 or 6 letters, maintained them during a delay, and then indicated whether a probe was present in the memory set. Behavioral results revealed faster and more accurate responses to load 2 versus 6, with age-group differences in this load condition effect for the accuracy measure. Neuroimaging results revealed one region (medial superior frontal gyrus) that showed age-group differences in load-related activity during the retrieval period, with less (greater) neural activity for the low versus high load condition in younger (older) adults. Furthermore, for older adults, load-related activity did not vary as a function of working memory capacity. Thus, working memory-related activity varies with healthy aging, but these patterns are not due solely to working memory capacity. Neurocognitive aging theories that feature capacity will need to account for these results. PMID:23357076

Discrepancy of performance among working memory-related tasks in autism spectrum disorders was caused by task characteristics, apart from working memory, which could interfere with task execution.

PubMed

Nakahachi, Takayuki; Iwase, Masao; Takahashi, Hidetoshi; Honaga, Eiko; Sekiyama, Ryuji; Ukai, Satoshi; Ishii, Ryouhei; Ishigami, Wataru; Kajimoto, Osami; Yamashita, Ko; Hashimoto, Ryota; Tanii, Hisashi; Shimizu, Akira; Takeda, Masatoshi

2006-06-01

Working memory performance has been inconsistently reported in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Several studies in ASD have found normal performance in digit span and poor performance in digit symbol task although these are closely related with working memory. It is assumed that poor performance in digit symbol could be explained by confirmatory behavior, which is induced due to the vague memory representation of number-symbol association. Therefore it was hypothesized that the performance of working memory task, in which vagueness did not cause confirmatory behavior, would be normal in ASD. For this purpose, the Advanced Trail Making Test (ATMT) was used. The performance of digit span, digit symbol and ATMT was compared between ASD and normal control. The digit span, digit symbol and ATMT was given to 16 ASD subjects and 28 IQ-, age- and sex-matched control subjects. The scores of these tasks were compared. A significantly lower score for ASD was found only in digit symbol compared with control subjects. There were no significant difference in digit span and working memory estimated by ATMT. Discrepancy of scores among working memory-related tasks was demonstrated in ASD. Poor digit symbol performance, normal digit span and normal working memory in ATMT implied that ASD subjects would be intact in working memory itself, and that superficial working memory dysfunction might be observed due to confirmatory behavior in digit symbol. Therefore, to evaluate working memory in ASD, tasks that could stimulate psychopathology specific to ASD should be avoided.

A Latent Variable Analysis of Working Memory Capacity, Short-Term Memory Capacity, Processing Speed, and General Fluid Intelligence.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Conway, Andrew R. A.; Cowan, Nelsin; Bunting, Michael F.; Therriault, David J.; Minkoff, Scott R. B.

2002-01-01

Studied the interrelationships among general fluid intelligence, short-term memory capacity, working memory capacity, and processing speed in 120 young adults and used structural equation modeling to determine the best predictor of general fluid intelligence. Results suggest that working memory capacity, but not short-term memory capacity or…

Verbal makes it positive, spatial makes it negative: working memory biases judgments, attention, and moods.

PubMed

Storbeck, Justin; Watson, Philip

2014-12-01

Prior research has suggested that emotion and working memory domains are integrated, such that positive affect enhances verbal working memory, whereas negative affect enhances spatial working memory (Gray, 2004; Storbeck, 2012). Simon (1967) postulated that one feature of emotion and cognition integration would be reciprocal connectedness (i.e., emotion influences cognition and cognition influences emotion). We explored whether affective judgments and attention to affective qualities are biased by the activation of verbal and spatial working memory mind-sets. For all experiments, participants completed a 2-back verbal or spatial working memory task followed by an endorsement task (Experiments 1 & 2), word-pair selection task (Exp. 3), or attentional dot-probe task (Exp. 4). Participants who had an activated verbal, compared with spatial, working memory mind-set were more likely to endorse pictures (Exp. 1) and words (Exp. 2) as being more positive and to select the more positive word pair out of a set of word pairs that went 'together best' (Exp. 3). Additionally, people who completed the verbal working memory task took longer to disengage from positive stimuli, whereas those who completed the spatial working memory task took longer to disengage from negative stimuli (Exp. 4). Interestingly, across the 4 experiments, we observed higher levels of self-reported negative affect for people who completed the spatial working memory task, which was consistent with their endorsement and attentional bias toward negative stimuli. Therefore, emotion and working memory may have a reciprocal connectedness allowing for bidirectional influence.

A Brain System for Auditory Working Memory.

PubMed

Kumar, Sukhbinder; Joseph, Sabine; Gander, Phillip E; Barascud, Nicolas; Halpern, Andrea R; Griffiths, Timothy D

2016-04-20

The brain basis for auditory working memory, the process of actively maintaining sounds in memory over short periods of time, is controversial. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging in human participants, we demonstrate that the maintenance of single tones in memory is associated with activation in auditory cortex. In addition, sustained activation was observed in hippocampus and inferior frontal gyrus. Multivoxel pattern analysis showed that patterns of activity in auditory cortex and left inferior frontal gyrus distinguished the tone that was maintained in memory. Functional connectivity during maintenance was demonstrated between auditory cortex and both the hippocampus and inferior frontal cortex. The data support a system for auditory working memory based on the maintenance of sound-specific representations in auditory cortex by projections from higher-order areas, including the hippocampus and frontal cortex. In this work, we demonstrate a system for maintaining sound in working memory based on activity in auditory cortex, hippocampus, and frontal cortex, and functional connectivity among them. Specifically, our work makes three advances from the previous work. First, we robustly demonstrate hippocampal involvement in all phases of auditory working memory (encoding, maintenance, and retrieval): the role of hippocampus in working memory is controversial. Second, using a pattern classification technique, we show that activity in the auditory cortex and inferior frontal gyrus is specific to the maintained tones in working memory. Third, we show long-range connectivity of auditory cortex to hippocampus and frontal cortex, which may be responsible for keeping such representations active during working memory maintenance. Copyright © 2016 Kumar et al.

As Working Memory Grows: A Developmental Account of Neural Bases of Working Memory Capacity in 5- to 8-Year Old Children and Adults.

PubMed

Kharitonova, Maria; Winter, Warren; Sheridan, Margaret A

2015-09-01

Working memory develops slowly: Even by age 8, children are able to maintain only half the number of items that adults can remember. Neural substrates that support performance on working memory tasks also have a slow developmental trajectory and typically activate to a lesser extent in children, relative to adults. Little is known about why younger participants elicit less neural activation. This may be due to maturational differences, differences in behavioral performance, or both. Here we investigate the neural correlates of working memory capacity in children (ages 5-8) and adults using a visual working memory task with parametrically increasing loads (from one to four items) using fMRI. This task allowed us to estimate working memory capacity limit for each group. We found that both age groups increased the activation of frontoparietal networks with increasing working memory loads, until working memory capacity was reached. Because children's working memory capacity limit was half of that for adults, the plateau occurred at lower loads for children. Had a parametric increase in load not been used, this would have given an impression of less activation overall and less load-dependent activation for children relative to adults. Our findings suggest that young children and adults recruit similar frontoparietal networks at working memory loads that do not exceed capacity and highlight the need to consider behavioral performance differences when interpreting developmental differences in neural activation.

Assessment and treatment of short-term and working memory impairments in stroke aphasia: a practical tutorial.

