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Bilingualism has been linked with improved function regarding certain aspects of linguistic processing, e.g., novel word acquisition and learning unfamiliar sound patterns. Two non mutually-exclusive approaches might explain these results. One is related to executive function, speculating that more effective learning is achieved through actively choosing relevant information while inhibiting potentially interfering information. While still controversial, executive function enhancements attributed to bilingual experience have been reported for decades. The other approach, understudied to date, emphasizes the role of sensory mechanisms, specifically auditory sensory memory. Bilinguals outperformed monolinguals in tasks involving auditory processing and episodic memory recall, but the questions whether (1) bilinguals’ auditory sensory memory skills are also enhanced, and (2) phonetic skill and auditory sensory memory are correlated, remain open, however. Our study is innovative in investigating phonetic learning skills and auditory sensory memory in the same speakers from two groups: monolinguals and early bilinguals. The participants were trained and tested on an artificial accent of English and their auditory sensory memory was assessed based on a digit span task. The results demonstrated that, compared to monolinguals, bilinguals exhibit enhanced auditory sensory memory and phonetic and phonological learning skill, and a correlation exists between them.

Perceptual priming can stabilize the phenomenal appearance of multistable visual displays (Leopold, Wilke, Maier, & Logothetis, Nature Neuroscience, 5, 605–609, 2002 ). Prior exposure to such displays induces a sensory memory of their appearance, which persists over long intervals and intervening stimulation, and which facilitates renewed perception of the same appearance. Here, we investigated perceptual priming for the apparent rotation in depth of ambiguous structure-from-motion (SFM) displays. Specifically, we generated SFM objects with different three-dimensional shapes and presented them in random order and with intervening blank periods. To assess perceptual priming, we established the probability that a perceived direction of rotation would persist between successive objects. In general, persistence was greatest between identical objects, intermediate between similar objects, and negligible between dissimilar objects. These results demonstrate unequivocally that sensory memory for apparent rotation is specific to three-dimensional shape, contrary to previous reports (e.g., Maier, Wilke, Logothetis, & Leopold, Current Biology, 13, 1076–1085, 2003 ). Because persistence did not depend on presentation order for any pair of objects, it provides a commutative measure for the similarity of object shapes. However, it is not clear exactly which features or aspects of object shape determine similarity. At least, we did not find simple, low-level features (such as volume overlap, heterogeneity, or rotational symmetry) that could have accounted for all observations. Accordingly, it seems that sensory memory of SFM (which underlies priming of ambiguous rotation) engages higher-level representations of object surface and shape.

Traversing sensory environments requires keeping relevant information in mind while simultaneously processing new inputs. Visual information is kept in working memory via feature-selective responses in early visual cortex, but recent work has suggested that new sensory inputs obligatorily wipe out this information. Here we show region-wide multiplexing abilities in classic sensory areas, with population-level response patterns in early visual cortex representing the contents of working memory alongside new sensory inputs. In a second experiment, we show that when people get distracted, this leads to both disruptions of mnemonic information in early visual cortex and decrements in behavioral recall. Representations in the intraparietal sulcus reflect actively remembered information encoded in a transformed format, but not task-irrelevant sensory inputs. Together, these results suggest that early visual areas play a key role in supporting high-resolution working memory representations that can serve as a template for comparison with incoming sensory information.

Working memory storage capacity is important because cognitive tasks can be completed only with sufficient ability to hold information as it is processed. The ability to repeat information depends on task demands but can be distinguished from a more constant, underlying mechanism: a central memory store limited to 3 to 5 meaningful items for young adults. I discuss why this central limit is important, how it can be observed, how it differs among individuals, and why it may exist.

Models of self-regulated learning emphasize the active and intentional role of learners and, thereby, focus mainly on conscious processes in working memory and long-term memory. Cognitive load theory supports this view on learning. As a result, both fields of research ignore the potential role of unconscious processes for learning. In this review paper, we propose an interactive layers model on self-regulated learning and cognitive load that considers sensory memory, working memory, and long-term memory. The model distinguishes between (a) unconscious self-regulated learning initiated by so-called resonant states in sensory memory and (b) conscious self-regulated learning of scheme construction in working memory. In contrast with conscious self-regulation, unconscious self-regulation induces no cognitive load. The model describes conscious and unconscious self-regulation in three different layers: a content layer, a learning strategy layer, and a metacognitive layer. Interactions of the three layers reflect processes of monitoring and control. We first substantiate the model based on a narrative review. Afterwards, we illustrate how the model contributes to re-interpretation of inconsistent empirical findings reported in the existing literature.

This review aims to classify and clarify, from a neuroanatomical, neurophysiological, and psychological perspective, different memory models that are currently widespread in the literature as well as to describe their origins. We believe it is important to consider previous developments without which one cannot adequately understand the kinds of models that are now current in the scientific literature. This article intends to provide a comprehensive and rigorous overview for understanding and ordering the latest scientific advances related to this subject. The main forms of memory presented include sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory. Information from the world around us is first stored by sensory memory, thus enabling the storage and future use of such information. Short-term memory (or memory) refers to information processed in a short period of time. Long-term memory allows us to store information for long periods of time, including information that can be retrieved consciously (explicit memory) or unconsciously (implicit memory).

