Search results for ""Author Nelson Cowan""
John Wiley and Sons Ltd Working Memory Capacity in Context: Modeling Dynamic Processes of Behavior, Memory, and Development
Higher cognitive functions are reliably predicted by working memory measures from two domains: children's performance on complex span tasks, and infants' looking behavior. Despite the similar predictive power across these research areas, theories of working memory development have not connected these different task types and developmental periods. The current project works to bridge this gap with a processoriented theory, focusing on two tasks assessing visual working memory capacity in infants (the change-preference task) versus children and adults (the change detection task). Previous results seem inconsistent, with capacity estimates increasing from one to four items during infancy, but only two to three items during early childhood. A probable source of this discrepancy is the different task structures used with each age group, but prior theories were not suffi ciently specific to relate performance across tasks. The current theory focuses on cognitive dynamics, that is, the formation, maintenance, and use of memory representations within task contexts over development. This theory was formalized in a computational model to generate three predictions: 1) increasing capacity estimates in the change-preference task beyond infancy; 2) higher capacity estimates in change-preference versus change detection when tested within individuals; and 3) correlated performance across tasks because both rely on the same underlying memory system. Lastly, model simulations tested a fourth prediction: development across tasks could be explained through increasing real-time stability, realized computationally as strengthening connectivity. Results confi rmed these predictions, supporting the cognitive dynamics account of performance and development changes in real-time stability.
£29.95
Oxford University Press Memory in Science for Society: There is nothing as practical as a good theory
Memory is essential for every day life. The understanding and study of memory has continued to grow over the years, thanks to well controlled laboratory studies and theory development. However, major challenges arise when attempting to apply theories of memory function to practical problems in society. A theory might be robust in explaining experimental data but fail to capture all that is important when taken out of the lab. The good news is that the application of memory in science to challenges in society is rapidly expanding, and Memory in Science for Society bridges that gap. Inspired by the synergy between theory and application in memory research, leading international researchers share their passion for combining memory in science with applications of that science to a wide range of challenges in society. Chapters demonstrate how that scientific passion has addressed challenges in education, life attainment, second language learning, remembering life events and faces of strangers, future planning and decision making, lifespan cognitive development and age-related cognitive decline, following instructions, and assessment and rehabilitation of cognitive impairment following brain damage. Written and edited by the leading researchers in the field, the book will be an important and influential addition to the memory literature, providing a new and comprehensive focus on the connection between theory and practice in memory and society.
£62.68
