Value-Directed Memory: Investigating Effects of List Length and Working Memory Capacity

Value-directed memory;Working memory;Strategic memory control;Psychology;Social Sciences;Psychology

Jantz, TiffanyShah, Priti R ;

University of Michigan

关键词: Value-directed memory;    Working memory;    Strategic memory control;    Psychology;    Social Sciences;    Psychology;   

Others  :  https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/145942/tkjantz_1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

瑞士|英语

来源: The Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship

【 摘 要 】

Human memory is limited, only retaining a small subset of information that is encountered on a daily basis. To compensate for this limitation, people can adopt a strategy to selectively promote memory of a subset of information based on its value. Prior research has established the utility of strategic value-directed memory processes using lists lengths that far exceed canonical working memory capacity. The goal of the present study was to investigate the continuity of value-directed memory control processes within the context of working memory and the role of working memory capacity on value-directed memory in order to further our understanding of strategic memory control and inform models of memory structure. To this end, participants studied and recalled lists of value-cued words that were within, near, or exceeded canonical working memory capacity limits. Findings revealed value-directed memory effects for all list lengths, even for the within-capacity list length of three words, suggesting a continuity of value-directed control processes across working memory and long-term. However, when participants were aware that list lengths were short, either due to explicit notification or changes in experimental parameters, value-directed memory effects were eliminated for the within-capacity list length of three words, suggesting that use of this strategic control process is contingent upon context, highlighting the important role of metamemory in value-directed memory control. Lower working memory capacity, due to individual differences or articulatory suppression, was associated with reduced overall recall of higher value items and reductions in selective promotion of memory for high-value items above low-value items for both sub- and supra-span list lengths. The presence of these deficits for list-lengths within canonical working memory capacity suggests that reduced executive control associated with lower working memory capacity, rather than the reduced number of items one can hold in working memory, impair strategic value-directed memory emphasizing the importance of executive function in this strategic process. Taken together these findings reveal that, when employed, strategic value-directed control processes and associated limitations operate similarly across list lengths that fall within and exceed working memory capacity providing support for unitary store models of human memory.