Working memory, thought, and action / Alan Baddeley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Baddeley, Alan D., 1934-

Contributor:

Baddeley, Alan D., 1934-

Series:

Oxford psychology series ; no. 45.

Oxford psychology series ; 45

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Short-term memory.

Memory, Short-Term--physiology.

Consciousness--physiology.

Emotions.

Social Behavior.

Volition--physiology.

Medical Subjects:

Memory, Short-Term--physiology.

Consciousness--physiology.

Emotions.

Social Behavior.

Volition--physiology.

Physical Description:

xviii, 412 pages, 2 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2007.

Summary:

Working Memory, Thought, and Action is the magnum opus of one of the most influential cognitive psychologists of the past fifty years.

Working memory is a temporary storage system that underpins our capacity for coherent thought. Some thirty years ago, Alan Baddeley (with Graham Hitch) proposed a model for working memory that has proved to be both valuable and influential in its application to practical problems. This book updates the theory, discussing both the evidence in its favour, and alternative approaches. In addition, it discusses the implications of the model for understanding social and emotional behaviour, concluding with an attempt to place working memory in a broader biological and philosophical context. Inside are chapters on the phonological loop, the visuo-spatial sketchpad, the central executive and the episodic buffer. There are also chapters on the relevance to working memory of studies of the recency effect, of work based on individual differences, and of neuroimaging research.

The broader implications of the concept of working memory are discussed in the chapters on social psychology, anxiety, depression, consciousness, and on the control of action. Finally, Baddeley discusses the relevance of a concept of working memory to the classic problems of consciousness and free will. This new volume from one of the pioneers in memory research is a major publication within the psychological literature.

Contents:

1.1 Some history 2

1.2 Multicomponent working memory 5

1.3 The multicomponent model 7

2 Why do we need a phonological loop? 15

2.1 The evolutionary relevance of the loop 15

2.2 Language acquisition 16

2.3 Sublexical short-term memory 21

2.4 The problem of serial order 25

2.5 Chaining models 26

2.6 Contextual models 27

3 The phonological loop: challenges and growing points 35

3.1 Nairne's critique 35

3.2 The word length effect 38

3.3 Disrupting the phonological loop 49

3.4 The irrelevant speech effect 51

3.5 The phonological loop: an overview 60

4 Visuospatial short-term memory 63

4.1 The case for a separating visuospatial and verbal working memory 63

4.2 Fractionating visuospatial working memory 64

4.3 Memory for spatial location 65

4.4 Object-based short-term memory 67

4.5 Sequential storage in visuospatial short-term memory 73

4.6 Separating the threads 77

5 Imagery and visuospatial working memory 85

5.1 Visuospatial coding and verbal memory 86

5.2 Modelling the visuospatial sketchpad 91

5.3 Visual imagery 94

6 Recency, retrieval and the constant ratio rule 103

6.1 Recency in free recall 103

6.2 The constant ratio rule 105

6.3 Theories of the recency effect 108

6.4 The evolutionary function of recency 114

7 Fractionating the central executive 117

7.1 The central executive as rag-bag 118

7.2 Executive processes and the frontal lobes 119

7.3 Working memory and executive processes 122

7.4 Focusing the limited capacity 124

7.5 Task switching and the central executive 129

7.6 Division of attention as an executive skill 133

8 Long-term memory and the episodic buffer 139

8.1 Some reductionist views 139

8.2 Some skeletons in the working memory cupboard 141

8.3 The episodic buffer 148

9 Exploring the episodic buffer 157

9.1 Binding in visual working memory 157

9.2 Binding in memory for prose 160

9.3 Some implications 169

10 Individual differences and working memory span 175

10.1 The psychometric tradition 175

10.2 The concept of intelligence 176

10.3 Individual differences in working memory 181

10.4 What does working memory span measure? 184

11 What limits working memory span? 189

11.1 The speed hypothesis 189

11.2 The resource pool hypothesis 190

11.3 The inhibition hypothesis 192

11.4 Components of working memory 198

11.5 Fractionating the central executive 203

11.6 Working memory and education 205

12 Neuroimaging working memory 211

12.1 Positron emission tomography (PET) 211

12.2 Functional magnetic resonance imagery (fMRI) 213

12.3 Electroencephalography (EEG) 213

12.4 Other techniques 214

12.5 The naming of parts 216

12.6 What have we learned from imaging working memory? 217

12.7 Imaging the central executive 224

12.8 Meta-analysis of executive processing 228

12.9 Imaging retrieval processes 230

13 Working memory and social behaviour 235

13.1 What controls behaviour? 235

13.2 Habits, schemata and deterministic control 236

13.3 The sense of agency 242

13.4 Working memory and self-control 246

14 Working memory and emotion 1: fear and craving 257

14.1 Cognition in extreme emotion 258

14.2 Clinical studies of anxiety and cognition 265

14.3 Modelling the impact of anxiety and cognition 269

14.4 Addiction and craving 272

15 Working memory and emotion II: depression and the wellsprings of action 277

15.1 Comparing the effects of anxiety and depression 277

15.2 Psychological theories of depression 284

15.3 The wellsprings of action 286

15.4 Working memory and depression 289

15.5 Emotion and the multicomponent model 293

15.6 Emotion: a broader view 295

16 Consciousness 301

16.1 A pragmatic approach to consciousness 301

16.2 Core consciousness 302

16.3 Consciousness under anaesthesia 304

16.4 Conscious control and the global workspace hypothesis 306

16.5 A neural basis for cognitive workspace 309

16.6 Consciousness and working memory 314

17 The multilevel control of action 317

17.1 Implicit control of action 317

17.2 A model of motor control 323

17.3 Implications of motor control for working memory 332

18 Working memory in context: life, the universe and everything 335

18.1 An evolutionary perspective 336

18.2 Some philosophical implications 339.

Notes:

Sequel to: Working memory / Alan Baddeley. 1986.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [351]-404) and index.

Related Work:

Baddeley, Alan D., 1934- Working memory.

ISBN:

0198528000

9780198528005

0198528019

9780198528012

OCLC:

76183367