PubMed

Salis, Christos; Kelly, Helen; Code, Chris

2015-01-01

Aphasia following stroke refers to impairments that affect the comprehension and expression of spoken and/or written language, and co-occurring cognitive deficits are common. In this paper we focus on short-term and working memory impairments that impact on the ability to retain and manipulate auditory-verbal information. Evidence from diverse paradigms (large group studies, case studies) report close links between short-term/working memory and language functioning in aphasia. This evidence leads to the hypothesis that treating such memory impairments would improve language functioning. This link has only recently been acknowledged in aphasia treatment but has not been embraced widely by clinicians. To examine the association between language, and short-term and working memory impairments in aphasia. To describe practical ways of assessing short-term and working memory functioning that could be used in clinical practice. To discuss and critically appraise treatments of short-term and working memory reported in the literature. Taking a translational research approach, this paper provides clinicians with current evidence from the literature and practical information on how to assess and treat short-term and working memory impairments in people with aphasia. Published treatments of short-term and/or working memory in post-stroke aphasia are discussed through a narrative review. This paper provides the following. A theoretical rationale for adopting short-term and working memory treatments in aphasia. It highlights issues in differentially diagnosing between short-term, working memory disorders and other concomitant impairments, e.g. apraxia of speech. It describes short-term and working memory assessments with practical considerations for use with people with aphasia. It also offers a description of published treatments in terms of participants, treatments and outcomes. Finally, it critically appraises the current evidence base relating to the treatment of short-term and working memory treatments. The links between short-term/working memory functioning and language in aphasia are generally acknowledged. These strongly indicate the need to incorporate assessment of short-term/working memory functioning for people with aphasia. While the supportive evidence for treatment is growing and appears to highlight the benefits of including short-term/working memory in aphasia treatment, the quality of the evidence in its current state is poor. However, because of the clinical needs of people with aphasia and the prevalence of short-term/working memory impairments, incorporating related treatments through practice-based evidence is advocated. © 2015 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

Chronic stress effects on working memory: association with prefrontal cortical tyrosine hydroxylase.

PubMed

Lee, Young-A; Goto, Yukiori

2015-06-01

Chronic stress causes deficits in cognitive function including working memory, for which transmission of such catecholamines as dopamine and noradrenaline transmission in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) are crucial. Since catecholamine synthesis depends on the rate-limiting enzyme, tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), TH is thought to play an important role in PFC function. In this study, we found that two distinct population existed in Sprague-Dawley rats in terms of working memory capacity, one with higher working memory capacity, and the other with low capacity. This distinction of working memory capacity became apparent after rats were exposed to chronic stress. In addition, such working memory capacity and alterations of working memory function by chronic stress were associated with TH expression in the PFC. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Modeling individual differences in working memory performance: a source activation account

PubMed Central

Daily, Larry Z.; Lovett, Marsha C.; Reder, Lynne M.

2008-01-01

Working memory resources are needed for processing and maintenance of information during cognitive tasks. Many models have been developed to capture the effects of limited working memory resources on performance. However, most of these models do not account for the finding that different individuals show different sensitivities to working memory demands, and none of the models predicts individual subjects' patterns of performance. We propose a computational model that accounts for differences in working memory capacity in terms of a quantity called source activation, which is used to maintain goal-relevant information in an available state. We apply this model to capture the working memory effects of individual subjects at a fine level of detail across two experiments. This, we argue, strengthens the interpretation of source activation as working memory capacity. PMID:19079561

To Switch or Not to Switch: Role of Cognitive Control in Working Memory Training in Older Adults.

PubMed

Basak, Chandramallika; O'Connell, Margaret A

2016-01-01

It is currently not known what are the best working memory training strategies to offset the age-related declines in fluid cognitive abilities. In this randomized clinical double-blind trial, older adults were randomly assigned to one of two types of working memory training - one group was trained on a predictable memory updating task (PT) and another group was trained on a novel, unpredictable memory updating task (UT). Unpredictable memory updating, compared to predictable, requires greater demands on cognitive control (Basak and Verhaeghen, 2011a). Therefore, the current study allowed us to evaluate the role of cognitive control in working memory training. All participants were assessed on a set of near and far transfer tasks at three different testing sessions - before training, immediately after the training, and 1.5 months after completing the training. Additionally, individual learning rates for a comparison working memory task (performed by both groups) and the trained task were computed. Training on unpredictable memory updating, compared to predictable, significantly enhanced performance on a measure of episodic memory, immediately after the training. Moreover, individuals with faster learning rates showed greater gains in this episodic memory task and another new working memory task; this effect was specific to UT. We propose that the unpredictable memory updating training, compared to predictable memory updating training, may a better strategy to improve selective cognitive abilities in older adults, and future studies could further investigate the role of cognitive control in working memory training.

