Oberauer, Klaus (University of Potsdam, Germany) - Functions of working memory: Activation, binding, and selective access


Project:	Functions of working memory: Activation, binding, and selective access
Researchers:	Klaus Oberauer, Elke Lange, and Kerstin Vockenberg
Duration:	since 2000
Support:	Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
Description:	I regard working memory as a system that makes representations available for goal-directed (i.e., intentional) cognitive or physical action. This happens on three successive levels, which correspond to three states of representations as they are successively selected "into" working memory. First, representations become activated through perceptual input or spread of activation along associations in long-term memory. On a second level, a small set of representation elements (chunks) is taken into the region of direct access, where they are temporarily linked to places in a mental coordinate system (e.g., a spatial frame, a time dimension, or a causal schema). Finally, the focus of attention selects one element as the object of an operation which manipulates that object. This model is an extension of Cowan's (1995, 1999) conceptualization of working memory. It is tested and further elaborated by experiments using short-term recognition tasks (e.g., the modified Sternberg task) and memory-updating tasks.
Publications:	Oberauer, K. (2002). Access to information in working memory. Exploring the focus of attention. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 28, 411-421.
	Oberauer, K. (2001). Removing irrelevant information from working memory. A cognitive aging study with the modified Sternberg task. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 27, 948-957

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