CogSciSem Stan Franklin Working Memory Tasks Cognitive Science Seminar—Spring 2003 Stan Franklin

CogSciSem Stan Franklin Memory Diagram

CogSciSem Stan Franklin Working Memory Small capacity Decays in seconds Various modal buffers Implemented as a workspace in IDA

CogSciSem Stan Franklin IDA’s Cognitive Cycle Specifies the role of consciousness in cognition Clarifies the relationship between consciousness and the various memories Makes explicit the role of consciousness in recruiting relevant resources Provides a tool for the fine-grained analysis of various cognitive tasks

CogSciSem Stan Franklin Cognitive Cycle Steps CC1—Preconscious Perception CC2—Percept to Preconscious Buffers CC3—Retrieve Local Associations CC4—Competition for Consciousness CC5—Conscious Broadcast CC6—Recruitment of Resources CC7—Setting Goal-context Hierarchy CC8—Action Chosen CC9—Action Taken

CogSciSem Stan Franklin Cognitive Cycle vs Working Memory

CogSciSem Stan Franklin Working Memory Rehearsal Task Rehearsal in phonological loop Subject asked to remember –Seven-digit phone number –For thirty seconds Number given visually with oral request Subject is prepared to comply

CogSciSem Stan Franklin Rehearsal–1 Input. (CC 1 & 2). input sensed, recognized and stored as a percept in the pre-conscious buffers including sound, vision and meaning Automatic Local Associations. (CC 3). Using the percept from step 1 as a cue, local associations are retrieved from episodic and declarative memory. Consciousness. (CC 4 & 5). An attention codelet, observing the preconscious buffer and the local associations (LTWM), broadcasts the sounds, visual images and their meaning. The contents of consciousness are stored in transient episodic memory.

CogSciSem Stan Franklin Rehearsal–2 Task Plan. (CC 6&7). Behavior codelets respond to the broadcast, instantiate an appropriate behavior stream, bind variables, and send activation to behaviors. Subject Says Yes to the Request. (CC 8&9). A behavior (goal context) to respond to the experimenter is selected. Its behavior codelets become active and produce a verbal assent. (May require more than one behavior in the case of an automatic sequence.)

CogSciSem Stan Franklin Rehearsal–3 Hearing and Understanding Yes. (CC 1&2). The spoken assent is sensed, understood, and stored as a percept, both sound and meaning, in the phonological loop of the preconscious buffer. Automatic Associations. (CC 3). Using this percept as a cue, local associations are retrieved from episodic and declarative memory. Likely nothing of relevance other than the remembered telephone number.

CogSciSem Stan Franklin Rehearsal–4 Conscious Rehearsal 1. (CC 4&5). An attention codelet, observing the preconscious buffer and the local association of the number from TEM, broadcasts the sound of the assent and its meaning along with an image of the telephone number. Contents are stored in TEM. Rehearsal Plan. (CC 6&7). Behavior codelets respond to the broadcast, instantiate an appropriate behavior stream for rehearsal, bind variables, and send activation to behaviors. Unconscious Inner Speech. (CC 8&9). A behavior (goal context) to rehearse the telephone number is selected. Its behavior codelets produce an internal verbal image of the telephone number.

CogSciSem Stan Franklin Rehearsal–5 Unconscious Inner Speech Perception. (CC 1&2). This inner voice version of the telephone number is sensed, understood, and stored as a percept, both sound and meaning, in the phonological loop. Local Automatic Associations. (CC step 3). Using this percept as a cue, associations are retrieved from TEM and DM. Likely nothing relevant other than the remembered telephone number.

CogSciSem Stan Franklin Rehearsal–6 Consciousness of Inner Speech. (CC 4&5). An attention codelet, observing LTWM, broadcasts the internal sound of the telephone number and its meaning. Its contents are stored again in TEM. Rehearsal Plan Continued. (CC 6&7). Behavior codelets respond to the broadcast, bind variables, and send activation to behaviors in the behavior stream for remembering the telephone number. Unconsciousness Inner Speech. (CC 8&9). A behavior to rehearse the telephone number is selected. Its behavior codelets produce an internal verbal image of the telephone number.

CogSciSem Stan Franklin Rehearsal–7 Repeat until Overt Response. (CC 1-9 iterated.) –The process is repeated for thirty seconds. –At that time a slightly different behavior in the same behavior stream is selected, whose behavior codelets produce an overt verbal expression of the telephone number.

CogSciSem Stan Franklin Working Memory Visualization Task Visualization in visiospatial sketchpad Subject orally asked to –Visual front door from outside –Doorknob on right or left Subject is prepared to comply

CogSciSem Stan Franklin Visualization–1 Input. (CC 1 & 2). The input is sensed, understood, and stored as a percept, both sound and meaning, in the visiospatial sketchpad. Automatic Local Associations. (CC 3). Using the percept as a cue, local associations are retrieved from TEM and DM. One of the associations is a visual image of the front door, which is stored in the visual sketchpad portion of the preconscious buffer. Consciousness. (CC 4 & 5). An attention codelet, observing the preconscious buffer, broadcasts the sounds and their meaning, along with the visual image of the front door.

CogSciSem Stan Franklin Visualization–2 Task Plan. (CC 6&7). Behavior codelets respond to the broadcast, instantiate a behavior stream that both searchs the image and produces a response, bind variables, and sends activation to behaviors Forming the Image. (CC 8, 9, 1 & 2). A behavior to focus on the doorknob is selected. Its behavior codelets cause visual focusing on the doorknob in the image of the door, note its position, and store all this in the preconscious buffer. The Conscious Visual Image. (CC 3, 4 & 5). An attention codelet, observing the preconscious buffers and their local associations, broadcast the image and related information.

CogSciSem Stan Franklin Visualization–3 Resources Recruited. (CC 6 & 7). Behavior codelets respond to the broadcast, bind variables and send activation to behaviors in the existing behavior stream. Overt Verbal Report. (CC steps 8 & 9). A behavior to compose a response to the experimenter is selected. Its underlying behavior codelets compose an appropriate verbal response using the phonological loop. Others of these active behavior codelets carry out the spoken response. (This may require more than one behavior in an automatized unconscious sequence.)

CogSciSem Stan Franklin Visualization–4 Sensing the Response. (CC 1 & 2). Verbal response is sensed, understood, and stored as a percept, both sound and meaning, in the preconscious buffer. Subject’s Response becomes Conscious. (CC 3, 4 & 5). Using this percept as a cue, local associations are retrieved from TEM and DM. An attention codelet, observing the preconscious buffers and the local associations, broadcasts the sounds and their meaning.