How do we store spatial working memories?

移动数字技术在现代社会中无处不在。它们彻底改变了我们的生活方式，通常是以积极的方式。然而，围绕数字技术的公共话语中的一个共同主题是担心这些技术会对基本的认知过程（如注意力和记忆力）造成深刻的变化。数字技术影响记忆的观点被广泛接受，但不幸的是很难验证，因为记忆的本质，特别是“工作记忆”（存储和操作信息的能力）仍然存在激烈的争议。一种观点认为有固定数量的3-4个插槽，每个插槽可以存储1个物品，就像鸽子洞里的字母一样。另一种观点认为，工作记忆是一种资源，这种资源可以灵活地分配给每个项目。分配了更多资源的项目以更高的保真度存储，但是随着项目数量的增加，分配给每个项目的资源必须减少。记忆资源模型已成功地应用于视觉记忆，但尚未在空间记忆中进行测试。这一点很重要，因为空间记忆是许多认知过程的核心，比如导航和空间推理，这些过程已经被“卸载”到移动设备上。因此，本项目的目标是通过测试空间工作记忆资源模型的有效性来更好地理解记忆的本质。这种理解是推动有关数字技术对人类状况影响的更广泛辩论的重要一步。

Mobile digital technologies are ubiquitous in modern society. Theyhave revolutionised the way we live our lives, often in positive ways.However, a common theme in the public discourse surroundingdigital technology is a fear that these technologies are causingprofound changes to fundamental cognitive processes such asattention and memory. The idea that digital technology affectsmemory is widely held but is unfortunately very hard to test becausethe nature of memory, and in particular 'working memory' (theability to store and manipulate information), remains hotly disputed.One view is that there are a fixed number of 3-4 slots, and each slotcan store 1 item, like letters in a pigeonhole. The alternative view isthat working memory is a resource, and that this resource is flexiblyallocated to each item. Items allocated greater resources are storedwith higher fidelity, but as the number of items increases, theresource allocated to each item must be reduced. Resource modelsof memory have been successfully applied to visual memory, butthey have not been tested using spatial memory. This is importantbecause spatial memory is central to many cognitive processes, suchas navigation and spatial reasoning, that have been 'offloaded' ontomobile devices. The goal of this project is therefore to betterunderstand of the nature of memory by testing the validity of theresource model of spatial working memory. This understanding is anessential step towards informing wider debates about the impact ofdigital technology on the human condition.