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An Integrated Working Memory Model for Time‐Based Resource‐Sharing
Author(s) -
Glavan Joseph J.,
Houpt Joseph W.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
topics in cognitive science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.191
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1756-8765
pISSN - 1756-8757
DOI - 10.1111/tops.12407
Subject(s) - working memory , task (project management) , cognition , cognitive psychology , cognitive architecture , computer science , dual (grammatical number) , mechanism (biology) , psychology , cognitive model , neuroscience , engineering , art , philosophy , literature , systems engineering , epistemology
The time‐based resource‐sharing ( TBRS ) model envisions working memory as a rapidly switching, serial, attentional refreshing mechanism. Executive attention trades its time between rebuilding decaying memory traces and processing extraneous activity. To thoroughly investigate the implications of the TBRS theory, we integrated TBRS within the ACT ‐R cognitive architecture, which allowed us to test the TBRS model against both participant accuracy and response time data in a dual task environment. In the current work, we extend the model to include articulatory rehearsal, which has been argued in the literature to be a separate mechanism from attentional refreshing. Additionally, we use the model to predict performance under a larger range of cognitive load (CL) than typically administered to human subjects. Our simulations support the hypothesis that working memory capacity is a linear function of CL and suggest that this effect is less pronounced when articulatory rehearsal is available.