Study Analysis on Working Memory and Attention

This study analysis explores the relationship between working memory and attention, focusing on the impact of long-term memory on working memory task performance. The findings suggest that recalling a word after a distraction is associated with neural and behavioral indices of long-term memory retrieval. The study also discusses limitations and proposes a follow-up study to assess the effects of recall on different problem sets.

Running head: COGNITION
Study analysis
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

NAME STUDENT NUMBER
Reflection- I consider the article to be of extreme importance in elucidating the
mechanism of working memory (WM). The knowledge that I have gained over the years has
helped me realise that working memory is an essential cognitive system that is correlated
with a restricted capacity for temporary storage of information. I hold the opinion that this
piece of research evidence will play an important role in providing an insight into the relation
between attention and WM. The article is also related to a particular information that I had
come across in my curriculum, which was based on the ability of human brain to conduct
selective information processing. This study raises a question on the difference between WM
and long-term memory (LTM), in relation to attention.
Connection to theory- The researchers aimed to assess the impact of LTM in a WM
task performance. The findings suggested that recalling a word after distraction of 10 seconds
was associated with neural and behavioral indices of LTM retrieval. However rehearsed
recall led to activation of cortical areas, thus reflecting the role of focal attention (Rose, Craik
and Buchsbaum 2015). According to the Working Memory Model (WMM) short-term
memory is postulated to comprise of three components namely, central executive,
articulatory-phonological loop, and visuo-spatial sketchpad (Gathercole and Baddeley 2014).
Hence, it can be suggested that the findings were true to the theory since neural and
behavioural process related to LTM supported the recall of an item, following its
displacement from attention. In addition, it can also be stated that there was presence of
increased activation and greater encoding in several regions such as, the ATL, VLPC, and the
MTL, in comparison to recall. Taking into consideration the fact that information is
temporarily retained by the phonological loop via the phonological store and the articulatory
rehearsal process, the research findings were in accordance with the involvement of
temporal-contextual information with STM (Logie 2014).
1

NAME STUDENT NUMBER
Limitations- Recruitment of right-handed subject participants was a major limitation
since it prevented the enrolment of a representative research sample. If both left handed and
right handed individuals had been recruited for the research, the study results could have been
generalised to the wider population, thus establishing definite conclusions about the
mechanism of attention and working memory (Liu and Ziebart 2014). In addition, increasing
the age group of the research participants would also have provided greater generalizability
of the results, thus increasing the study rigour and validity. The researchers could also have
used a likert scale for assessing the concreteness of the words that were presented to the
participants. In future, researchers need to conduct similar trials among a wider population. In
addition, adopting a triangulation approach would also prove beneficial in collecting larger
data on the phenomenon under investigation.
Study design- The follow-up study will involve assessing the working memory of
participants, who will be subjected to easy maths and hard math, respectively. The
participants will be allowed to recall the problems on weekly basis. After two months, their
decision accuracy will be assessed in order to determine the impacts of recall on the varied
set of problems that had been presented to them.
2

NAME STUDENT NUMBER
References
Gathercole, S.E. and Baddeley, A.D., 2014. Working memory and language. Psychology
Press.
Liu, A. and Ziebart, B., 2014. Robust classification under sample selection bias. In Advances
in neural information processing systems (pp. 37-45).
Logie, R.H., 2014. Visuo-spatial working memory. Psychology Press.
Rose, N.S., Craik, F.I. and Buchsbaum, B.R., 2015. Levels of processing in working
memory: Differential involvement of frontotemporal networks. Journal of cognitive
neuroscience, 27(3), pp.522-532.
3