A matter of priorities: High working memory enables (slightly) superior value-directed remembering

People with larger working memory capacity exhibit enhanced free recall but do not show any advantage on tests of recognition. This pair of results suggests that differences in the strategies that people bring to the task of learning and retrieving are superior in learners with high working memory. There is ample evidence that learners with high working memory do indeed bring better strategies to both encoding and retrieval, but as yet little evidence of whether higher working memory is related to greater effectiveness in prioritizing information across materials that differ in value. Using the value-directed remembering paradigm of Castel, Benjamin, Watkins, and Craik (2002), we examined whether learners with high working memory capacity show a particular advantage in remembering materials that are of high value. Across four experiments, we found that high working memory capacity led to a selective preference for remembering high-valued word pairs, but the effect was very modest and does not provide a complete picture of the relationship between working memory and recall.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2018

Author dc:creator

• Griffin, Michael Llewellyn

Contributors dc:contributor

• Benjamin, Aaron S.

• Working Memory
• Cued Recall
• Selectivity

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2017 Michael Griffin

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/99299

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/99299