Attention & Working Memory Interest Group (AWMIG)
Principal Investigators :
Dr. Paul Whitney
Dr. John Hinson
Dr. Maureen Schmitter-Edgecombe
Contact Information:
Office: Johnson Tower
Website:
Lab websiteSummary:
The term "working memory' refers to mechanisms for maintaining information in a highly accessible state. The study of working memory is closely connected with the study of attentional limitations because it is clear that we can keep only a relatively small amount of information in a highly accessible state at any given time. The study of working memory is also connected with the concept of executive control of processing because the most highly activated information at a given point in time guides subsequent processing. Thus, understanding working memory is critical to understanding performance on virtually all complex tasks. In particular, there is a need to understand how different executive control processes in the WM circuitry are involved in decision making and choice in order to connect the cognitive operations of WM with overt behavioral and functioning in daily life.
The fundamental importance of working memory to performance on cognitive tasks partly explains the high level of interest in the topic. However, interest in working memory transcends the traditional cognitive arena of abstract information processing models. Recent advances in neuroscience have made the biological underpinnings of executive control a more tractable topic as our understanding of the role of the frontal lobes in maintenance and control processes is increasing. Further, working memory deficits have been implicated as playing a central role in the deficits observed in several pathological conditions including aphasia, traumatic brain injury, Alzheimer's, alcoholism, Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis, and schizophrenia. The concept of working memory is also at the center of ongoing debates over the sources of cognitive declines associated with aging.