How to measure working memory capacity in the change detection paradigm

Jeffrey N Rouder, Richard D Morey, Candice C Morey, Nelson Cowan, Jeffrey N Rouder, Richard D Morey, Candice C Morey, Nelson Cowan

Abstract

Although the measurement of working memory capacity is crucial to understanding working memory and its interaction with other cognitive faculties, there are inconsistencies in the literature on how to measure capacity. We address the measurement in the change detection paradigm, popularized by Luck and Vogel (Nature, 390, 279-281, 1997). Two measures for this task-from Pashler (Perception & Psychophysics, 44, 369-378, 1988) and Cowan (The Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 24, 87-114, 2001), respectively-have been used interchangeably, even though they may yield qualitatively different conclusions. We show that the choice between these two measures is not arbitrary. Although they are motivated by the same underlying discrete-slots working memory model, each is applicable only to a specific task; the two are never interchangeable. In the course of deriving these measures, we discuss subtle but consequential flaws in the underlying discrete-slots model. These flaws motivate revision in the modal model and capacity measures.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Change detection paradigms. In both paradigms, participants briefly study a set of objects and, after a brief delay, are tested. a Single-probe recognition. b Whole-display recognition
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Conclusions about capacity depend on the choice of estimate. a Averaged hit and false alarm rates as a function of set size from Cowan et al. (2006). b Averaged Pashler () and Cowan () estimates. The Cowan measure yields an invariance of capacity with set size; the Pashler measure yields a dependence
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The dependence of informed guessing, g, on set size, capacity, and uninformed guessing base rate (u) in the whole-display paradigm

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