![]() ![]() On occasion, a perceptive one will ask me, do you get a theory? How does one answer this question? I found myself answering with a few pieces of trivia of the kind that any experienced teacher has ready for such mpments. The first source of uneasiness was quite an unlikely one, namely, the undergraduate student. And then a fourth development took place which led me to presume I might have something to say that could just possibly initiate the discussion. When the uneasy feelings were articulated in this manner, I was able to identify three developments that had been responsible for the pinpricks. These pinpricks of uneasiness seemed to say that our profession needed to open a discussion of theory construction in psychology, a discussion led by psychologists, for psychologists. It has resulted from a professional uneasiness that has grown over the past few years. I feel impelled initially to reconstruct as best I can the reasons that led me to compose an article dealing with theory construction. The argument I advance is applicable to theory construction in all areas of experimental psychology, but my illustrations come largely from the areas of learning and memory. I am proposing this because, among other benefits, I believe this approach will make individual differences a crucible in theory construction. My proposal is that we should formulate our nomothetic theories in a way that will allow an immediate individual-differences test. Overall, the findings demonstrate that working memory is best characterized as a highly interrelated collection of cognitive functions. Only a minimal portion of the variance associated with working memory functions is specific to the verbal or the spatial domain. Further analyses allowed for a more detailed subdivision of each function into specific components. Structural equation modeling yielded 3 distinct working memory functions: (1) simultaneous storage of information in the context of processing, (2) supervision, and (3) coordination of elements into structures. Dependent variables included recall performance and reaction time. Each task represented an operationalization of specific cells of the proposed taxonomy of working memory functional and content-related facets. 133 university students (mean age 26 years) performed a series of specially constructed working memory tasks. Investigated the distinctiveness of working memory functions and their components against the background of a multi-facet model. A number of intellectual influences have served to shape our thinking about working memory (WM) and its evolution as a construct separate from that of short-term memory (STM). We also argue that individual differences in controlled processing represent differences in functioning of the PFC. (5) The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) and associated structures mediate the controlled processing functions of working memory. (4) Limited-capacity, controlled processing is required for maintaining temporary goals in the face of distraction and interference and for blocking, gating, and/or suppressing distracting events. Although people can, with practice and expertise, circumvent the abiding limitations of controlled attention in quite specific situations, the limitations reemerge in novel situations and even in the domain of expertise if the situation calls for controlled processing. (3) Individual differences in both 1 and 2, but individual differences in capacity for controlled processing are general and possibly the mechanism for general fluid intelligence. (2) Domain-specific codes and maintenance (phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad are two examples but the potential number of such codes is large). The specific features of our model include: (1) Domain-free, limited-capacity controlled attention. FIVE CENTRAL FEATURES OF THE THEORY Working memory is a system consisting of those long-term memory traces active above threshold, the procedures and skills necessary to achieve and maintain that activation, and limited-capacity, controlled attention. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |