Getting more out of working memory: Stacking verbal relational role-bindings
type: CreativeWork
description: 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.
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.
author: Braverman, Michael Bradley
language: en
keywords: Working memory, Relational reasoning, Verbal working memory, Working memory capacity, Chunking, Cognition
date published: 2019-08-23T20:44:37Z
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:44Z
provider: University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/105154