Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research and Everyday Experience, 3rd Edition

144 • CHAPTER 5 Short-Term and Working Memory

Think ABOUT IT

1. Analyze the following in terms of how the various stages
   of the modal model are activated, using Rachel’s pizza-
   ordering experience in Figure 5.3 as a guide: (1) listening
   to a lecture in class, taking notes, or reviewing the notes
   later as you study for an exam; (2) watching a scene in
   a James Bond movie in which Bond captures the female
   enemy agent whom he slept with the night before.


2. Adam has just tested a woman who has brain damage,
   and he is having difficulty understanding the results. She

can’t remember any words from a list when she is tested

immediately after hearing the words, but her memory

gets better when she is tested after a delay. Interestingly

enough, when the woman reads the list herself, she

remembers well at first, so in that case the delay is not

necessary. Can you explain these observations using the

modal model? The working memory model? Can you

think of a new model that might explain this result better

than those two?

If You WANT TO KNOW MORE

1. Physiology of visual working memory. Recent physiologi-
   cal research has studied how long visual information is
   held in working memory, individual differences in visual
   working memory capacity, and where different types of
   stimuli are processed in the brain.

Cowan, N., & Morey, C. C. (2006). Visual working memory

depends on attentional filtering. Trends in Cognitive Sci-

ences, 10, 139–141.

Mecklinger, A., Gruenwald, C., Besson, M., Magnie, M., &

Von Cramon, D. Y. (2002). Separable neuronal circuits for

manipulable and non-manipulable objects in working mem-

ory. Cerebral Cortex, 12, 1115–1123.

Todd, J. J., & Marios, R. (2004). Capacity limit of visual short-

term memory in human posterior parietal cortex. Nature,

428 , 751–754.

2. Working memory and language. Working memory is
   important for many language functions, including read-
   ing ability and second language learning.

Bayliss, D. M., Jarrold, C., Baddeley, A. D., & Leigh, E. (2005).

Differential constraints on the working memory and reading

abilities of individuals with learning difficulties and typically

developing children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychol-

ogy, 92, 76–99.

Perani, D. (2005). The neural basis of language talent in bilin-

guals. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9, 211–213.

3. Cognitive neuroscience of working memory. A special
   issue of the journal Neuroscience contains 35 papers
   that survey current knowledge about the neuroscience
   of working memory. The paper below leads off the
   issue.

Repovs, G., & Bresjanac, M. (2006). Cognitive neuroscience of

working memory. Neuroscience, 139, 1–3.

Key TERMS

Articulatory rehearsal process, 132
Articulatory suppression, 133
Auditory coding, 128
Central executive, 132
Chunk, 126
Chunking, 126
Coding, 128
Control processes, 118
Decay, 124
Delayed partial report method, 122
Delayed-response task, 138
Digit span, 125
Echoic memory, 122
Encoding, 118
Episodic buffer, 136

Iconic memory, 122

Memory, 116

Mental approach to coding, 128

Mental rotation, 135

Modal model of memory, 118

Partial report method, 122

Perseveration, 136

Persistence of vision, 120

Phonological loop, 132

Phonological similarity effect, 133

Phonological store, 132

Physiological approach to coding, 128

Proactive interference (PI), 124

Reading span, 141

Recall test, 123

Rehearsal, 118

Release from proactive interference,

129

Retrieval, 118

Semantic coding, 129

Sensory memory, 120

Short-term memory (STM), 123

Structural features (modal model), 118

Visual coding, 128

Visual icon, 122

Visual imagery, 134

Visuospatial sketch pad, 132

Whole report method, 121

Word length effect, 133

Working memory, 131

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