Getting more out of working memory: Stacking verbal relational role-bindings

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.