The Effects Of Cognitive Load And Controlled-attention On Working Memory Span Tasks

The term working memory refers to the control, plan and active maintenance ofinformation related to the task while handing some complex cognitive tasks. Individualdifference researches in working memory span use working memory span tasks asassessment tools to measure working memory performance and examine the relationshipbetween working memory span and various cognitive tasks. At the present, a few ofmodels have been proposed to account for the nature of individual difference in workingmemory tasks: Resource-sharing model, task-switch hypothesis, time-basedresource-sharing model and controlled-attention view. These models emphasized differentfactors that affected working memory tasks performance. In this article we made acomment on them and define a new conception of cognitive load. We assumed a highcognitive load needs participation of controlled-attention and controlled-attention is aimportant factor that limits working memory span performance. Second, we made aaccount for the nature of switch process. We assumed that tasks require participants toswitch attention from processing to storage, attention constitutes a limited pool ofresources and can only locus a part at one time, so it must be shared between processingand maintenance and memory traces is due to item-related interference provoked byintervening events. So in this article, we examined the performance of high and lowcontrolled-attention capacity subjects in working memory span tasks that cognitive load ofprocessing is different. The experiment 1 developed two working memory tasks thatduration time of processing is kept constant but complexity is not. The results showed taskscomplexity has effect on working memory performance, the more difficult, the lower theperformance. In more complex task, the performance of high subjects is higher than thelow, but not in the more simple task. The experiment 2 developed two new tasks thatretrieval number is kept constant but time is different, the results are similar to theexperiment 1:in faster retrieval speed task, the high individual's performance is higher thanthe low, but not in the slower task. Retrieval speed had effect on working memory spanperformance, but this effect is showed in low controlled-attention individuals. This articleconfirmed our hypothesis that cognitive load had important effect on working memoryspan performance: the higher cognitive load, the lower the performance; the complex spantasks need participation of controlled-attention; memory trace is subject to forgetting thatrelated to item interference.