Browsing by Subject "Working memory"

Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Associated Correlates of Social Comparison Threat to Working Memory Capacity
    (2018) Peper, Philip E
    Social comparison, whether upward or downward, can cause consequences that hinder working memory performance. The present study aimed to illuminate possible moderators and mediators of the threatening effect of social comparison on working memory capacity. No significant group differences were found, so moderation and mediation analyses were not conducted. However, across comparison groups, exploratory analyses revealed negative affect and peak sympathetic nervous system arousal both negatively and significantly predicted working memory performance. Greater research is needed to determine whether these variables mediate the phenomenon and discover whom is most susceptible to detriments.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Auditory Working Memory in Individuals with Traumatic Brain Injury
    (2009-12) Baumgarten, Krystle Shane
    Thirteen adult survivors of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and 10 healthy controls completed three working memory (WM) tasks: an auditory verbal n-back task, a listening span task, and a digit span task. The n-back task required that participants manually respond to previously specified types of matches located within strings of letters. In the listening span task, participants listened to sets of sentences during which they made true/false judgments, while at the same time maintaining the final word from each sentence in their working memory. The digit span task involved the recall of increasingly longer strings of numbers in either forward or backward order. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used when there were both between- and within-group comparisons, whereas simple group comparisons were made in the absence of within-group variables. In all tasks, participants demonstrated lower working memory scores as the tasks increased in length or difficulty. Participants with TBI made more errors on the listening span task, but did not perform worse on the n-back or digit span tasks compared to controls. Strong correlations were obtained between the n-back task scores and digit span backward scores within the TBI group whereas a moderate correlation was determined between the listening span task and digit span backward. Strong correlations were also found between predicted verbal IQ scores, verbal fluency scores, and errors on the listening span task, suggesting that pre-injury vocabulary and post-injury word retrieval are related to this WM task, which involves language. The clinical significance of these results is discussed.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Does the delivery format in which a message is communicated matter?: how consumers process alternative types of sensory data in working memory.
    (2012-06) Nelson, Noelle M.
    Marketers often present the same information about a product in different media that employ alternative delivery formats (e.g., magazines often deliver information in a text format and radio in an audio format). However, little is known about how these different formats affect consumers' processing and assessments of the product information. Across two chapters containing four studies, I show that the format that will better accomplish one's objectives depends on whether the language employed in a message is image-evoking or primarily semantic. Due to limits of the resource pools that fuel two separate working memory pathways, information typically is better retained when messages draw on both, rather than only one, resource pool. Strategically selecting the format (text or audio) and language (image-evoking or semantic) of the message can accomplish this. Further, because information retention can mediate perceptions of the product, variation of these two factors can also influence both product perceptions and assessments. Finally, expanding working memory capacity provides additional insights into how working memory processes affect product assessments, producing outcomes that are the reverse of those observed in the first three studies.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The effects of questioning during and after reading on inference generation between skilled and less-skilled comprehenders.
    (2011-09) Carlson, Sarah Elizabeth
    Reading comprehension involves several cognitive factors during and after reading and differs between readers with different comprehension skills. The purpose of this study was to examine cognitive factors, specifically inference generation, during and after reading between skilled and less-skilled comprehenders. Additionally, other cognitive factors may influence skilled and less-skilled comprehenders' inference generation, and working memory (WM) may be a potential factor. A review of the adult-focused and children-focused literature for the research and theories in inference generation, WM, and comprehension skill are presented. Participants in this study included 61 third- through fifth-grade skilled and less-skilled comprehenders. Inference generation was examined during and after reading using a causal questioning technique and sentence verification task (SVT). Responses from recall were also collected to assess comprehension of the texts used in this study, and WM was examined as a moderator variable. Overall, there was an effect of questioning on some types of inferences generated and recall for skilled and less-skilled comprehenders, and WM appeared to moderate inference generation for skilled-comprehenders; however, there was no effect of type of comprehender on SVT responses. These findings are discussed in terms of maintaining local and global coherence during and after reading in order to develop a coherent representation of a text; updating after reading; and the role of WM during inference generation between skilled and less-skilled comprehenders.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Emotion Regulation and Spatial Memory
    (2018-04-10) Sewon, Oh
    The emotion and memory has been studied for a long time, but the emotion was mostly induced before their main memory task and the relationship between emotion regulation and spatial memory was rarely studied. We conducted one hour experiment with university students for last one semester and analyzed using Excel 2016 in the correlation between emotion regulation self-report measures and spatial memory task accuracy. DERS supported our hypothesis weakly but ACS didn’t show the similar flow.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The influence of prereading and recall instructions on attention and memory for scientific seductive text.
