The components of working memory updating: An experimental decomposition and individual differences.

Abstract

Working memory updating (WMU) has been identified as a cognitive function of prime importance for everyday tasks and has also been found to be a significant predictor of higher mental abilities. Yet, little is known about the constituent processes of WMU. We suggest that operations required in a typical WMU task can be decomposed into 3 major component processes: retrieval, transformation, and substitution. We report a large-scale experiment that instantiated all possible combinations of those 3 component processes. Results show that the 3 components make independent contributions to updating performance. We additionally present structural equation models that link WMU task performance and working memory capacity (WMC) measures. These feature the methodological advancement of estimating interindividual covariation and experimental effects on mean updating measures simultaneously. The modeling results imply that WMC is a strong predictor of WMU skills in general, although some component processes-in particular, substitution skills-were independent of WMC. Hence, the reported predictive power ofWMUmeasures may rely largely on common WM functions also measured in typical WMC tasks, although substitution skills may make an independent contribution to predicting higher mental abilities.

Removal of information from working memory

“…In Ecker et al (2010), we found that repeating (i.e., maintaining) an item during an updating task carries a benefit of nearly 400 ms. Experiment 1 tested the idea that this benefit should diminish when people are given the opportunity to remove outdated information before encoding the (identical) updated item.…”

“…In a recent individual-differences study, we identified a processing component that was independent of general WM capacity and unique to situations that demanded WM updating (Ecker, Lewandowsky, Oberauer, & Chee, 2010). In that study we analyzed the processing components involved in widely used WM updating tasks, and we identified three separable components: retrieval, transformation, and substitution.…”

“…In Ecker et al (2010), we suggested that information substitution can be further subdivided into the removal of outdated information and the encoding of new information. As encoding is a simple and generic operation involved in many cognitive tasks, we argue that it is the removal process that lies at the heart of memory updating.…”

Response suppression contributes to recency in serial recall

“…An important role for similar mechanisms that remove or control unwanted information has been repeatedly identified in research on working memory and episodic memory. For example, paradigms such as working memory updating (Ecker, Lewandowsky, Oberauer, & Chee, 2010;Morris & Jones, 1990;Oberauer & Vockenberg, 2009) arguably require the ability to inhibit information that was previously relevant, and the directed-forgetting paradigm points to a process of active forgetting of information that is identified as irrelevant (Fawcett & Taylor, 2008). Response suppression can be seen as serving a similar process of suppressing irrelevant information, but where the act of recall itself renders information no longer relevant (at least, within a single recall attempt).…”

Role of Working Memory Updating and Working Memory Capacity in Moderating the Relationship between Impulsivity with Propensity of Risk Taking Behaviors and Decision Making in Boy Adolescents

“…According to study on literature review at this area, few studies have examined moderator role of working memory in relationship between impulsivity and alcohol involvement and perceived that working memory capacity moderates the relationship between impulsivity and alcohol involvement; further they have not found any moderator effect in use of working memory updating (Ecker, Lewandowsky, Oberauer, & Chee, 2012). Further, concurrent attention to role of executive functions regarding recent theories which have put emphasis on role of working memory capacity as a static process and updating working memory as a dynamic process in forecasting risky behaviors is another orientation in the present study (Ecker, Lewandowsky, Oberauer, & Chee, 2010).…”