Complex working memory span tasks and higher-order cognition: A latent-variable analysis of the relationship between processing and storage

Unsworth, Nash; Redick, Thomas S.; Heitz, Richard P.; Broadway, James M.; Engle, Randall W.

doi:10.1080/09658210902998047

Cited by 379 publications

(410 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…The tasks were taken from Unsworth et al (2009) and translated into German. We measured working memory capacity using the partial credit score (the sum of all items recalled in the correct position over all trials) as the dependent variable (Conway et al, 2005).…”

Section: Automated Working Memory Span Tasksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pillars of judgment: How memory abilities affect performance in rule-based and exemplar-based judgments.

Hoffmann

Helversen

Rieskamp

2014

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

108

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Making accurate judgments is an essential skill in everyday life. Although how different memory abilities relate to categorization and judgment processes has been hotly debated, the question is far from resolved. We contribute to the solution by investigating how individual differences in memory abilities affect judgment performance in 2 tasks that induced rule-based or exemplar-based judgment strategies. In a study with 279 participants, we investigated how working memory and episodic memory affect judgment accuracy and strategy use. As predicted, participants switched strategies between tasks. Furthermore, structural equation modeling showed that the ability to solve rule-based tasks was predicted by working memory, whereas episodic memory predicted judgment accuracy in the exemplar-based task. Last, the probability of choosing an exemplar-based strategy was related to better episodic memory, but strategy selection was unrelated to working memory capacity. In sum, our results suggest that different memory abilities are essential for successfully adopting different judgment strategies.

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Section: Automated Working Memory Span Tasksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pillars of judgment: How memory abilities affect performance in rule-based and exemplar-based judgments.

Hoffmann

Helversen

Rieskamp

2014

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

108

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“…Temnikova 2010). An automatic reading span task (Unsworth et al 2005(Unsworth et al , 2009) was used to measure working memory capacity in the study. The French test, in turn, involved identifying real French words among plausible non-words (Meara and Buxton 1987), a type of task that is deemed reliable for linguistic placement purposes (cf.…”

Section: Post-editing Taskmentioning

confidence: 99%

How do measures of cognitive effort relate to each other? A multivariate analysis of post-editing process data

Vieira

2016

Machine Translation

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There has been growing interest of late in the cognitive effort required by post-editing of machine translation. Compared to number of editing operations, cognitive (or mental) effort is frequently considered a more decisive indicator of the overall effort expended by post-editors. Estimating cognitive effort is not straightforward, however. Previous studies often triangulate different measures to obtain a consensus, but little post-editing research to date has attempted to show how measures of cognitive effort relate to each other in a multivariate analysis. This paper addresses this by presenting an exploratory comparison of cognitive measures based on eye tracking, pauses, editing time, and subjective ratings collected in a post-editing task carried out by professional and non-professional participants. All measures correlated with each other, but a principal components analysis showed that the measures cluster together in different ways. In particular, measures that increase with task time alone behaved differently from the others, with higher mutual associations and higher reliability. Regarding differences between professional and non-professional participants, it was observed that subjective ratings were overall more strongly associated with objective measures in the case of professionals. Surprising findings from previous research based on pause ratio are discussed. The paper argues that a pause typology will benefit the study of pause lengths and cognitive effort in post-editing.

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“…Working memory is involved in high-level thinking processes such as comprehension, reasoning, problem solving and the use of language (Unsworth et al, 2009). It integrates acoustic and visual information, organises it meaningfully, and links new information to existing knowledge in long-term memory (Sternberg, 2006).…”

Section: Involvement Of the Human Mind In Programmingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Working memory refers to the temporary storage and maintenance of information required in various types of cognitive and complex tasks (Klingberg, 2010;Unsworth, Redick, Heitz, Broadway & Engle, 2009). Working memory is involved in high-level thinking processes such as comprehension, reasoning, problem solving and the use of language (Unsworth et al, 2009).…”

Section: Involvement Of the Human Mind In Programmingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Thinking processes used by high-performing students in a computer programming task

Havenga

Villiers

Mentz

2011

TDSA

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Computer programmers must be able to understand programming source code and write programs that execute complex tasks to solve real-world problems. This article is a transdisciplinary study at the intersection of computer programming, education and psychology. It outlines the role of mental processes in the process of programming and indicates how successful thinking processes can support computer science students in writing correct and well-defined programs. A mixed methods approach was used to better understand the thinking activities and programming processes of participating students. Data collection involved both computer programs and students' reflective thinking processes recorded in their journals. This enabled analysis of psychological dimensions of participants' thinking processes and their problem-solving activities as they considered a programming problem. Findings indicate that the cognitive, reflective and psychological processes used by high-performing programmers contributed to their success in solving a complex programming problem. Based on the thinking processes of high performers, we propose a model of integrated thinking processes, which can support computer programming students. Keywords:Computer programming, education, mixed methods research, thinking processes. Disciplines:Computer programming, education, psychology. IntroductionThe research described in this article lies at the intersection of computer programming, education and psychology. It is an inter-disciplinary study that investigates how the thinking processes and strategies used by high-performing student programmers foster the development of correct computer programs.The primary aim of a computer programmer is to write correct, high quality computer programs that solve real-world problems effectively and efficiently. A computer program is a human artefact comprising language-specific rules, formulated in the so-called source code of a particular programming language. This coded language communicates functionality that the computer hardware can 'understand'. By 'syntax' of a program, we refer to expressions, statements and program units, whereas 'semantics' refer to the meaning of those expressions, statements and program units (Sebesta, 2008). Syntax and semantics are closely related, and the specific way in which programming

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Complex working memory span tasks and higher-order cognition: A latent-variable analysis of the relationship between processing and storage

Cited by 379 publications

References 57 publications

Pillars of judgment: How memory abilities affect performance in rule-based and exemplar-based judgments.

Pillars of judgment: How memory abilities affect performance in rule-based and exemplar-based judgments.

How do measures of cognitive effort relate to each other? A multivariate analysis of post-editing process data

Thinking processes used by high-performing students in a computer programming task

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