Li Chenyu, Frischkorn Gidon T, Dames Hannah, Oberauer Klaus
Department of Psychology, Cognitive Psychology Unit, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
Department of Psychology, Cognitive Psychology Unit, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
Cognition. 2025 Jul;260:106134. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2025.106134. Epub 2025 Apr 4.
Removing information from working memory is thought to free up capacity and improve the retention of other information. However, whether this benefit arises from reducing interference from the to-be-forgotten information or from freeing up cognitive resources remains unclear. We examined this by comparing removal immediately following encoding an item (immediate removal), or delayed until after other items have been encoded (delayed removal). Interference theories predict that both types of removal should reduce interference and improve memory performance. In contrast, if removal frees up cognitive resources, the beneficial effect on memory should be greater the earlier it occurs, as the resources can then be allocated to subsequently encoded items. Experiment 1 showed that both immediate and delayed removal failed to reduce interference from the to-be-forgotten items but improved memory for item-location bindings of other items still maintained in working memory. In Experiment 2, removal only facilitated item-location bindings for items encoded afterward. These results suggest that removal frees up working memory capacity by increasing available resources rather than by reducing interference.
从工作记忆中移除信息被认为可以释放容量并提高对其他信息的保留。然而，这种益处是源于减少来自待遗忘信息的干扰，还是源于释放认知资源，仍不明确。我们通过比较在编码一个项目后立即移除（即时移除），或延迟到其他项目编码之后再移除（延迟移除）来对此进行研究。干扰理论预测，这两种类型的移除都应减少干扰并提高记忆表现。相比之下，如果移除能释放认知资源，那么对记忆的有益影响应该在越早发生时就越大，因为这样资源就能随后分配给后续编码的项目。实验1表明，即时移除和延迟移除都未能减少来自待遗忘项目的干扰，但提高了对仍保留在工作记忆中的其他项目的项目 - 位置绑定的记忆。在实验2中，移除仅促进了对后续编码项目的项目 - 位置绑定。这些结果表明，移除通过增加可用资源而非减少干扰来释放工作记忆容量。
