The proportion of working memory items recoverable from long-term memory remains fixed despite adult aging

Does value-based prioritization at working memory enhance long-term memory?

Research has demonstrated that individuals can direct their attention to valuable information in both working memory and long-term memory tasks with observable effects on performance. However, it is currently unclear whether prioritising an item for a working memory task automatically translates into a boost at long-term memory. This was examined in two experiments using relatively short (250 ms per item; Experiment 1) and longer (500 ms per item; Experiment 2) encoding times. Participants first completed a visual working memory task, in which they were presented with series of photographs of everyday objects. Following a brief delay (1,000 ms), they completed a four-alternative forced-choice test. Prior to encoding, participants were informed of the point values associated with each item. In some trials, the first item in the sequence was worth more points than the rest. In other trials, all items were equally valuable. After a filled delay, participants completed a surprise long-term memory task. At working memory, a value effect was reliably observed on recognition accuracy, along with some evidence of faster response times for high-value items. However, there was little consistent evidence of this effect automatically persisting into long-term memory. Thus, the benefits of attentional prioritization in working memory do not always translate into longer-term performance. More broadly, this provides further evidence that manipulations that enhance working memory performance do not necessarily enhance long-term memory.

The Relation Between Attention and Memory

The relation between attention and memory has long been deemed important for understanding cognition, and it was heavily researched even in the first experimental psychology laboratory by Wilhelm Wundt and his colleagues. Since then, the importance of the relation between attention and memory has been explored in myriad subdisciplines of psychology, and we incorporate a wide range of these diverse fields. Here, we examine some of the practical consequences of this relation and summarize work with various methodologies relating attention to memory in the fields of working memory, long-term memory, individual differences, life-span development, typical brain function, and neuropsychological conditions. We point out strengths and unanswered questions for our own embedded processes view of information processing, which is used to organize a large body of evidence. Last, we briefly consider the relation of the evidence to a range of other theoretical views before drawing conclusions about the state of the field.

Are latent working memory items retrieved from long-term memory?

Switching one's focus of attention between to-be-remembered items in working memory (WM) is critical for cognition, but the mechanisms by which this is accomplished are unclear. A long-term memory (LTM) account suggests that switching attention away from an item, and passively retaining and reactivating such "latent" items back into the focus of attention involves episodic LTM retrieval processes, even for delays of only a few seconds. We tested this hypothesis using a two-item, double-retrocue WM task that requires participants to switch attention away from and reactivate items followed by subsequent LTM tests for reactivated items from the initial WM task (vs. continuously retained or untested control items). We compared performance on these tests between older adults (a population with LTM deficits) and young adults with either full (Experiment 1) or divided (Experiment 2) attention during the WM delay periods. The effects of reactivating latent items, as well as ageing and divided attention, had significant effects on WM performance, but did not interact with or systematically affect subsequent LTM for reactivated versus control items on item-, location-, or associative-recognition memory judgements made with either high or low confidence. Experiment 3 confirmed that these effects did not depend on whether or not young participants were warned about the subsequent LTM tests before performing the WM task. These dissociations between WM and LTM are inconsistent with the LTM account of latent WM; they are more consistent with the dynamic processing model of WM (Current Directions in Psychological Science).

Working Memory Constrains Long-Term Memory in Children and Adults: Memory of Objects and Bindings

We explored how individual and age-related differences in working memory (WM) capacity affected subsequent long-term memory (LTM) retrieval. Unlike past studies, we tested WM and LTM not only for items, but also for item-color bindings. Our sample included 82 elementary school children and 42 young adults. The participants performed a WM task with images of unique everyday items presented sequentially at varying set sizes in different colors. Later, we tested LTM for items and item-color bindings from the WM task. The WM load during encoding constrained LTM, and participants with a higher WM capacity retrieved more items in the LTM test. Even when accounting for young children's poor item memory by considering only the items that they did remember, they exhibited an exacerbated difficulty with remembering item-color bindings in WM. Their LTM binding performance, however, as a proportion of remembered objects, was comparable to that of older children and adults. The WM binding performance was better during sub-span encoding loads, but with no clear transfer of this benefit to LTM. Overall, LTM item memory performance was constrained by individual and age-related WM limitations, but with mixed consequences for binding. We discuss the theoretical, practical, and developmental implications of this WM-to-LTM bottleneck.

The Relationship between Short- and Long-Term Memory Is Preserved across the Age Range

Both short- and long-term memories decline with healthy ageing. The aims of the current study were twofold: firstly, to build on previous studies and investigate the presence of a relationship between short- and long-term memories and, secondly, to examine cross-sectionally whether there are changes in this relationship with age. In two experiments, participants across the age range were tested on contextual-spatial memories after short and long memory durations. Experimental control in stimulus materials and task demands enabled the analogous encoding and probing for both memory durations, allowing us to examine the relationship between the two memory systems. Across two experiments, in line with previous studies, we found both short-term memory and long-term memory declined from early to late adulthood. Additionally, there was a significant relationship between short- and long-term memory performance, which, interestingly, persisted throughout the age range. Our findings suggest a significant degree of common vulnerability to healthy ageing for short- and long-term memories sharing the same spatial-contextual associations. Furthermore, our tasks provide a sensitive and promising framework for assessing and comparing memory function at different timescales in disorders with memory deficits at their core.