Cognitive Behavioral Performance of Untreated Depressed Patients with Mild Depressive Symptoms

PubMed Central

Li, Mi; Zhong, Ning; Lu, Shengfu; Wang, Gang; Feng, Lei; Hu, Bin

2016-01-01

This study evaluated the working memory performance of 18 patients experiencing their first onset of mild depression without treatment and 18 healthy matched controls. The results demonstrated that working memory impairment in patients with mild depression occurred when memorizing the position of a picture but not when memorizing the pictures themselves. There was no significant difference between the two groups in the emotional impact on the working memory, indicating that the attenuation of spatial working memory was not affected by negative emotion; however, cognitive control selectively affected spatial working memory. In addition, the accuracy of spatial working memory in the depressed patients was not significantly reduced, but the reaction time was significantly extended compared with the healthy controls. This finding indicated that there was no damage to memory encoding and function maintenance in the patients but rather only impaired memory retrieval, suggesting that the extent of damage to the working memory system and cognitive control abilities was associated with the corresponding depressive symptoms. The development of mild to severe depressive symptoms may be accompanied by spatial working memory damage from the impaired memory retrieval function extending to memory encoding and memory retention impairments. In addition, the impaired cognitive control began with an inadequate capacity to automatically process internal negative emotions and further extended to impairment of the ability to regulate and suppress external emotions. The results of the mood-congruent study showed that the memory of patients with mild symptoms of depression was associated with a mood-congruent memory effect, demonstrating that mood-congruent memory was a typical feature of depression, regardless of the severity of depression. This study provided important information for understanding the development of cognitive dysfunction. PMID:26730597

Mechanisms underlying comprehension of health information in adulthood: the roles of prior knowledge and working memory capacity.

PubMed

Soederberg Miller, Lisa M; Gibson, Tanja N; Applegate, Elizabeth A; de Dios, Jeannette

2011-07-01

Prior knowledge, working memory capacity (WMC), and conceptual integration (attention allocated to integrating concepts in text) are critical within many contexts; however, their impact on the acquisition of health information (i.e. learning) is relatively unexplored.We examined how these factors impact learning about nutrition within a cross-sectional study of adults ages 18 to 81. Results showed that conceptual integration mediated the effects of knowledge and WMC on learning, confirming that attention to concepts while reading is important for learning about health. We also found that when knowledge was controlled, age declines in learning increased, suggesting that knowledge mitigates the effects of age on learning about nutrition.

Exploring Expressive Vocabulary Variability in Two-Year-Olds: The Role of Working Memory.

PubMed

Newbury, Jayne; Klee, Thomas; Stokes, Stephanie F; Moran, Catherine

2015-12-01

This study explored whether measures of working memory ability contribute to the wide variation in 2-year-olds' expressive vocabulary skills. Seventy-nine children (aged 24-30 months) were assessed by using standardized tests of vocabulary and visual cognition, a processing speed measure, and behavioral measures of verbal working memory and phonological short-term memory. Strong correlations were observed between phonological short-term memory, verbal working memory, and expressive vocabulary. Speed of spoken word recognition showed a moderate significant correlation with expressive vocabulary. In a multivariate regression model for expressive vocabulary, the most powerful predictor was a measure of phonological short-term memory (accounting for 66% unique variance), followed by verbal working memory (6%), sex (2%), and age (1%). Processing speed did not add significant unique variance. These findings confirm previous research positing a strong role for phonological short-term memory in early expressive vocabulary acquisition. They also extend previous research in two ways. First, a unique association between verbal working memory and expressive vocabulary in 2-year-olds was observed. Second, processing speed was not a unique predictor of variance in expressive vocabulary when included alongside measures of working memory.

Ultralow bias power all-optical photonic crystal memory realized with systematically tuned L3 nanocavity

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kuramochi, Eiichi, E-mail: kuramochi.eiichi@lab.ntt.co.jp; Nozaki, Kengo; Shinya, Akihiko

2015-11-30

An InP photonic crystal nanocavity with an embedded InGaAsP active region is a unique technology that has realized an all-optical memory with a sub-micro-watt operating power and limitless storage time. In this study, we employed an L3 design with systematic multi-hole tuning, which realized a higher loaded Q factor (>40 000) and a lower mode volume (0.9 μm{sup 3}) than a line-defect-based buried-heterostructure nanocavity (16 000 and 2.2 μm{sup 3}). Excluding the active region realized a record loaded Q factor (210 000) in all for InP-based nanocavities. The minimum bias power for bistable memory operation was reduced to 2.3 ± 0.3 nW, which is about 1/10 ofmore » the previous record of 30 nW. This work further established the capability of a bistable nanocavity memory for use in future ultralow-power-consumption on-chip integrated photonics.« less

Is functional integration of resting state brain networks an unspecific biomarker for working memory performance?

