KDI: Discrete Representations in Working Memory: Developmental, Neuropsychological, and Computational Investigations

KDI：工作记忆中的离散表示：发展、神经心理学和计算研究

• 批准号: 9873492
• 负责人: Michael Mozer
• 金额: $ 80万
• 依托单位: University of Colorado at Boulder
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1998
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1998-10-01 至 2002-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9873492&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: KDI; Discrete; Representations; Working; Memory

This project aims to futher our understanding of the neural representations that underlie working memory. Working memory refers to the active maintenance of information in the service of complex cognitive tasks such as problem solving and planning. The team of investigator with study how the unique demands placed on the working memory system shape its representations during learning and development, and how these representations affect the use of working memory by the cognitive system as a whole. Their primary source of insight into this process will come from a computational analysis, which will be used to integrate and explore relevant findings from neurobiology and developmental and adult cognition. The primary hypothesis is that to maintain information in an active state over delays and in the face of interference, working memory representations should be discrete. A discrete representation admits to only a finite set of possible states, rather than representing continuous states. For example, the integers from 1 to 100 form a discrete set, in contrast to the real numbers in this range. Discreteness imparts a measure of robustness to the representation because small amounts of "noise" can be overcome by interpreting an observed state as the nearest discrete stat. From the central property of discreteness, a number of other properties follow. For example, discrete representations should be more categorical, more easily verbalize, better for perceiving or performing a sequence of steps, and more accessible to awareness. All these properties have component of the proposed research is to explore the idea that they all follow from the more basic property of dicreteness. The initial goal of the project will be establish through experimental studies the validity of the hypothesis that working memory representations are indeed discrete. This will be done by exploring a key behavioral consequence of this hypothesis: working memory representations should be more categorical than other representations. This predicition will be investigated with a set of existing empirical paradigms that have elucidated variables that affect the working memory system, including developmental age, delay, dual-task demands, and brain damage. Working memory plays a central role in most accounts of complex human behavior, because working memory is required in any task that involves multiple stos ir a temporally extended focus of attention. This kinds of tasks are important and pervasive throughout society, including: economic, political, and military planning; air-traffic control; and scientific research, to name just a few. It is essential to understand the nature of the representations in the working memory system and to understand how people learn to use working memory in the service of complex behavior. This research will advance our knowledge in this important area, and may provide insight into techniques for rehabilitation of working memory following brain injury and techniques for assisting the development of working memory in children.

该项目旨在进一步理解工作记忆背后的神经表征。工作记忆是指为复杂的认知任务（例如问题解决和计划）服务的信息的主动维护。 研究人员团队研究工作记忆系统的独特需求如何在学习和发展过程中形成其表征，以及这些表征如何影响整个认知系统对工作记忆的使用。 他们对这一过程的主要洞察来源将来自计算分析，该分析将用于整合和探索神经生物学以及发育和成人认知的相关发现。 主要假设是，为了在延迟和面对干扰时保持信息处于活动状态，工作记忆表示应该是离散的。 离散表示仅允许有限的一组可能状态，而不是表示连续状态。 例如，从 1 到 100 的整数形成一个离散集合，与此范围内的实数相反。 离散性为表示提供了鲁棒性的度量，因为可以通过将观察到的状态解释为最接近的离散统计来克服少量的“噪声”。 从离散性的核心属性出发，可以得出许多其他属性。 例如，离散表示应该更加明确，更容易用语言表达，更好地感知或执行一系列步骤，并且更容易被意识所接受。 所有这些属性都有所提出的研究的组成部分，即探索它们都遵循更基本的离散性属性的想法。 该项目的最初目标将通过实验研究确定工作记忆表征确实是离散的假设的有效性。 这将通过探索该假设的一个关键行为结果来完成：工作记忆表征应该比其他表征更加明确。 这一预测将通过一组现有的经验范式进行研究，这些范式阐明了影响工作记忆系统的变量，包括发育年龄、延迟、双重任务要求和脑损伤。 工作记忆在大多数复杂人类行为的解释中起着核心作用，因为任何涉及多个任务或暂时扩展注意力的任务都需要工作记忆。 此类任务在整个社会中都很重要且普遍存在，包括：经济、政治和军事规划；空中交通管制；和科学研究等等。 了解工作记忆系统中表征的本质以及了解人们如何学习使用工作记忆来服务于复杂行为至关重要。 这项研究将增进我们在这一重要领域的知识，并可能为脑损伤后工作记忆的康复技术和协助儿童工作记忆发展的技术提供见解。