A systematic examination and modeling of STM across modalities and domains: a step towards reconciling modularity and functional equivalence

跨模态和领域的 STM 的系统检查和建模：迈向协调模块化和功能等效性的一步

• 批准号: 250009-2011
• 负责人: Tremblay, Sébastien
• 金额: $ 3.42万
• 依托单位: Université Laval
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2013-01-01 至 2014-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=524883
• 关键词: systematic; examination; modeling; STM; across

Serial order processing and retention of information over the short term are at the basis of a wide range of cognitive activities. Those activities are not restrictively related to language but also cover the spatial domain. Nevertheless, most of the research work has focused on short-term memory (STM) for verbal information. Due to the sequential nature of language, research on verbal STM has been preoccupied with serial order processing and employed list learning paradigms such as the classical serial recall task. Research on memory for spatial information has, however, centred its interest on the short-term retention of a single item or an array of simultaneously presented objects mostly through recognition and change-detection paradigms. Evidence of dissociations between verbal and spatial has accumulated over the last two decades and led to the almost universal adoption of modularity. Indeed, the study of STM has been largely driven by the concept of modularity whereby cognition is viewed as the functioning of modules processing specific types of information (verbal and spatial) and modalities (auditory and visual). However, an emerging body of evidence challenges the veracity of the modular view of STM. Indeed, when verbal and spatial STM tasks are carefully equated in terms of process requirements, a number of phenomena classically associated with verbal STM are extended to the spatial domain. The present program of research will attempt to narrow the gap between opposing views of STM and balance the evidence for and against modularity. The empirical work is divided in three themes according to key objectives of the proposal: i) To establish the close link between perceptual organisation and STM for spatial information; ii) To revisit phenomena associated with the so-called visual short-term memory (VSTM) and extend the testing of concepts to serial memory; iii) To test the applicability of the perceptual-gestural framework - an embodied cognition view of STM - to account for spatial STM phenomena. The proposed program of research will provide data that should contribute to reconcile apparently contradictory sets of findings of functional equivalence and modularity, and provide evidence for a reinterpretation of STM.

短期内的连续顺序处理和信息保留是广泛认知活动的基础。这些活动不仅限于语言，还涵盖空间领域。尽管如此，大多数研究工作都集中在言语信息的短期记忆（STM）上。由于语言的顺序性质，言语 STM 的研究一直专注于串行顺序处理并采用列表学习范式，例如经典的串行回忆任务。然而，对空间信息记忆的研究主要通过识别和变化检测范式将其兴趣集中在单个项目或一组同时呈现的对象的短期保留上。过去二十年里，语言和空间之间分离的证据不断积累，导致模块化几乎得到普遍采用。事实上，STM 的研究很大程度上是由模块化概念驱动的，其中认知被视为处理特定类型信息（语言和空间）和模态（听觉和视觉）的模块的功能。然而，越来越多的证据对 STM 模块化观点的准确性提出了挑战。事实上，当言语和空间 STM 任务在过程要求方面被仔细等同时，许多与言语 STM 经典相关的现象被扩展到空间领域。目前的研究计划将试图缩小 STM 的对立观点之间的差距，并平衡支持和反对模块化的证据。根据提案的关键目标，实证工作分为三个主题： i）建立空间信息的感知组织和 STM 之间的密切联系； ii）重新审视与所谓的视觉短期记忆（VSTM）相关的现象，并将概念测试扩展到串行记忆； iii) 测试感知手势框架（STM 的具体认知视图）的适用性，以解释空间 STM 现象。拟议的研究计划将提供数据，有助于调和功能等效性和模块化的明显矛盾的研究结果，并为重新解释 STM 提供证据。