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Working Memory Capacity and Individual Differences in Higher-Level Cognition

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Handbook of Individual Differences in Cognition

Part of the book series: The Springer Series on Human Exceptionality ((SSHE))

Abstract

Let’s start with a riddle: what are the Authors referring to? “[It] is one of the greatest accomplishments of the human mind; it makes possible planning, reasoning, problem solving, reading, and abstraction.” (Conway, Jarrold, Kane, Miyake, & Towse, 2007, p. 3) “This concept [of it] and its limits is a key part of human condition. […] We need [it] to in language comprehension, […]; in arithmetic, […]; in reasoning, […]; and in most other types of cognitive tasks.” (Cowan, 2005a, p. 2) If it was not for the names of the authors of the above quotes, which no doubt for majority of readers indicate unambiguously the context of “it,” one could think that they are referring to terms like consciousness, abstract thinking, or the g factor. It is even more interesting that these quotes come from first pages of multipage books, where – in accordance with the rule “from the general to the particular” – one gives basic information about one’s subject matter. However, as Nęcka (in print) felicitously says in a paper concerning this concept: “[…] for some 2,500 years of psychology as a branch of philosophy, and then for almost 100 years of its independent development […], it was not considered necessary to use [this] term.” Thus, it is a concept of equal importance in psychology as consciousness, thinking, and intelligence, but much younger.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    According to Cowan (2007), however, this is not a universal assumption. There are theories that do not share this view. As examples, one can point to the long-term working memory theory by Ericsson and Kintsh (1995), and to the theory of task conflict by Meyer and Kieras (1997a, 1997b).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Al. Mickiewicza 3, Cracow, 31-120, Poland

    Jarosław Orzechowski

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  1. Jarosław Orzechowski
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Al. Mickiewicza 3, Cracow, 31-120, Poland

    Aleksandra Gruszka

  2. Dept. Psychology, University of Cincinnati, Dyer Hall 217, Cincinnati, 45221, USA

    Gerald Matthews

  3. Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Al. Mickiewicza 3, Cracow, 31-120, Poland

    Blazej Szymura

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Orzechowski, J. (2010). Working Memory Capacity and Individual Differences in Higher-Level Cognition. In: Gruszka, A., Matthews, G., Szymura, B. (eds) Handbook of Individual Differences in Cognition. The Springer Series on Human Exceptionality. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1210-7_21

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