Loaiza, V.M. orcid.org/0000-0002-5000-7089, Oftinger, A.-L. and Camos, V. orcid.org/0000-0002-4230-2766 (2023) How does working memory promote traces in episodic memory? Journal of Cognition, 6 (1). 4. ISSN 2514-4820
Abstract
A longstanding research question in cognitive psychology concerns how the underlying mechanisms of working memory impact long-term episodic memory. In this series of six experiments, we manipulated three different factors within a complex span task that interleaves memoranda and distractors to investigate the contribution of these factors to the creation of episodic traces: (1) the cognitive load of processing the distractors, (2) the number of distractors, and (3) the free time following the distractors. All three factors have been identified in the prior literature as important to maintenance in working memory and, consequently, later retrieval from episodic memory. Thus, it is important to understand their unique and joint effects to the long-term durability of memory traces. Across six experiments, delayed recall (i.e., episodic memory) of the items studied during the complex span tasks (i.e., working memory) was best accounted for by accumulated free time, whereas the effects of cognitive load and number of distractors were inconsistent or negligible. These results conflict with prior work suggesting that cognitive load and the number of distractors impact episodic memory. However, the current results replicate and extend those suggesting that time spent processing items in working memory promotes the creation of episodic memory traces.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2023 The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. See http:// creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/. |
Keywords: | covert retrieval; episodic memory; refreshing; working memory |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Psychology (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 29 Nov 2023 12:27 |
Last Modified: | 29 Nov 2023 12:27 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Ubiquity Press, Ltd. |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.5334/joc.245 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:205645 |