Oberauer, K. , Souza da Silva, A. , Druey, M. & Gade, M.
University of Zurich
We propose that working memory (WM) is a system for making available representations that are relevant for cognition and action. Declarative WM makes available the objects of (cognitive) actions, whereas procedural WM holds representations of the planned actions themselves, that is, task sets. We assume that declarative and procedural WM operate by analogous mechanisms. We present four experiments testing this hypothesis, focusing on selection of items in declarative WM and of responses in procedural WM. In sequences of speeded choice tasks, selecting the same response on successive trials speeds up responding. This response repetition benefit is turned into a cost when people switch the task from one trial to the next. We show analogous pattern for the selection of items in declarative WM. Repeated access to the same digit in working memory resulted in a benefit, which turned into a cost when people switched between two lists in successive trials, and the same digit had to be accessed in different positions in the two sets. The final experiment shows the same pattern of repetition costs and benefits in a task-switch paradigm designed in exact analogy to the declarative WM task. The results are explained by the inhibition of items and responses when de-selected, together with temporary strengthening of bindings of items and responses to their retrieval cues.