PubMed

Alavash, Mohsen; Doebler, Philipp; Holling, Heinz; Thiel, Christiane M; Gießing, Carsten

2015-03-01

Is there one optimal topology of functional brain networks at rest from which our cognitive performance would profit? Previous studies suggest that functional integration of resting state brain networks is an important biomarker for cognitive performance. However, it is still unknown whether higher network integration is an unspecific predictor for good cognitive performance or, alternatively, whether specific network organization during rest predicts only specific cognitive abilities. Here, we investigated the relationship between network integration at rest and cognitive performance using two tasks that measured different aspects of working memory; one task assessed visual-spatial and the other numerical working memory. Network clustering, modularity and efficiency were computed to capture network integration on different levels of network organization, and to statistically compare their correlations with the performance in each working memory test. The results revealed that each working memory aspect profits from a different resting state topology, and the tests showed significantly different correlations with each of the measures of network integration. While higher global network integration and modularity predicted significantly better performance in visual-spatial working memory, both measures showed no significant correlation with numerical working memory performance. In contrast, numerical working memory was superior in subjects with highly clustered brain networks, predominantly in the intraparietal sulcus, a core brain region of the working memory network. Our findings suggest that a specific balance between local and global functional integration of resting state brain networks facilitates special aspects of cognitive performance. In the context of working memory, while visual-spatial performance is facilitated by globally integrated functional resting state brain networks, numerical working memory profits from increased capacities for local processing, especially in brain regions involved in working memory performance. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Do Working Memory Deficits Underlie Reading Problems in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)?

PubMed

Kofler, Michael J; Spiegel, Jamie A; Soto, Elia F; Irwin, Lauren N; Wells, Erica L; Austin, Kristin E

2018-06-19

Reading problems are common in children with ADHD and show strong covariation with these children's underdeveloped working memory abilities. In contrast, working memory training does not appear to improve reading performance for children with ADHD or neurotypical children. The current study bridges the gap between these conflicting findings, and combines dual-task methodology with Bayesian modeling to examine the role of working memory for explaining ADHD-related reading problems. Children ages 8-13 (M = 10.50, SD = 1.59) with and without ADHD (N = 78; 29 girls; 63% Caucasian/Non-Hispanic) completed a counterbalanced series of reading tasks that systematically manipulated concurrent working memory demands. Adding working memory demands produced disproportionate decrements in reading comprehension for children with ADHD (d = -0.67) relative to Non-ADHD children (d = -0.18); comprehension was significantly reduced in both groups when working memory demands were increased. These effects were robust to controls for foundational reading skills (decoding, sight word vocabulary) and comorbid reading disability. Concurrent working memory demands did not slow reading speed for either group. The ADHD group showed lower comprehension (d = 1.02) and speed (d = 0.69) even before adding working memory demands beyond those inherently required for reading. Exploratory conditional effects analyses indicated that underdeveloped working memory overlapped with 41% (comprehension) and 85% (speed) of these between-group differences. Reading problems in ADHD appear attributable, at least in part, to their underdeveloped working memory abilities. Combined with prior cross-sectional and longitudinal findings, the current experimental evidence positions working memory as a potential causal mechanism that is necessary but not sufficient for effectively understanding written language.

Intermediate Cognitive Phenotypes in Bipolar Disorder

PubMed Central

Langenecker, Scott A.; Saunders, Erika F.H.; Kade, Allison M.; Ransom, Michael T.; McInnis, Melvin G.

