Topic
Working memory research, explained
14 open-access working memory studies, each with a flashcard deck and a quiz.
- What Is Working Memory Capacity?
Working memory capacity is best understood as the ability to build and maintain temporary bindings between elements, which strongly predicts fluid intelligence.
- How do different hearing tests relate to our brain and daily life?
Tests using complex sentences in modulated noise depend more on attention and mental processing, while tests that vary background noise levels align best with how people subjectively experience their own hearing challenges.
- Do different working memory tasks measure the same thing?
Different working memory tests do measure the same underlying mental capacity once measurement errors and task-specific differences are statistically controlled.
- Does brain stimulation reliably improve memory and attention?
Weak electrical brain stimulation does not consistently alter memory or self-control, suggesting its effects depend heavily on task difficulty and participant engagement.
- Can paying attention bring back forgotten visual memories?
Directing attention to an item already stored in your short-term memory makes you more likely to remember it, but does not make your memory of it more precise.
- Does Working Memory Training Promote New Memory Strategies?
Practicing challenging computerized memory tasks improves working memory because it prompts people to spontaneously adopt better strategies like grouping information.
- How Hearing Loss Alters Brain Activity in Noisy Environments
Older adults with moderate hearing loss experience a breakdown in protective alpha brain waves under highly demanding listening and memory conditions.
- Does managing complex task rules explain fluid intelligence?
An individual's ability to hold and implement a complex set of new task rules is more strongly linked to their fluid intelligence than traditional memory span tasks.
- Does early life adversity in rural India affect brain development?
Children from lower-income families in rural India had more difficulty detecting visual changes, which linked to reduced suppression of activity in the frontal cortex.
- Does Playing Casual Video Games Improve Cognitive Skills?
Training with casual video games designed to test working memory and reasoning improved players' divided attention skills, but did not boost other mental abilities like memory or general intelligence.
- Does language experience shape deaf children's memory?
Deaf children who learn sign language from birth perform just as well on non-verbal memory tests as hearing children, suggesting that early language exposure, rather than hearing itself, shapes working memory development.
- Can unpredictable memory training boost mental flexibility in seniors?
Older adults who practiced a working memory task with unpredictable target shifts showed better transfer to untrained episodic memory skills than those who practiced with predictable patterns.
- Can Social Card Games Boost Brain Power in Older Adults?
Playing specially designed card games in a social group improves cognitive control in healthy older adults compared to standard board games or waiting on a list.
- Does depression disrupt working memory for emotional information?
People with depression benefit just as much as healthy individuals from a boost in working memory when processing emotionally negative information.