Aging and Working Memory Inside and Outside the Focus of Attention: Dissociations of Availability and Accessibility

Vaughan, L. C.; Basak, Chandramallika; Hartman, Marilyn; Verhaeghen, Paul

doi:10.1080/13825580802061645

Cited by 43 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…This suggests, as we have argued previously (e.g., Vaughan et al, 2008) that there is a specific age-related deficit associated with focus switching, that is, with the processes associated with encoding, maintaining, and/or retrieving items from outside focus of attention. Note that this bifurcation goes against one hypothesis derived from an inhibition account of cognitive aging, which would predict that age-related differences would be larger in 1-back tasks compared to 0-back tasks.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 52%

“…In our aging work, we have consistently found small or no age-related differences in accuracy on 1-back tasks, coupled with large and significant differences when n > 1 (Vaughan, Basak, Hartman, & Verhaeghen, 2008;Verhaeghen, 2012;Verhaeghen & Basak, 2005;Verhaeghen, Geigerman, Yang, Montoya, & Rahnev, XXXX;Zhang, Verhaeghen, & Cerella, 2012). This suggests a bifurcation where age-related differences only appear when the task involves a focus switch, that is, when the memoranda are stored outside the focus of attention, into the activated part of long-term memory.…”

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confidence: 89%

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Aging and n-Back Performance: A Meta-Analysis

Bopp

Verhaeghen

2018

The Journals of Gerontology: Series B

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Objectives: To provide a systematic review of age-related differences in n-back performance. Method: Meta-analytic data aggregation. Results: Access for items stored within the focus of attention (0-back and 1-back) was very fast and quasi-perfect; when items are held outside the focus (n > 1), an additional cost was accrued in both accuracy and response time. Age-related differences in accuracy conformed to this bifurcation. Longer lists led to larger costs when going from 1-back to 2-back in older adults. For 1-back accuracy, studies that used visual (as opposed to verbal) stimuli, were experimenter-paced, and used shorter list lengths led to larger age-related differences; for 2-back accuracy, a larger difference in chronological age, visual stimuli, and a higher target proportion led to larger age-related differences. For 1-back response times, age-related differences were larger for studies that had a larger chronological age difference, used experimenter pacing, did not contain lures, and used shorter list lengths; for 2-back response times, age-related differences were larger for studies with larger chronological age differences, visual presentation, experimenter pacing, and a higher target proportion. Discussion: The results suggest a specific age-related deficit associated with focus switching within working memory. Evidence for specific executive-control-related explanations, in contrast, is mixed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 52%

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confidence: 89%

Aging and n-Back Performance: A Meta-Analysis

Bopp

Verhaeghen

2018

The Journals of Gerontology: Series B

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“…Using a speed-accuracy tradeoff procedure, McElree found that access times were distinctly faster for N = 1 than for either N = 2 or N = 3. This result has been replicated in a simpler latency version of the N -back (Vaughan, Basak, Hartman, & Verhaeghen, 2008; Verhaeghen & Basak, 2005; Verhaeghen et al, 2004; Zhang & Verhaeghen, 2009). Second, Oberauer (2002, 2006) utilised a working memory updating task in which a set of single-digit numbers stored in working memory had to be updated one by one using simple arithmetic operations.…”

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confidence: 72%

Three layers of working memory: Focus-switch costs and retrieval dynamics as revealed by theN-count task

Basak

Verhaeghen

2011

Journal of Cognitive Psychology

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Two experiments explored the process of switching items in and out of the focus of attention using a new paradigm, the N count task (adapted from Garavan, 1998; N varied from 1 to 4). This task yielded a focus size of one, indicated by a substantial focus switch cost for 2 count. Additionally, the focus switch costs in response time increased with working memory load, indicating an effortful search process occurring at a speed of about 240 ms/item. Maintaining and switching to and from a passive load did not increase the focus switch costs or decrease memory accuracy, indicating that there is no crosstalk between passive and active items. The results support a concentric theory of working memory: a small focus at its core, a surrounding area of (at least) three readily available items referred to as the outer store, and a still wider region of passive storage, possibly more long term memory than working memory.

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“…Moreover, both reaction time (RT) and accuracy can be measured. As noted, the n-task was found to be sensitive to aging effects, including decline in both processing speed and WM load capacity (Mattay et al, 2006;Nyberg et al, 2009;Van Gerven et al, 2008;Verhaeghen & Besak, 2005;Vaughan et al, 2008). Importantly for our purposes, the n-back task has also been validated in electrophysiological paradigms by examining the P3 ERP component.…”

Section: Av Speech and Wmmentioning

confidence: 84%

ERP evidence that auditory–visual speech facilitates working memory in younger and older adults.

Frtusova¹,

Winneke²,

Phillips³

2013

Psychology and Aging

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Auditory-visual (AV) speech enhances speech perception and facilitates auditory processing, as measured by event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Considering a perspective of shared resources between perceptual and cognitive processes, facilitated speech perception may render more resources available for higher-order functions. This study examined whether AV speech facilitation leads to better working memory (WM) performance in 23 younger and 20 older adults. Participants completed an n-back task (0- to 3-back) under visual-only (V-only), auditory-only (A-only), and AV conditions. The results showed faster responses across all memory loads and improved accuracy in the most demanding conditions (2- and 3-back) during AV compared with unisensory conditions. Older adults benefited from the AV presentation to the same extent as younger adults. WM performance of older adults during the AV presentation did not differ from that of younger adults in the A-only condition, suggesting that an AV presentation can help to counteract some of the age-related WM decline. The ERPs showed a decrease in the auditory N1 amplitude during the AV compared with A-only presentation in older adults, suggesting that the facilitation of perceptual processing becomes especially beneficial with aging. Additionally, the N1 occurred earlier in the AV than in the A-only condition for both age groups. These AV-induced modulations of auditory processing correlated with improvement in certain behavioral and ERP measures of WM. These results support an integrated model between perception and cognition, and suggest that processing speech under AV conditions enhances WM performance of both younger and older adults.

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Aging and Working Memory Inside and Outside the Focus of Attention: Dissociations of Availability and Accessibility

Cited by 43 publications

References 36 publications

Aging and n-Back Performance: A Meta-Analysis

Aging and n-Back Performance: A Meta-Analysis

Three layers of working memory: Focus-switch costs and retrieval dynamics as revealed by theN-count task

ERP evidence that auditory–visual speech facilitates working memory in younger and older adults.

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