Previous work has shown that humans distribute their visual working memory (VWM) resources flexibly across items: the higher the importance of an item, the better it is remembered. A related, but much less studied question is whether people also have control over the total amount of VWM resource allocated to a task. Here, we approach this question by testing whether increasing monetary incentives results in better overall VWM performance. In three experiments, subjects performed a delayed-estimation task on the Amazon Turk platform. In the first two experiments, four groups of subjects received a bonus payment based on their performance, with the maximum bonus ranging from$0 to $ 10 between groups. We found no effect of the amount of bonus on intrinsic motivation or on VWM performance in either experiment. In the third experiment, reward was manipulated on a trial-by-trial basis using a within-subjects design. Again, no evidence was found that VWM performance depended on the magnitude of potential reward. These results suggest that encoding quality in visual working memory is insensitive to monetary reward, which has implications for resource-rational theories of VWM.

This research investigated whether there was a significant change in the visuospatial working memory of children who underwent abacus training. A quasi-experimental research design with a quantitative approach was employed for the study. Ninety (90) children were recruited as the experimental group and one hundred (100) children as the control group. The experimental group participated in abacus training as part of their extracurricular activities at school. A questionnaire assessing visuospatial memory was administered to both groups before and after the training. The findings revealed a significant change in the mean scores of the experimental group from before and after the abacus training (p < .01) compared to the control group. This signified that abacus training may potentially lead to significant improvement in visuospatial working memory. It is suggested that future research be conducted using a longitudinal approach to enable a more comprehensive assessment of the full course of abacus training.

•Experimental support for sensory recruitment models regarding tactile STM.•Participants who are blind outperformed sighted participants behaviorally•and uniquely showed higher tCDA over somatosensory areas.•tCDA especially in somatosensory areas seems to facilitate efficient tactile STM. Somatosensory short-term memory is essential for object recognition, sensorimotor learning, and, especially, Braille reading for people who are blind. This study examined how visual sensory deprivation and a compensatory focus on somatosensory information influences memory processes in this domain. We measured slow cortical negativity developing during short-term tactile memory maintenance (tactile contralateral delay activity, tCDA) in frontal and somatosensory areas while a sample of 24 sighted participants and 22 participants who are blind completed a tactile change-detection task where varying loads of Braille pin patterns served as stimuli. Auditory cues, appearing at varying latencies between sample arrays, could be used to reduce memory demands during maintenance. Participants who are blind (trained Braille readers) outperformed sighted participants behaviorally. In addition, while task-related frontal activation featured in both groups, participants who are blind uniquely showed higher tCDA amplitudes specifically over somatosensory areas. The site specificity of this component's functional relevance in short-term memory maintenance was further supported by somatosensory tCDA amplitudes first correlating across the whole sample with behavioral performance, and secondly showing sensitivity to varying memory load. The results substantiate sensory recruitment models and provide new insights into the effects of visual sensory deprivation on tactile processing. Between-group differences in the interplay between frontal and somatosensory areas during somatosensory maintenance also suggest that efficient maintenance of complex tactile stimuli in short-term memory is primarily facilitated by lateralized activity in somatosensory cortex. [Display omitted]

Seeing is remembering Although we can hold several different items in working visual memory, how we remember specific details and visual features of individual objects remains a mystery. The neurons in the higher-order areas responsible for working memory seem to exhibit no selectivity for visual detail, and the early visual areas of the cerebral cortex are uniquely able to process incoming visual signals from the eye but, it was thought, not to perform higher cognitive functions such as memory. Using a new technique for decoding data from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), Stephanie Harrison and Frank Tong have found that early visual areas can retain specific information about features held in working memory. Volunteers were shown two striped patterns at different orientations and asked to memorize one of the orientations whilst being scanned by fMRI. From analysis of the scans it was possible to predict which of the two orientation patterns a subject was being retained in over 80% of tests. This study shows that early visual areas can retain specific information about features held in working memory even when there is no physical stimulus present. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging decoding methods, visual features could be predicted from early visual area activity with a high degree of accuracy. Visual working memory provides an essential link between perception and higher cognitive functions, allowing for the active maintenance of information about stimuli no longer in view 1 , 2 . Research suggests that sustained activity in higher-order prefrontal, parietal, inferotemporal and lateral occipital areas supports visual maintenance 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , and may account for the limited capacity of working memory to hold up to 3–4 items 9 , 10 , 11 . Because higher-order areas lack the visual selectivity of early sensory areas, it has remained unclear how observers can remember specific visual features, such as the precise orientation of a grating, with minimal decay in performance over delays of many seconds 12 . One proposal is that sensory areas serve to maintain fine-tuned feature information 13 , but early visual areas show little to no sustained activity over prolonged delays 14 , 15 , 16 . Here we show that orientations held in working memory can be decoded from activity patterns in the human visual cortex, even when overall levels of activity are low. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging and pattern classification methods, we found that activity patterns in visual areas V1–V4 could predict which of two oriented gratings was held in memory with mean accuracy levels upwards of 80%, even in participants whose activity fell to baseline levels after a prolonged delay. These orientation-selective activity patterns were sustained throughout the delay period, evident in individual visual areas, and similar to the responses evoked by unattended, task-irrelevant gratings. Our results demonstrate that early visual areas can retain specific information about visual features held in working memory, over periods of many seconds when no physical stimulus is present.