    (2011-09) Mensink, Michael Craig
    The question of how interesting but irrelevant textual information (i.e., seductive details) in a multi-topic scientific text influences the processes and products of comprehension was explored in three experiments. In Experiment 1, participants read a multi-topic informational text on lightning and tornado formation and rated each sentence for importance and interest. In Experiment 2, participants read the text with or without seductive details and completed a free recall. Participants who received the seductive details version of the text demonstrated a seductive details effect (e.g., Harp & Mayer, 1998; Peshkam, Mensink, Putnam, & Rapp, 2011), in which they recalled significantly less important information compared to controls. In Experiment 3, participants read the seductive details version of the text while wearing a head-mounted eye tracker. Prior to reading the text, participants also received prereading questions designed to focus their attention on one topic (e.g., lightning formation) over the other (e.g., tornado formation). In addition, participants completed a test of their working memory capacity (WMC) in the form of a reading span test (RSPAN), and recieved either a general instruction to freely recall the text or two specific recall instructions for each topic. In terms of online processes, the results indicated that participants allocated additional attention to information introduced by the prereading instructions, in the form of increased reinspections and look-backs. However, attention to seductive details was not reduced by these instructions. In terms of offline products, participants recalled significantly more information from the text that was introduced by the prereading instructions, compared to information that was not mentioned in those instructions. Seductive details were also well recalled for participants receiving free recall instructions. Yet, production of seductive details was significantly reduced when participants received specific recall instructions. In addition, participants with high working memory capacities also produced significantly less seductive content as compared to participants with low working memory capacities. These findings suggest that although seductive details are irresistibly alluring during comprehension, that allure might not be similarly demonstrated upon recall-driven reflection.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    NMDA receptors underlie stress-induced dynamic changes in prefrontal cortical networks: plasticity and function.
    (2011-01) Parent, Marc-Alexander L.T.
    The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is a region in the frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex necessary for the proper execution of cognitive behaviors such as attention, memory, and the ordering of actions to accomplish a task. In rodents, lesions of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) impact visiospatial working-memory (vsWM) functions. Neurons in the cerebral cortex are typically silent in alert animals but can become persistently active when brain networks engage them to participate in computations necessary to accomplish a task. During vsWM tasks, neurons in mPFC become persistently active for the delay period of a WM task. The persistent activation of neurons in mPFC by local networks during the delay period of a working memory task in vivo has been suggested to represent a basic neural substrate for maintenance of an internal representation. Stress can alter the performance of animals attempting working memory tasks, and its effects are dynamic over the span of days following a single exposure. Immediately following stress, vsWM is negatively affected and performance on a vsWM task is hindered, while four to twenty-four hours following exposure to stress, vsWM is enhanced. It has been hypothesized that plasticity in local mPFC glutamatergic networks in vivo, driven by stress-response mediators, alters AMPA- and NMDA-mediated neurotransmission as a function of the number of stress exposures and that this plasticity affects persistent, network-driven activity. A previous study has shown that both AMPA- and NMDA-mediated neurotransmission are upregulated twenty-four hours after exposure to mild FS stress (Yuen et al., 2009). The following doctoral thesis supports this conclusion and extends this work to quantify the effects of multiple stress exposures, over several days, on mPFC plasticity and describes a correlation between enhanced glutamatergic synaptic drive and changes in persistent activity. In animals exposed to multiple days of ten-minute, forced-swim stress, NMDA-mediated glutamatergic neurotransmission was upregulated relative to unstressed, naïve animals while AMPA-mediated neurotransmission and intrinsic cellular phenomena remained unaffected. Close examination of isolated NMDA currents from neurons in three-day stressed mice