Working memory (WM) impairment is a core feature of schizophrenia, but the contributions of different WM components are not yet specified. Here, we investigated the potential role of inefficient encoding in reduced WM performance in patients with schizophrenia (PSZ). Twenty-eight PSZ, 16 patients with bipolar disorder (PBP), 16 unaffected and unmedicated relatives of PSZ (REL), and 29 demograph...

In the literature on working memory (WM), a paradox exists according to which very similar memory tasks provide support for very different estimates of working memory capacity. The current paper analyses the conflicting estimates of a capacity of 4+/-1 with a capacity of 1. To this end a dynamic process model of short-term recognition is used to generate data to which exponential speed-accuracy...

The capacity of working memory (WM), a short-term buffer for information in the brain, is limited. We suggest a model for sequential WM that is based upon winnerless competition amongst representations of available informational items. Analytical results for the underlying mathematical model relate WM capacity and relative lateral inhibition in the corresponding neural network. This implies an ...

Working memory predicts children's reading comprehension but it is not clear whether this relation is due to a modality-specific or general working memory. This study, which investigated the relations between children's reading skills and working memory (WM) abilities in 3 modalities, extends previous work by including measures of both reading comprehension and reading accuracy. Tests of word r...

Abstract While anecdotal evidence suggests that music may facilitate verbal memory, empirical for this is less clear. Here, we examined whether learners’ characteristics such as age, working memory (WM), and musical training influence the effect of on word learning. Young older adults learned novel word-referent mappings presented in three conditions (spoken presence background music, sung in-k...

Working memory (WM) refers to mental processes that enable temporary retention and manipulation of information, including information about other people ("social working memory"). Previous studies have demonstrated that nonsocial WM is supported by dopamine neurotransmission. Here, we investigated in 131 healthy adults whether dopamine is similarly involved in social WM by testing whether socia...

Abstract The current experiments investigated the long-term advantage for words studied during complex span versus simple span, i.e., McCabe effect. According to covert retrieval account, effect occurs because affords opportunities that facilitate episodic memory (EM). Conversely, time-in-working-memory (WM) hypothesis asserts time items spend in WM predicts EM, irrespective of any opportunity ...

Schizophrenia is associated with deficits in working memory (WM) and executive functioning (EF) that are present from prodrome to chronic stages of the disease and are related to social and occupational functioning. Recent empirical findings suggest that schizophrenia patients might suffer from a specific speed deficit regarding WM operations that also affects EF. To test this hypothesis, execu...

OBJECTIVE Low working memory (WM) is strongly linked with poor academic outcomes. WM capacity increases across childhood but how exposure to school is associated with WM development is not known. We aimed to determine extent to which chronological age and schooling duration are associated with WM at the population level. METHODS In 2012, children in Grade 1 (the second year of formal schoolin...

Effects of mental demands on searchers were examined by controlling tasks complexity and by assessing searchers’ working memory span (WM). The searchers were divided into low and high WM group. We expected that on more complex tasks all searchers would perform more searches to find more information. However, only high-WM searchers performed more search actions. Low-WM searchers performed about ...