Central and peripheral components of working memory storage.

• DOI: 10.1037/a0036814
• Publication Date: 2014-05-27T16:57:26Z
• Authors: Nelson Cowan; J. Scott Saults; Christopher L. Blume
• Keywords: Stimulus (psychology)

This study reexamines the issue of how much working memory storage is central, or shared across sensory modalities and verbal nonverbal codes, peripheral, specific to a modality code. In addition exploration many parameters in 9 new dual-task experiments reanalysis some prior evidence, innovations present work compared previous studies for 2 stimulus sets include (a) use principled set formulas estimate number items (b) model dissociate central components, which are allocated very different depending on instructions, from peripheral used only 1 kind material. We consistently find that contribution smaller than was suggested by Saults Cowan (2007) often larger when task does not require binding features within an object. Previous capacity estimates consistent with sum plus components observed here. consider implications data as constraints theories maintenance.