Working Memory
Working memory (WM) is a limited capacity system which is responsible for simultaneously maintaining and processing information. Reliable individual differences in this capacity place limiting constraints for performing other cognitive activities. Thus, W
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Introduction: Definition, Models, and the Significance of Working Memory Working memory (WM) allows for simultaneously maintaining and processing information in a controlled manner (Baddeley and Hitch 1994). Several competitive theoretical models of WM are existing and are still vividly discussed (Baddeley 2012; Wilhelm et al. 2013; for reviews). Most WM models contributed substantially to our current understanding of WM and largely agree on the basic assumptions that WM capacity is limited and that reliable individual differences in this capacity exist, which place limiting constraints for performing a wide range of other cognitive activities (e.g., Baddeley 2012; Oberauer 2009). In other words, WM is a limited capacity system providing the temporary storage and manipulation of information that is necessary for higher cognitive functioning (e.g., for reasoning; Baddeley 2012). The WM models do, however, significantly differ in the assumptions about the structure of this limited capacity system. We will shortly introduce the main ideas of the models of Oberauer, Baddeley, Miyake, and colleagues because they are particularly helpful for understanding well-known WM training paradigms. Oberauer defines WM as the cognitive system that allows for building, maintaining, and updating structural representations via dynamic bindings (cf. Oberauer 2009; Wilhelm et al. 2013). This WM system consists of two parts: bindings temporarily organize information such as words, objects, or events in a declarative part and connect this information to allowed or inhibited responses in a procedural part
T. Könen (*) • J. Karbach Department of Psychology, Goethe-University Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] T. Strobach Department of Psychology, Medical School Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany e-mail: [email protected] © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 T. Strobach, J. Karbach (eds.), Cognitive Training, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-42662-4_6
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(Oberauer 2009). Baddeley, however, defines WM as a cognitive system with at least three components: the central executive, which is responsible for focusing and dividing attention and for coordinating the information flow between at least two temporary storage systems, one for phonological and one for visuospatial information (Baddeley and Hitch 1994). Miyake emphasizes the special role of WM updating (i.e., monitoring and refreshing information held in WM) as an executive function (Miyake et al. 2000; Karbach and Kray this volume; Strobach and Schubert this volume). Taken together, these WM models differ in the assumed underlying structure of the WM system but agree that it allows for simultaneously maintaining and processing information. Because of this fundamental function, it is not surprising that WM has shown to be a central determinant of fluid intelligence (e.g., Kane et al. 2004), school achievements in various domains (Titz and Karbach 2014), and a large number of other cognitive t
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