Postgraduate Course: Working Memory (PSYL11079)
Course Outline
| School | School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | 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. |
| Course description |
Students meet twice per week. One meeting is a 2-hour lecture and the other is a 1-hour tutorial for discussing relevant readings supplementing the lectures.
Schedule of Lecture topics:
Week 1 What is working memory and why does it matter?
Week 2 Working memory limits
Week 3 Activation and forgetting
Week 4 Neuroscience of working memory
Week 5 Variability in working memory in healthy populations
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2016/17, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Block 1 (Sem 1) |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Lecture Hours 10,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
88 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Coursework 100%. Course work includes a 3000-word written essay and participation in tutorials. Course marks equals essay mark unless tutorial participation was unsatisfactory. |
| Feedback |
Each tutorial meeting affords opportunities to test understanding of the concepts from readings and lecture via discussion with peers and the instructor. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student 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
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Reading List
Indicative Reading List:
Week 1:
Baddeley, A. (2012). Working memory: Theories, models, and controversies. Annual Review of Psychology, 63, 1-29.
Logie, R. H. (2011). The functional organization and capacity limits of working memory. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20, 240-245.
Week 2:
Cowan, N. (2001). The magical number 4 in short-term memory: A reconsideration of mental storage capacity. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 24, 87-185.
Nairne, J. S. (2002). Remembering over the short-term: the case against the standard model. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 53-81.
Week 3:
Barrouillet, P., Portrat, S., & Camos, V. (2011). On the law relating processing to storage in working memory. Psychological Review, 118, 175-192.
Lewandowsky, S., & Oberauer, K. (2015). Rehearsal in serial recall: An unworkable solution to the nonexistent problem of decay. Psychological Review, 122, 674-699.
Week 4:
Caplan, D., Waters, G., & Howard, D. (2012). Slave systems in verbal short-term memory. Aphasiology, 26, 279-316.
D'Esposito, M., & Postle, B. R. (2015). The cognitive neuroscience of working memory. Annual Review of Psychology, 66, 115-142.
Week 5:
Kane, M.J., & McVay, J.C. (2012). What mind wandering reveals about executive control abilities and failures. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21, 348-354.
Unsworth, N., Fukuda, K., Awh, E., & Vogel, E. (2014). Working memory and fluid intelligence: Capacity, attention control, and secondary memory retrieval. Cognitive Psychology, 71, 1-26. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Students will have the opportunity to practice speaking in small discussion groups and will receive feedback on their writing during this this course. |
| Additional Class Delivery Information |
Attend all lectures and tutorials as scheduled |
| Keywords | working memory,memory,attention,psychology,neuroscience,neuropsychology |
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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