Abstract
The limitations of working memory (WM) and their determinants have been a matter of intense debate in the last years (e.g., Barrouillet and Camos, 2012; Oberauer and Lewandowsky, 2013; Ricker et al., 2014; see Barrouillet and Camos, 2015, for a review). Is forgetting from WM only due to interference, or do WM traces also suffer from temporal decay? This latter hypothesis has recently gained some credence from the verification of the main predictions of the time-based resource-sharing model (TBRS, Barrouillet et al., 2004), a theory that describes WM functioning as the interplay between the antagonistic processes of temporal decay and restoration of memory traces. However, Oberauer and Lewandowsky (2014) have lately claimed that the predictions that the authors of the TBRS model drew from their theory do not follow from its main tenets. In this rejoinder, we show that Oberauer and Lewandowsky's analysis is wrong, revealing a misunderstanding of the TBRS model.
Highlights
The limitations of working memory (WM) and their determinants have been a matter of intense debate in the last years (e.g., Barrouillet and Camos, 2012; Oberauer and Lewandowsky, 2013; Ricker et al, 2014; see Barrouillet and Camos, 2015, for a review)
THE TBRS MODEL AND ITS PREDICTIONS The TBRS model was initially developed to account for performance in complex span tasks involving the maintenance of memory items while performing an intervening activity
We designed new computerpaced WM tasks in which participants are presented with series of memory items for further recall, each of them being followed by a series of distracters successively displayed on screen at a fixed pace
Summary
The limitations of working memory (WM) and their determinants have been a matter of intense debate in the last years (e.g., Barrouillet and Camos, 2012; Oberauer and Lewandowsky, 2013; Ricker et al, 2014; see Barrouillet and Camos, 2015, for a review). Assuming that memory traces decay when attention is switched away, but are refreshed when attention is available anew, we predicted that WM spans (i.e., the maximum number of items that can be recalled) should be a function of the proportion of time during which the intervening activity occupies attention.
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