2013-01-01

Background Intermediate cognitive phenotypes (ICPs) are measurable and quantifiable states that may be objectively assessed in a standardized method, and can be integrated into association studies, including genetic, biochemical, clinical, and imaging based correlates. The present study used neuropsychological measures as ICPs, with factor scores in executive functioning, attention, memory, fine motor function, and emotion processing, similar to prior work in schizophrenia. Methods Healthy control subjects (HC, n=34) and euthymic (E, n=66), depressed (D, n=43), or hypomanic/mixed (HM, n=13) patients with bipolar disorder (BD) were assessed with neuropsychological tests. These were from eight domains consistent with previous literature; auditory memory, visual memory, processing speed with interference resolution, verbal fluency and processing speed, conceptual reasoning and set-shifting, inhibitory control, emotion processing, and fine motor dexterity. Results Of the eight factor scores, the HC group outperformed the E group in three (Processing Speed with Interference Resolution, Visual Memory, Fine Motor Dexterity), the D group in seven (all except Inhibitory Control), and the HM group in four (Inhibitory Control, Processing Speed with Interference Resolution, Fine Motor Dexterity, and Auditory Memory). Limitations The HM group was relatively small, thus effects of this phase of illness may have been underestimated. Effects of medication could not be fully controlled without a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Conclusions Use of the factor scores can assist in determining ICPs for BD and related disorders, and may provide more specific targets for development of new treatments. We highlight strong ICPs (Processing Speed with Interference Resolution, Visual Memory, Fine Motor Dexterity) for further study, consistent with the existing literature. PMID:19800130

The role of speed versus working memory in predicting learning new information in multiple sclerosis.

PubMed

Chiaravalloti, Nancy D; Stojanovic-Radic, Jelena; DeLuca, John

2013-01-01

The most common cognitive impairments in multiple sclerosis (MS) have been documented in specific domains, including new learning and memory, working memory, and information processing speed. However, little attempt has been made to increase our understanding of their relationship to one another. While recent studies have shown that processing speed impacts new learning and memory abilities in MS, the role of working memory in this relationship has received less attention. The present study examines the relative contribution of impaired working memory versus processing speed in new learning and memory functions in MS. Participants consisted of 51 individuals with clinically definite MS. Participants completed two measures of processing speed, two measures of working memory, and two measures of episodic memory. Data were analyzed via correlational and multiple regression analysis. Results indicate that the variance in new learning abilities in this sample was primarily associated with processing speed, with working memory exerting much less of an influence. Results are discussed in terms of the role of cognitive rehabilitation of new learning and memory abilities in persons with MS.

Spatial Working Memory Interferes with Explicit, but Not Probabilistic Cuing of Spatial Attention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Won, Bo-Yeong; Jiang, Yuhong V.

2015-01-01

Recent empirical and theoretical work has depicted a close relationship between visual attention and visual working memory. For example, rehearsal in spatial working memory depends on spatial attention, whereas adding a secondary spatial working memory task impairs attentional deployment in visual search. These findings have led to the proposal…

Epigenetic mechanisms and memory strength: a comparative study.

PubMed

Federman, Noel; Zalcman, Gisela; de la Fuente, Verónica; Fustiñana, Maria Sol; Romano, Arturo

2014-01-01

Memory consolidation requires de novo mRNA and protein synthesis. Transcriptional activation is controlled by transcription factors, their cofactors and repressors. Cofactors and repressors regulate gene expression by interacting with basal transcription machinery, remodeling chromatin structure and/or chemically modifying histones. Acetylation is the most studied epigenetic mechanism of histones modifications related to gene expression. This process is regulated by histone acetylases (HATs) and histone deacetylases (HDACs). More than 5 years ago, we began a line of research about the role of histone acetylation during memory consolidation. Here we review our work, presenting evidence about the critical role of this epigenetic mechanism during consolidation of context-signal memory in the crab Neohelice granulata, as well as during consolidation of novel object recognition memory in the mouse Mus musculus. Our evidence demonstrates that histone acetylation is a key mechanism in memory consolidation, functioning as a distinctive molecular feature of strong memories. Furthermore, we found that the strength of a memory can be characterized by its persistence or its resistance to extinction. Besides, we found that the role of this epigenetic mechanism regulating gene expression only in the formation of strongest memories is evolutionarily conserved. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.