Decay or Interference in Working Memory 1 Time - Related Decay or Interference - Based Forgetting in Working Memory ?

176 words) The Time-Based Resource-Sharing model of working memory assumes that memory traces suffer from a time-related decay when attention is occupied by concurrent activities. Using complex continuous span tasks in which temporal parameters are carefully controlled, Barrouillet et al. (2007) recently provided evidence that any increase in time of the processing component of these tasks results in lower recall performance. However, Oberauer and Kliegl (2006) pointed out that, in this paradigm, increased processing times are accompanied by a corollary decrease of the remaining time during which attention is available to refresh memory traces. As a consequence, the main determinant of recall performance in complex span task would not be the duration of attentional capture inducing time-related decay as Barrouillet et al. (2007) claimed, but the time available to repair memory traces, thus compatible with an interference account of forgetting. We demonstrate here that even when the time available to refresh memory traces is kept constant, increasing the processing time still results in poorer recall, confirming that time-related decay is the source of forgetting within working memory.