revealed a decrease in the decay rate of these currents relative to naive animals. This augmentation of NMDA-ergic tone yields greater charge entry that could potentially increase the impact of synaptic drive on neuronal activity as well as enhance synaptic integration. The upregulation of NMDA-mediated neurotransmission in three-day stressed animals was found to occur via the upregulation of the NR2B subunits at synaptic NMDA receptors. Together, a decrease in NMDA current decay rate via inclusion of NR2B subunits and the lack of evidence for stress-induced AMPA current modulation resulted in an increase in NMDA-to-AMPA ratio (NAR) at synaptic mPFC networks. These observed changes in glutamatergic neurotransmission, after a single or multiple exposures to forced swim, are paralleled by changes in persistent activity. Individual PA events were recorded from naïve, one-day and three-day stressed mice. PA events recorded from both stressed groups were increased in duration relative to naïve animals. These data support the conclusion that stress regulates glutamatergic neurotransmission in the mPFC, affecting the ability of neurons to remain persistently active.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The neuroscience of active learning and direct instruction
    (Elsevier, 2024-05-23) Dubinsky, Janet M; Hamid, Arif A
    Throughout the educational system, students experiencing active learning pedagogy perform better and fail less than those taught through direct instruction. Can this be ascribed to differences in learning from a neuroscientific perspective? This review examines mechanistic, neuroscientific evidence that might explain differences in cognitive engagement contributing to learning outcomes between these instructional approaches. In classrooms, direct instruction comprehensively describes academic content, while active learning provides structured opportunities for learners to explore, apply, and manipulate content. Synaptic plasticity and its modulation by arousal or novelty are central to all learning and both approaches. As a form of social learning, direct instruction relies upon working memory. The reinforcement learning circuit, associated agency, curiosity, and peer-to-peer social interactions combine to enhance motivation, improve retention, and build higher-order-thinking skills in active learning environments. When working memory becomes overwhelmed, additionally engaging the reinforcement learning circuit improves retention, providing an explanation for the benefits of active learning. This analysis provides a mechanistic examination of how emerging neuroscience principles might inform pedagogical choices at all educational levels.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Working memory subprocesses and catechol-O-methyltransferase Val158Met polymorphism in schizophrenia patients, bipolar disorder patients, and their relatives.
    (2010-07) Dionisio, Daphne
    The present study had several objectives. It sought to determine if deficits in working memory subprocesses of maintenance, monitoring, and manipulation are specific to schizophrenia or are also present in patients with bipolar disorder. It was of interest to additionally determine if working memory deficits are present in the relatives of schizophrenia patients and relatives of bipolar disorder patients. Finally, the association between the COMT Val158Met polymorphism and working memory ability in schizophrenia patients, bipolar disorder patients, and the relatives of these patient groups was investigated. Genotyping data and performance scores for the Spatial Delayed Response Task (i.e. maintenance), Self Ordered Pointing (i.e. monitoring), Digit Span Backwards (i.e. low demand manipulation) and Letter Number Sequencing (i.e. high demand manipulation) were collected for schizophrenia patients, bipolar disorder patients, relatives of schizophrenia patients, relatives of bipolar disorder patients, and nonpsychiatric controls. Results showed worse performance on the maintenance, low demand manipulation, and high demand manipulation working memory subprocesses for schizophrenia patients compared to nonpsychiatric controls and bipolar disorder patients. The relatives of schizophrenia patients also demonstrated impairment in low demand manipulation and high demand manipulation, as well as a trend for worse maintenance performance compared to nonpsychiatric controls. Although no genotype group differences were revealed when examined in a sample combining all diagnostic groups, a few genotype group differences were detected when examined within a sample of schizophrenia patients. These results will be discussed. The results suggest that schizophrenia and bipolar disorder have distinct pathophysiologies, manipulation is promising as an endophenotype for schizophrenia-relevant disease genes, and there may be Val158Met genotype group differences in working memory within schizophrenia patients.