Biomaterial Database

Systematic differences in visual working memory performance are not caused by differences in working memory storage. 2023

Michael S Pratte, and Marshall L Green

Department of Psychology.

People vary in their performance on visual working memory tasks, and these individual differences covary with a wide range of higher-level cognitive processes including fluid intelligence. Performance also varies across study displays, purportedly driven by both low- and higher-level processes. Understanding what causes these sources of systematic variability has been crucial for developing theories of working memory. However, here we find that all such variability in performance on a test of visual working memory can be accounted for by concurrent variability in visual iconic memory: A person with relatively high working memory capacity will have high iconic memory capacity, and a particularly easy working memory display will also be easy under iconic memory conditions. These results are supported by a nonparametric factor analysis and hierarchical Bayesian model comparison. In a second experiment the relationship between iconic and working memory holds even when they are measured with substantially different experimental paradigms, and a third experiment suggests that the relationship between tests of iconic and working memory is driven by mechanisms other than iconic or working memory storage, such as variation in perceptual or attentional processes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008569	Memory Disorders	Disturbances in registering an impression, in the retention of an acquired impression, or in the recall of an impression. Memory impairments are associated with DEMENTIA; CRANIOCEREBRAL TRAUMA; ENCEPHALITIS; ALCOHOLISM (see also ALCOHOL AMNESTIC DISORDER); SCHIZOPHRENIA; and other conditions.	Memory Loss,Age-Related Memory Disorders,Memory Deficits,Memory Disorder, Semantic,Memory Disorder, Spatial,Memory Disorders, Age-Related,Retention Disorders, Cognitive,Semantic Memory Disorder,Spatial Memory Disorder,Age Related Memory Disorders,Age-Related Memory Disorder,Cognitive Retention Disorder,Cognitive Retention Disorders,Deficit, Memory,Deficits, Memory,Memory Deficit,Memory Disorder,Memory Disorder, Age-Related,Memory Disorders, Age Related,Memory Disorders, Semantic,Memory Disorders, Spatial,Memory Losses,Retention Disorder, Cognitive,Semantic Memory Disorders,Spatial Memory Disorders
D008570	Memory, Short-Term	Remembrance of information for a few seconds to hours.	Immediate Recall,Memory, Immediate,Working Memory,Memory, Shortterm,Immediate Memories,Immediate Memory,Immediate Recalls,Memories, Immediate,Memories, Short-Term,Memories, Shortterm,Memory, Short Term,Recall, Immediate,Recalls, Immediate,Short-Term Memories,Short-Term Memory,Shortterm Memories,Shortterm Memory,Working Memories
D003071	Cognition	Intellectual or mental process whereby an organism obtains knowledge.	Cognitive Function,Cognitions,Cognitive Functions,Function, Cognitive,Functions, Cognitive
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D001288	Attention	Focusing on certain aspects of current experience to the exclusion of others. It is the act of heeding or taking notice or concentrating.	Focus of Attention,Selective Attention,Social Attention,Attention Focus,Attention, Selective,Attention, Social,Selective Attentions
D001499	Bayes Theorem	A theorem in probability theory named for Thomas Bayes (1702-1761). In epidemiology, it is used to obtain the probability of disease in a group of people with some characteristic on the basis of the overall rate of that disease and of the likelihood of that characteristic in healthy and diseased individuals. The most familiar application is in clinical decision analysis where it is used for estimating the probability of a particular diagnosis given the appearance of some symptoms or test result.	Bayesian Analysis,Bayesian Estimation,Bayesian Forecast,Bayesian Method,Bayesian Prediction,Analysis, Bayesian,Bayesian Approach,Approach, Bayesian,Approachs, Bayesian,Bayesian Approachs,Estimation, Bayesian,Forecast, Bayesian,Method, Bayesian,Prediction, Bayesian,Theorem, Bayes
D014796	Visual Perception	The selecting and organizing of visual stimuli based on the individual's past experience.	Visual Processing,Perception, Visual,Processing, Visual