Why does visual working memory ability improve with age: More objects, more feature detail, or both? A registered report

The multicomponent model of working memory fifty years on

We provide a broad overview of our original investigation of working memory; how the multicomponent model followed from our use of a dissociative methodology; and our intention that it should be simple, robust, and applicable. We describe how subsequent development of the model has increased its scope, depth, and applications while at the same time retaining its core features. Comparisons with the growing number of alternative models suggest agreement on the basic phenomena to be explained and more similarities than differences. While differences between models attract interest, we caution that they do not necessarily reflect the most important issues for future research, which we suggest relate principally to the nature of executive control. The longevity of the multicomponent model reflects not only the importance of working memory in cognition but also the usefulness of a simple, robust framework for further theoretical development and applications.

Focusing Attention to Improve Throwing Skills in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Exploring the Influence of Working Memory

This study is aimed at investigating the impact of internal and external attention focus on learning a throwing skill in children with autism, as well as the relationship between working memory and learning rate. Twenty-four children aged 6-8 years with autism were assigned to internal and external attention groups. Participants performed a throwing task while their working memory was assessed using Cornoldi's working memory test. The data was analyzed using ANOVA with repeated measures involving two attention instructions and five blocks during the acquisition stage. An independent t-test was conducted during the retention phase. Furthermore, a Pearson correlation test was utilized to explore any potential relationship between working memory and performance in both the acquisition and retention stages. Data analysis revealed no significant difference between the internal and external attention groups during the acquisition phase (p > 0.05), but a significant difference was found in the retention phase (p < 0.05). There was no correlation between working memory and learning outcomes (p > 0.05). The results suggest that internal attention may enhance motor learning in children with autism, and reducing working memory load does not necessarily favor external attention.

The development of self-initiated visuo-spatial working memory

Studies on the development of visuo-spatial working memory (VSWM) have focused almost exclusively on memory tasks in which children had no control over the content of the representations they memorized. In contrast, in everyday life children often select the items that they encode in memory. In the current study, we used two modified span tasks to explore the development of this aspect of memory, termed self-initiated (SI) VSWM, in children aged 7 to 10 years. In Experiment 1 participants memorized sequences of spatial locations, whereas in Experiment 2 participants memorized sequences of pictures of real-world objects and the spatial locations of the targets were irrelevant for task performance. In both experiments, participants either selected the targets they memorized themselves or memorized randomly selected targets that were provided to them. Previous studies in adults have shown that efficient processing in the SI condition in both tasks entails the construction of spatially structured representations. The results of the two experiments revealed that children constructed spatially structured representations with short paths between successive locations in the spatial sequences, fewer path crossings, and more linear shapes compared with the provided representations. Self-initiation benefited overall performance, especially in Experiment 1 where the memory task was more demanding. This study shows that 7- to 10-year-old children have access to the metacognitive knowledge on the spatial structure of VSWM and strategically impose structure during encoding to benefit memory performance. More generally, SI VSWM highlights an important aspect of behavior, demonstrating how children shape their environment to facilitate functioning.

Prolonged development of forced-choice recognition when targets are paired with non-corresponding lures

Previous research suggests that mnemonic discrimination (i.e., the ability to discriminate between previously encountered and novel stimuli even when they are highly similar) improves substantially during childhood. To further understand the development of mnemonic discrimination during childhood, the current study had 4-year-old children, 6-year-old children, and young adults complete the forced-choice Mnemonic Similarity Task (MST). The forced-choice MST offers a significant advantage in the context of developmental research because it is not sensitive to age-related differences in response criteria and includes three test formats that are theorized to be supported by different cognitive processes. A target (i.e., a previously encountered item) is paired with either a novel item (A-X), a corresponding lure (A-A'; i.e., an item mnemonically similar to the target), or a non-corresponding lure (A-B'; i.e., an item mnemonically similar to a different previously encoded item). We observed that 4-year-olds performed more poorly than 6-year-olds on the A-X and A-A' test formats, whereas both 4- and 6-year-olds performed more poorly than young adults on the A-B' test format. The MINERVA 2.2 computational model effectively accounted for these age-related differences. The model suggested that 4-year-olds have a lower learning rate (i.e., probability of encoding stimulus features) than 6-year-olds and young adults and that both 4- and 6-year-olds have greater encoding variability than young adults. These findings provide new insight into possible mechanisms underlying memory development during childhood and serve as the basis for multiple avenues of future research.

Stuck on the Last: The Last-Presented Benefit as an Index of Attentional Refreshing in Adolescents

Working memory is a limited-capacity system responsible for maintaining information that is known to dramatically develop throughout childhood and adolescence. Different maintenance mechanisms are proposed to support working memory development, among which is attentional refreshing. Attentional refreshing is assumed to improve the accessibility of working-memory representations by cycling attention from one mental representation to the other, serially. It has been suggested that the efficiency of refreshing increases between the ages of 7 and 14 years old, thereby supporting working memory development. Yet, there is not much research about refreshing in adolescence. Here, we investigate the occurrence of refreshing in 15-year-olds by using a recently-developed index, i.e., the last-presented benefit. Adolescents had to remember a list of four letters and judge whether a subsequent probe letter was present or not in the list. Reaction times to the probe were used to assess the spontaneous occurrence of refreshing. We found that, unlike young adults, 15-year-olds showed consistent speeded responses to probes matching the last-presented memory item, indicating that, in this task, adolescents did not refocus their attention away from the last memory item to initiate refreshing. Implications for working memory functioning and development are discussed.

Aging and feature binding in visual working memory

Older adults have reduced performance in visual working memory tasks in comparison to young adults, but the precipitators of the age-related impairment are not fully understood. The most common interpretation of this difference is that older adults are incapable of maintaining the same amount of object representations as young adults over short intervals (in line with the fixed-slot model of working memory). However, it has remained largely unexplored whether the age-related decline is only due to the number of representations that older individuals can retain in visual working memory, or whether the content of the representation(s) may have an effect as well (in line with the flexible-resource model of working memory). Feature binding studies represent an interesting research line to examine the content of older adults' representations. In this mini-review, we present the main results across feature binding studies in aging, as well as highlight the importance of manipulating both the representation content and number to have a stress test of the various models of working memory and their contribution to aging. Overall, feature binding studies, together with the simultaneous manipulation of set size, will allow us to better understand the nature of the age-related decline of visual working memory.