Postgraduate Course: Working Memory (PSYL11079)
Course Outline
| School | School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Credits | 10 |
| Home subject area | Psychology |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | Working memory refers to the cluster of processes engaged while thinking: retrieving information already learned, attending to information in the environment, and using this information in the service of some goal. Theories of working memory describing how these functions relate to each other will be covered, drawing upon empirical evidence from cognitive experiments, typical and abnormal neural functioning, and development from childhood to adulthood. |
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Delivery period: 2014/15 Block 1 (Sem 1), Not available to visiting students (SS1)
|
Learn enabled: Yes |
Quota: None |
|
Web Timetable |
Web Timetable |
| Course Start Date |
15/09/2014 |
| Breakdown of Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Lecture Hours 10,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 5,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
83 )
|
| Additional Notes |
|
| Breakdown of Assessment Methods (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| No Exam Information |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
After the course, students will be able to
¿ Demonstrate knowledge of current working memory theory, including the ability to critically evaluate evidence favouring various theories
¿ Demonstrate understanding of the methods used to measure WM
¿ Reason about how working memory theory can predict everyday cognitive functioning |
Assessment Information
One 3000-word essay
Assessment Submission Deadline: Thursday 6th November 2014, 12 noon
Return Date: 28th November 2014 |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
Tentative schedule of topics:
Week 1: Working Memory, Retrieval, and Knowledge
Week 2: Working Memory for Verbal Information
Week 3: Working Memory for Visual Information
Week 4: Variability in Working Memory
Week 5: Abnormal Working Memory Functioning |
| Transferable skills |
Students will develop their writing and discussion skills through this course. During tutorials, they will be practicing communication and argumentation skills, which will transfer to any professional setting in
which effective communication and persuasion is important. |
| Reading list |
Indicative Reading List:
Baddeley, A. (2012). Working memory: Theories, models, and controversies. Annual Review of Psychology, 63, 1¿29.
Barrouillet, P., Portrat, S., & Camos, V. (2011). On the law relating processing to storage in working memory.
Psychological Review, 118, 175¿192.
Buchsbaum, B. R., & D¿Esposito, M. (2008). The search for the phonological store: From loop to convolution. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 20, 762¿778.
Chein, J. M., & Fiez, J. A. (2010). Evaluating models of working memory through the effects of concurrent irrelevant information. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 139, 117¿137.
Cowan, N. (2001). The magical number 4 in short-term memory: A reconsideration of mental storage capacity. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 24, 87¿185.
Hu, Y., & Ericsson, K. A. (2012). Memorization and recall of very long lists accounted for within the Long-Term Working Memory framework. Cognitive Psychology, 64, 235¿266.
Johnson, W., Logie, R. H., & Brockmole, J. R. (2010). Working memory tasks differ in factor structure across age cohorts: Implications for dedifferentiation. Intelligence, 38, 513¿528.
Jones, D. M., Macken, W. J., & Nicholls, A. P. (2004). The phonological store of working memory: Is it phonological and is it a store? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 30, 656¿674.
Lewis-Peacock, J. A., Drysdale, A. T., Oberauer, K., & Postle, B. R. (2012). Neural evidence for a distinction between short-term memory and the focus of attention. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 24, 61¿79.
Logie, R. H. (2011). The functional organization and capacity limits of working memory. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20, 240¿245.
Morey, C., Morey, R., van der Reijden, M., & Holweg, M. (2013). Asymmetric cross-domain interference between two working memory tasks: Implications for models of working memory. Journal of Memory and Language, 69, 324¿348.
Oberauer, K. (2013). The focus of attention in working memory-from metaphors to mechanisms. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7, 673.
Parra, M. A., Abrahams, S., Logie, R. H., Méndez, L. G., Lopera, F., & Della Sala, S. (2010). Visual short-term memory binding deficits in familial Alzheimer¿s disease. Brain: A Journal of Neurology, 133, 2702¿2713.
Unsworth, N., & Engle, R. W. (2007). The nature of individual differences in working memory capacity: Active maintenance in primary memory and controlled search from secondary memory. Psychological Review, 114, 104¿132.
Zhang, W., & Luck, S. J. (2009). Sudden death and gradual decay in visual working memory. Psychological Science, 20, 423¿428. |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Candice Morey
Tel:
Email: cmorey@exseed.ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Toni Noble
Tel: (0131 6)51 3188
Email: Toni.noble@ed.ac.uk |
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