Bays Paul M
University of Cambridge, Department of Psychology, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK.
Cogn Psychol. 2018 Sep;105:1-8. doi: 10.1016/j.cogpsych.2018.05.002. Epub 2018 Jun 3.
The discrete resource model of working memory proposes that each individual has a fixed upper limit on the number of items they can store at one time, due to division of memory into a few independent "slots". According to this model, responses on short-term memory tasks consist of a mixture of noisy recall (when the tested item is in memory) and random guessing (when the item is not in memory). This provides two opportunities to estimate capacity for each observer: first, based on their frequency of random guesses, and second, based on the set size at which the variability of stored items reaches a plateau. The discrete resource model makes the simple prediction that these two estimates will coincide. Data from eight published visual working memory experiments provide strong evidence against such a correspondence. These results present a challenge for discrete models of working memory that impose a fixed capacity limit.
工作记忆的离散资源模型提出，由于记忆被划分为几个独立的“插槽”，每个人一次能够存储的项目数量有一个固定的上限。根据这个模型，短期记忆任务的反应由有噪声的回忆（当被测试项目在记忆中时）和随机猜测（当项目不在记忆中时）混合组成。这为估计每个观察者的容量提供了两个机会：第一，基于他们随机猜测的频率；第二，基于存储项目的变异性达到平稳状态时的集合大小。离散资源模型做出了一个简单的预测，即这两个估计将一致。来自八项已发表的视觉工作记忆实验的数据提供了有力证据，反对这种对应关系。这些结果对施加固定容量限制的工作记忆离散模型提出了挑战。
