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: 2014
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2014-01-01 至 2015-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=547474
• 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.

在短期内对信息的连续顺序处理和保持是广泛认知活动的基础。这些活动不仅与语言有关，而且还涵盖了空间领域。然而，大多数研究工作都集中在对言语信息的短期记忆(STM)上。由于语言的顺序性，对动词短时记忆的研究一直集中在序列顺序加工和列表学习范式上，如经典的序列回忆任务。然而，对空间信息记忆的研究主要集中在对单个物品或同时呈现的一组物体的短期保持上，主要是通过识别和变化检测范式。在过去的二十年里，语言和空间之间分离的证据已经积累起来，并导致了几乎所有人都采用模块化。事实上，短时记忆的研究在很大程度上是由模块化的概念推动的，即认知被视为处理特定类型的信息(语言和空间)和通道(听觉和视觉)的模块的功能。然而，一个新出现的证据对STM模块化观点的准确性提出了质疑。事实上，当言语和空间STM任务被仔细地等同于过程要求时，一些经典的与言语STM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。根据提案的主要目标，实证工作分为三个主题：i)建立空间信息的知觉组织和STM之间的密切联系；ii)重温与所谓视觉短期记忆(VSTM)相关的现象，并将概念测试扩展到序列记忆；iii)测试知觉-手势框架-STM的具身认知观点-对空间STM现象的适用性。拟议的研究计划将提供数据，这些数据应该有助于调和功能等价性和模块化的明显矛盾的发现，并为重新解释STM提供证据。