Getting more out of working memory: Stacking verbal relational role-bindings

Braverman, Michael Bradley

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/105154 Copy

Description

Title

Getting more out of working memory: Stacking verbal relational role-bindings

Author(s)

Braverman, Michael Bradley

Issue Date

2019-04-03

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Hummel, John E.

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Hummel, John E.

Committee Member(s)

• Dell, Gary S.
• Federmeier, Kara D.
• Brewer, William F.
• Hyde, Daniel C.

Department of Study

Psychology

Discipline

Psychology

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Working memory
• Relational reasoning
• Verbal working memory
• Working memory capacity
• Chunking
• Cognition

Abstract

Working memory (WM) is a finite-capacity cognitive resource that maintains and manipulates the contents of one’s current thoughts. It determines the complexity both of problems one can solve and thoughts one can have. Of central concern is the currency of WM: what kind of information takes up space. Traditional accounts of WM have assumed the currency to be chunks (memory), visual objects (vision), or relational role-bindings (reasoning). Recent findings in visual WM suggest that when a set of items (e.g., a circle and a square) are compared with one or more relations (e.g., larger, left of, above), what takes up space is the set of items rather than the number of relations. Extra relations can be “stacked” onto the existing representation without additional WM cost - the number of relations make no difference. This dissertation explores the currency of verbal WM, specifically, whether the kind of “stacking” observed in visual WM also applies to verbal information.

Graduation Semester

2019-05

Type of Resource

text

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/105154

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2019 Michael Braverman

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